Cloud Services
3/12/2015
Getting Started
INTRODUCTION
This is a planning guide. It is meant to walk the reader through the steps necessary to plan, configure, and activate TelePacific Cloud Services for the very first time.
Since most of our customers elect to purchase Microsoft Hosted Exchange services as a foundation, this guide is oriented primarily to the needs of Hosted Exchange customers getting ready to activate Hosted Exchange services with TelePacific.
Activating other TelePacific Cloud services such as Desktop Backup, Microsoft Lync, or Microsoft SharePoint is covered in more detail in service guides posted online at TelePacific support website “insidetelepacific.com”. Please refer to Steps 3 and 8 in this guide for additional details on how to access these and other user guides.
THE PROCESS IN 8 STEPS
1. Domain Name Services Planning: Understand and identify who provides and hosts your internet
domain(s) -‐ Domain Name Services (DNS) -‐ so that you can be ready to point your domain(s) to TelePacific Cloud Services in Step 5 below.
2. User Configuration Planning: A checklist to gather end user configuration requirements and plan your migration to TelePacific Cloud Services
3. Build Your End User Configurations. Use the TelePacific Cloud Services Integrated Control Panel to Configure Users: Log into the TelePacific Cloud Services Control Panel and perform the initial configuration of your end users using the information you gathered during planning.
4. Work with Your End Users: Notify your end users of all configuration requirements necessary to activate services and the timeline of activities. An email template is included...
5. Point Your DNS To TelePacific Cloud Services: Schedule time to work with your DNS administrator to change your MX or other records using the information provided in this section.
6. Migrate Your Existing Services To TelePacific Cloud Services: Schedule a date and time to point your DNS records to TelePacific Cloud services and migrate your users from the existing environment to TelePacific Cloud Solutions.
7. Activate Your End User Accounts Test: You have now built and activated your TelePacific Cloud Services. Here are some suggested methods to test and validate that services are working
8. Detailed User Guides and Additional Support: You are now ready to operate your services. You have the ability to manage your end user configurations real time using the TelePacific Cloud Services Control Panel. TelePacific has created detailed user guides by Cloud Service type. Here you’ll find some additional information on where to find these guides and how to use them.
Step 1: Domain Name Services Planning
Understand and identify who provides and hosts your internet domain(s) -‐ Domain Name Services (DNS) -‐ so that you can be ready to point your domain(s) to TelePacific Cloud Services later in Step 6 of the process.
What is a “domain”, and why is some advance planning needed on this topic?
You will need to know who provides your Domain Name Services, or “DNS” as it is commonly referred to in internet circles, in order to migrate your current email services to TelePacific Cloud Services (in Step 5 of the
process). Please take time now to find out whether your DNS is hosted with commercial provider such as Network Solutions, GoDaddy or others. Or whether your DNS is hosted by another carrier, or currently hosted today by TelePacific. Once you’ve identified who provides your DNS please make a note of it. It is also a good idea to identify who in your organization is responsible for DNS. You can write this information here if you wish to, for later reference.
My DNS Provider is: ______________________________________________________ The person in my organization that manages DNS is: ____________________________
Still Not Sure What DNS Is? Please Read Below
DNS is simply a way to link meaningful domains such as yourcompany.com (or “.org”, or “.net”, etc.) to specific locations on the internet, such as an email server.
Your “domain” probably reflects your company name in some form or another. Here are some examples of common domains you’ll surely recognize:
• Apple.com • NPR.org • Ca.gov • Google.com
DNS Is A “Pointer”
You can think of DNS as a “pointer”. DNS “points” your domain to a specific location on the internet or in your own private network environment that is connected to the internet in order to enable information flow – email, webhosting etc. Businesses and individuals acquire domain names from various commercial providers such as Network Solutions (networksolutions.com), GoDaddy (GoDaddy.com), or through service providers such as TelePacific.
How Domains Can Support Multiple Types of Information Services
Ever wonder how a company can use the same domain (yourcompany.com) to access its corporate website AND use it for email? DNS allows a company to point its domain to an internal or commercial web hosting provider, or Microsoft SharePoint site for web traffic (www.yourcompany.com) and also create email addresses that
incorporate that same domain ([email protected]). This is done using several different types of DNS “records”. Here are some terms you may hear in conjunction with DNS, email and webhosting.
