How to: Office 365 domain verification and email configuration

This tutorial will show you how to configure your Hover domain name to work with Office 365 services (Office 365 Admin and Office 365 Small Business Admin.)

Before you can set things up on Hover, please visit your Office 365 Dashboard and Gather the information you need to create Office 365 DNS records.

Below you will find instructions on how to create the main DNS records you will need:

• Add a TXT record for verification
• Add an MX record to route email
• Add four CNAME records
• Add a SPF to help prevent spam
• Add two SRV records

Add a TXT record for verification

Before you use your domain with Office 365, you need to verify ownership of the domain by adding a TXT record. 

NOTE: This TXT record is used only to verify that you own the domain; it doesn’t affect any other connections.

1. Log into your Hover account https://hover.com/signin
   
   
2. If you have more than one domain, click on the domain you are setting up with Office 365.
   
   If you only have one domain, you will already be on Step 3.
   
   
   
   
3. Make sure you are using the Hover nameservers:
   ns1.hover.com
   ns2.hover.com 
   
   Edits to the DNS in your Hover account will not apply to your domain if you are not using our DNS servers. If you are using another company's nameservers, such as your website hosting provider, then you must go to the hosting provider to enter your Office 365 DNS.
   
   Alternatively, if you are not using the existing nameservers for anything (perhaps these are just your old domain provider's servers, if you transferred to Hover recently), you can use the Edit option to update these to Hover. Nameserver changes can take up to 24-48 hours to fully propagate.
   
   
   
   
4. Select the DNS tab.
   
   
   
   
5. Enter the TXT values as follows:

• Click Add A Record
• Record Type: TXT
  
• Hostname: @
  
• Value: MS=msXXXXXXX (NOTE: This is an example)
  
  Use your specific Destination or Points to Address value here, from the table in Office 365. You should have this already from your Office 365 account. How do I find this? 
  

Now that you've added the record at Hover, you'll go back to Office 365 and request Office 365 to look for the record.

Note: It may take up to 15 minutes for the TXT record you just created to update across the Internet.

1. In your Office 365 Dashboard, go to the Domains page. 
   
   
2. On the Manage domains page, select the Domain that you are verifying and then, in the Action column for that domain, choose Start Setup.
   
   
   
   
3. On the Add this TXT record to show you own domain_name page, choose Okay, I've added the record. 
   
   
   
   
4. Choose Next.
   
   
   

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Add an MX record so email for your domain will come to Office 365

1. Return to the DNS page in your Hover account.
   
   
   
   
2. Remove any existing MX records from the DNS zone file by hovering your cursor over the record and selecting delete. You only need to have the one Office 365 MX record saved here.
   
   Click Add A Record and enter the MX values as follows: 
   
   - Record Type: MX
   - Hostname: @
   - Mail Server: <domain-key>.mail.protection.outlook.com
   - Click New Record
   - TTL can be left as Default.
   
   Note: Get your <domain-key> from your Office 365 portal account. How do I find this?
   
   
   

 

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Add the CNAME records that are required for Office 365

1. Next you need to create four CNAME records. You can do this one at a time.
   
   Click Add A Record to create each new CNAME. Below you will find the correct Hostname and Target Hosts to create.
   
   For example, the first CNAME on the list would be entered as pictured below.
   
   

Hostname	Record Type	Target Host
autodiscover	CNAME	autodiscover.outlook.com
sip	CNAME	sipdir.online.lync.com
lyncdiscover	CNAME	webdir.online.lync.com
msoid	CNAME	clientconfig.microsoftonline-p.net

 

Mobile Device Management (MDM) for Office 365

If you are using MDM, then you must create two additional CNAME records. If you do not have MDM, you can skip this step. 

To create these additional records, follow the same instructions above using these values:

Hostname	Record Type	Target Host
enterpriseregistration	CNAME	enterpriseregistration.windows.net
enterpriseenrollment	CNAME	enterpriseenrollment.manage.microsoft.com

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Add a SPF record to help prevent spam

You cannot have more than one SPF record for a domain.

If your domain has more than one SPF record, you'll get email errors, as well as delivery and spam classification issues. If you already have an SPF record for your domain, don't create a new one for Office 365. Instead, add the required Office 365 values to the current record so that you have a single SPF record that includes both sets of values. To create an SPF record:

1. Click on Add A Record from the DNS page of your Hover account.
   
   
   
   
2. Enter the SPF record as follows:
   
   - Record Type: TXT
   - Hostname: @
   - Value: v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all
   - Click Add Record
   
   
   

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Add the two SRV records that are required for Office 365

1. Click Add A Record on the DNS page in your Hover account.
   
   
   
   
2. Add the two SRV records as outlined in the image below using the values from the first SRV record. Add the records one at a time.
   
   - Record Type: SRV
   -Hostname: Enter the information from the first column
   - Enter the Priority, Weight, Port, and Target
   - Click Add Record.
    
   

Hostname	Record Type	Priority	Weight	Port	Target
_sip._tls	SRV	100	1	443	sipdir.online.lync.com
_sipfederationtls._tcp	SRV	100	1	5061	sipfed.online.lync.com

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