GOOGLE APPS FOR YOUR DOMAIN ADMINISTRATOR GUIDE
BONUS CHAPTER 12: Message Management with Postini
David W. Boles, MFA

Less than 24 hours ago Google added Postini Message Management and Archiving to the paid version of Google Apps. As you can see in this Bonus Chapter the Google branding hasn't yet propagated over to Postini. Your Inbox is now at 25 gigs up from 10 gigs -- I predicted an impending 30 gig upgrade in the book -- and now let's take a quick look at how to get your set up using Postini if you are paying for your Google Apps.

First, login to your Dashboard and click on the "Add more services" hotlink in the middle of the page. There may be a "Postini" entry on that page by the time you read this, but yesterday I had to hunt a bit to find the new Postini feature.

Now you are taken to a secret screen where you can click the "Add it now" button to get Postini up and working for you. If you click on the "Learn more" link first you can get more information on the service.

Here's the page that loads when you click the "Learn more" link:

Once you choose add Postini it gets added as a Serve in your Dashboard. Click on the "Activate Postini" link at the bottom of the page to get the process started.

Now you are in "The Land of Postini" and not Google as you can see below. There is a long and naggy registration process for Postini -- obviously Postini has no idea who or what we are and we have to re-sign up and re-identify our Google Apps domain. Bo-ring!

After you register you have to wait for a confirmation email from Postini that includes an Activation Key. That email took six hours to arrive. Others are reporting delays up to 15 hours. Let's hope Google-Tini make that happen much faster for you.

Once your Activation Key arrives you can begin yet another round of Postini registration and rigid formality:

After you set up your separate Postini account, you have to change all the MX records for your domain to point to the Postini servers -- so all that work we did in setting up your DNS Zone Files changes now need to be re-done. Your Activation email will provide the specific servers you need to use.

Here's a message I posted in the Postini Google Apps support group:

The Postini addition to Google Apps are fascinating. It seems a bit rushed and clunky and cartoonish in its implementation but I'm sure that will be worked out in the formal Google re-branding.

My question is this: I have successfully added sub-domains to my main Organization with Postini and all my MX records for all domains now reflect the Postini flavor.

It seems one would then be able to remove the domain aliases from the GApps Dashboard/Domains because, as I understand it, those domain aliases are there only for the MX records. At least that appears to be the point and purpose according to that Domains page in our Dashboard.

With the Postini MX records in place, why do we need those domains aliased in our Dashboard?

Beware!

If you delete a domain alias from your Dashboard -- even with your Postini-MX records propagated -- people will get an error message that their message to you was undeliverable even though the message was delivered. Here's an example of the error:

***

<david@boles.com>: host bolesuniversity.com.s7a1.psmtp.com[64.18.6.14]
> said:
> 550 5.1.1 No such user r9si1452250nza (in reply to RCPT TO command)

***

The workaround is to delete your Postini MX records in your DNS Zone file and put them back to their original GApps MX values and then re-add your Domain via your Dashboard, have it verified, and then go back a second time to delete the GApps MX records and and then re-enter your Postini-MX records to get it all working again.

My questions is this: Is that an intuitive process for working with MX records and are we require to leave those domain aliases in place in our Dashboard even with Postini implemented?

Also -- is there a limit on the amount of Domain Aliases we can add on the Postini side?

Thanks!

David W. Boles
Author of "Google Apps Administrator Guide"
http://bolesbooks.com/thomson/
http://BolesUniversity.com

You can follow the replies and responses here:

Here is the main Postini administrative console. I won't step you through this interface in great detail because most of the features here depend upon the sort of business services you require and the Google Apps setup wizard that is included in your welcome letter points you directly to the resources you require.

You will also need to set up Google Apps to use the Postini email server to send your mail by filling in the "Email gateway" box on your General Email Settings Page. You must delete all your current SPF mail records and then create new ones for Postini based on your individual domain setup.

Then you bounce back over to Postini to check your MX record changes and your ability to send mail through their system.

Successful results are coded in green. Tests that fail give you feedback in bright red.

Here are the current users for Boles University email running on Google Apps Postini! You click on a user's email address to fine tune their Postini experience.

Postini will also archive all email to and from your domain for 90 days. That makes it super easy to retrieve misbegotten mail and to comply with governmental regulations on email retention.