CNAME - MX Records (Google Apps)

Question

I need to know if I can "CNAME" older domains to a new domain names so that BOTH email addresses and browser requests will still work.

I say this is because I will need emails for email1@old-domain1.co.uk/email1@old-domain2.co.uk to automatically go to email1@new-domain.co.uk.

The reason for this is because the UK company I work for are re-branding with a ".com" domain and I need the older .co.uk domains and email addresses to still work. We are also at the same time moving from an Exchange 2000 solution to a Google Apps cloud-based solution.

Answer 1

Certainly. The only trick is that MX records do not support CNAME records. You need to:

1. Add a CNAME record(s) for www.olddomain.co.uk that points to www.newdomain.com.
2. Add a host record for the root of olddomain.co.uk that points to the same IP as the root of newdomain.com
3. Add MX records that point to the same host names as the MX records for newdomain.com.
4. Configure your mail server (google apps) to accept emails for all teh domains in question. This last bit is easy with something like Exchange that you control completely; I am sure a solution is possible with Google Apps (although it may require multiple domains being set up with forwarding for each email address, which will be a pain to manage).

Answer 2

Its quite simple to add domain aliases in Google Apps, but it requires the Business edition. The free edition does not support domain aliases.

1. Sign in to the Google Apps administrator control panel.
2. From the menu at the top of the page, select Domain settings.
3. Choose the Domain names tab.
4. Click Add a domain or a domain alias.
5. Enter the name of the domain to add to your account.
6. You must own the domain name, and it must not be registered as part of any other Google Apps account.
7. To add the domain as a domain alias for your primary domain, select the check box Make this domain an alias of my primary domain.

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