DNS Records Terminology
Here are the terms you’ll encounter when pointing your DNS to email and webhosting services:
• MX (Mail Exchange) records (there can be multiple) pertain to Email servers (for Microsoft Exchange
email).
• “A” record (yes, just a single letter “A”) pertains to Web servers (for Microsoft SharePoint, etc.) • Canonical Name (CNAME) records – these are also called “Host Aliases”. CNAME records allow you to
create alias names that correspond to existing Internet host records. CNAME records are helpful when pointing multiple domain names to the same host.
Domains Are Portable
Lastly, the great thing about domains is that they are “portable”. Businesses and individuals are able to manage their domains, setting up pointers to services often through a portal provided by the company they acquired their
domain name from. And portability provides a lot of flexibility, allowing a business to change email and other services without having to acquire a new domain name. You simply point your existing domain(s) to a new service provider.
If TelePacific is not your existing DNS provider, and you are using Network Solutions or GoDaddy or another commercial provider you will be responsible for making the changes to point your DNS to TelePacific Cloud Services.
Most commercial DNS providers have online portals that permit you to point your domain Mail Exchange records (MX records) to as your DNS provider, please contact them for help with changing your Mail Exchange (MX) Records or A records for your SharePoint (you will need the new TelePacific DNS / MX records below). You will need your login username, and password. The administrator of the domain itself is the only person who can update the domain’s DNS Records (MX or A records).
Again, now is a good time to identify who the individual is in your company that is responsible for managing your DNS. It may be you, another employee of your company or an external vendor or company that provides IT services to you. You’ll want to let them know that you are setting up a hosted exchange solution with TelePacific and that you will be requesting their support to make changes to the DNS to point to TelePacific. We will provide you with the information that he/she needs to change in order to point the services to us.
One thing to note: Once changes are made to your DNS to point to TelePacific it may take up to 48 hours to propagate throughout the internet and become effective. That is the nature of DNS and the same interval holds true for any changes made to DNS for any reason.
Step 2: User Configuration Planning
A checklist to gather end user configuration requirements and plan your migration to TelePacific Cloud Services. Step 2 involves validating the services you’ve ordered and accounting for your end user service requirements. Customers have told us that most often they create a simple “roster” of all employees and services (Hosted Exchange, amount of storage, Active Sync, etc.) they wish to allocate by employee using a spreadsheet as a tracker. Here’s a quick checklist to help you start getting organized.
• Did you order all required services for your business needs? _____
• How many email users do you actually need vs. ordered and do you have enough? _____ • How many Android, IPhone or Blackberry users need to access their emails? _____ • Did you order the right amount of MS Active Sync accounts for your mobile users? _____
• Do you need MS Outlook clients for PCs or Macs or will users be using Outlook Web Access only? Or both?
_____
• If you do not have the MS Outlook clients, are you aware of, and did you purchase the Migration wizard?
_____
• What is your preferred migration option? (Self-‐migration, Migration Wizard, or was a custom migration
service requested by you?) _____
• Do you need additional level of encryption or archiving for regulatory compliance? _____ • Do you have a new domain for MS SharePoint? Alternatively, do you have subdomain? _____
• Do you have the admin login and password for your DNS? _____
• Do you also have webhosting from TelePacific? (not a requirement) _____
• If using desktop/server backup, how many servers and desktops do you need to back up? _____ • If using desktop/server backup, did you order enough disk space for all your servers and users? _____ • Did you schedule a date when you can take time to migrate your users and test? (Steps 5 and 6)
Step 3: Build Your End User Configurations
Use the TelePacific Cloud Services Integrated Control Panel to Configure Users: Log into the TelePacific Cloud Services Control Panel and perform the initial configuration of your end users using the information you gathered during planning.
Using the credentials you received in your Welcome Letter from TelePacific, Login to the TelePacific Cloud Services Control Panel from your internet browser.
o Cloud Services Control Panel: https://hostedservices.telepacific.com
You may be prompted to change your password if this is the first time you are logging in., and if so, please make sure to record your new password somewhere where you can retrieve it the next time you login.
The Cloud Services Control Panel is your single interface into controlling all TelePacific Cloud Services which you subscribe to. Here you can configure your users once, adding Exchange, SharePoint, Mozy Desktop Backup, Microsoft Lync, and other services, as well as manage your user configurations ongoing in a consolidated environment.
Our customers have told us they appreciate the fact that we provide them with a single integrated Control Panel application to configure and manage both Microsoft and Non-‐Microsoft services alike.
Navigate to the “Users” icon either via the horizontal menu bar at the top of the screen, or by clicking on the green highlighted word “Users” found in the right hand portion of the main screen.
Build Your User Configurations
This is where you will setup users for the first time and map resources to users. Initially you will enter in all your users for the very first time using the information you collected in step 2. The “User” page is also where you will manage user additions, deletions and changes day to day, once your services are operational.
Users are setup in the Control Panel and mapped to subscribed services prior to migrating your existing data, if any, to TelePacific Cloud services, or repointing your DNS records to TelePacific Cloud Services.
Here is a snapshot of the “Add New User” screen that illustrates the ability to configure users with multiple services all in one place.
If you require additional instructions on how to build end user configurations via the TelePacific Cloud Services Control Panel please refer to these detailed user guides which may be found at:
Step 4: Work with Your End Users
Notify your end users of all configuration requirements necessary to activate services and the timeline of activities.
Proactively provide all users with login user ID/Password information plus Outlook Web Access (OWA) Link, and instructions for accessing their new email service using), as well as information on how to configure MS Active Sync for mobile devices if relevant.
Outlook Web Access link: https://email.hostaccount.com/owa/
Active Sync Setup Guide for iPhone link: http://www.insidetelepacific.com/support/user-‐guides/cloud-‐ services/ActiveSync_for_iOS_Setup_Guide.pdf
• Proactively email / notify all users how to access new email via MS Outlook on their PCs or Macs.
Outlook 2010 Quick Start Guide: http://www.insidetelepacific.com/support/user-‐guides/cloud-‐ services/Exchange_Basic_Quick_Start_Guide.pdf
Step 5: Point Your DNS to TelePacific Cloud Services
Schedule time to work with your DNS administrator to change your MX or other records using the information provided in this section. Note that there are two possible environments so please refer to the information you gathered in Step 1 regarding your DNS hosting environment.
DNS Migration – TelePacific Hosted DNS: If TelePacific is your DNS provider
TelePacific will make the changes to your DNS on your behalf to point to our Hosted Exchange Service (MX Records) or SharePoint Service (“A” Record). To request these changes please call the TelePacific Reliability And Repair Operations Center (RROC) at 855-‐444-‐8722 and let them know the following information:
• Let the TelePacific service representative know that you are a new Cloud Hosted Exchange Customer, and
that your DNS is currently hosted by TelePacific. They will request your account information from you to verify that you are a TelePacific customer.
• Request that the TelePacific service representative open a ticket indicating that your DNS MX (Mail
Exchange) records need to be pointed to the following Hosted Exchange locations:
• MX Record Preference 10: Server4.inboundmx.com • MX Record Preference 20: Server5.inboundmx.com • TXT v=spf1 include:hostaccount.com ~all • CNAME autodiscredirect.hostaccount.com
DNS Migration Non-‐TelePacific Hosted DNS: If your DNS provider is not TelePacific
If you use another commercial provider of DNS such as Network Solutions or GoDaddy, you will be responsible for making your own changes to the DNS records to point to our Hosted Exchange Service (MX Records) or SharePoint Service (“A” Record). The required information to update DNS is shown below by record type. (Refer to Step 1 for additional information on DNS).
Please proactively call your DNS provider if you need help or have questions regarding changing your DNS / MX records, you will need the below new TelePacific DNS / MX records syntax. Please make sure there are no extra spaces or period. The values below are for Hosted Microsoft Exchange Service
• MX Record preference 10: Server4.inboundmx.com • MX Record preference 20: Server5.inboundmx.com • TXT v=spf1 include:hostaccount.com ~all
• CNAME autodiscredirect.hostaccount.com
The final record type is CNAME which tells computers looking for mail.yourdomain.com, to go look for smtp.yourdomain.com instead. This step is important for the auto-‐discovery portion when setting up the Microsoft Active Sync on your mobile devices and the Microsoft Outlook client on PCs and Mac computers. CNAME Records (Host Aliases)
• Canonical Name (CNAME) records allow you to create alias names that correspond to existing
Internet host records.
• CNAME records are helpful when pointing multiple domain names to the same host.
Change CNAME for auto discovery for iPhone and Android users (This step makes it easier to setup iPhone and Android users, simply use their email address and new password to auto-‐discover server settings). We have manual procedures and scripts in the quick start guide if this does not work for some reason.
Change TXT
How To Verify That Your DNS MX records have been propagated
Use any of the links below to determine if your DNS record changes have completed propagating across the internet.
http://www.dnsgoodies.com/ http://mxtoolbox.com/
Step 6: Migrate Your Existing Services To TelePacific Cloud Services
Schedule a date and time to point your DNS records to TelePacific Cloud services and migrate your users from the existing environment to TelePacific Cloud Solutions.
Services Migration Options
Depending on your current environment you may be using one of two popular migration options to migrate your existing email data from your current environment to your new environment:
- If you have elected to migrate using Self Migration – please refer to the following link for the detailed user guide on Self Migration
- If you have signed up to migrate your data using the Migration Portal option please refer to the following link for detailed Migration Portal user guide:
o http://insidetelepacific.com/support/user-‐guides/cloud-‐ services/Email_Cloud_Migration_Portal_Admin_Guide.pdf - As well here is a link to an online tutorial about email migration:
http://insidetelepacific.com/support/user-‐guides/cloud-‐ services/videos/How_to_Migrate_Existing_Email.mp4
Step 7: Activate Your End User Accounts and Test
You have now built your TelePacific Cloud Services via the TelePacific Cloud Services Control Panel, Pointed your DNS to TelePacific Cloud Services as appropriate, and migrated your existing data to TelePacific where relevant. You have also worked with your end users , providing them with the necessary login information (User ID’s and passwords) plus access to services such as Microsoft Outlook Web Access. Here are some suggested methods to test and validate that services are working
Desktops/Laptops/Tablets Using Outlook Web Access (OWA): Test access to your new email platform utilizing Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA)
OWA link: https://email.hostaccount.com/owa/
Desktops and Laptops with Outlook Client: Test the setup of email to TelePacific Cloud services from end user desktop/laptop devices via the Microsoft Outlook client application (if so configured).
Mobile Users: Test the ability of mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) to access email via Microsoft Active Sync.
Step 8: Detailed User Guides and Additional Support
You are now ready to operate your services. You have the ability to manage your end user configurations real time using the TelePacific Cloud Services Control Panel. TelePacific has created detailed user guides by Cloud Service type. Here you’ll find some additional information on where to find these guides and how to use them.
ADDITIONAL USER GUIDES – WHERE TO FIND THEM
Detailed user guides for all of the TelePacific Cloud Services may be found at:http://insidetelepacific.com/support/support-‐user-‐guides.asp under Cloud Services. Here you will find more explicit instructions on how to control your TelePacific Cloud services by specific service type.
SUPPORT
TelePacific Customer support is available 2x7 at 855.444.8722 or you may submit a trouble ticket online at: www.insidetelepacific.com
Ordering Additional Services
Contact your TelePacific Account Representative to add additional Hosted Microsoft Exchange mailboxes as well as other TelePacific Cloud services that enhance employee productivity. TelePacific offers a complete suite of Cloud Services including:
• Hosted Microsoft Exchange
• Mobile Email on smartphones and tablets via Microsoft Active Sync • Hosted Blackberry Enterprise Server
• Mobile Device Management for mobile phones and smartphones via AirWatch • Active Directory Management
• Email Archiving • Email Encryption
• Desktop Backup via Mozy • Server Backup via Mozy
• Collaboration tools via Microsoft Lync for instant messaging and web conferencing • Collaboration tools via Microsoft SharePoint
