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Google Applications as Services

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

Google has a new solution out and its called Google Apps for Your Domain (let's

call it GAYD for short). This is a packaged offering that bundles other well

known Google products: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk and Google Page

Creator and allows you to use them. Unlike Microsoft's Office Live that is

being billed explicitly as an offering for businesses, GAYD has no such

labeling. However, there is an Academic edition (“Google Apps for Your

Education”) without the Page Creator component. You need to register a domain

name from any registrar-select a registrar who allows you to modify your MX

and CNAME records for best results. Once this is done, you can start using

Google's mail, chat, calendaring and Web page creation/hosting services for

free, with minor configuration operations.

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If you have otherwise used Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk and Google

Page Creator, using the packaged offering requires no new learning. There are,

however, a couple of minor differences. Your e-mail storage quota is fixed when

you create an account. And for a password change, users will need to contact the

designated domain administrator (read on the article) instead of being able to

do it on their own.

Direct

Hit!
Applies

to:
IT managers 
Price:

Free
USP:

Reduce messaging and collaboration costs with this hosted, free and modular service 
Links:

www.google.com/a 
Google

keywords:
google apps 

We take you through the steps of signing up and configuring accounts for

yourself. We also see what kind of tools are at the administrator's disposal

to manage various modules. Do note that when you configure each module for the

first time, there is a 'verification' period that can last up to 48 hours.

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Note: When we say 'admin e-mail account' below, we refer to the e-mail

address you have logged in with to create and administer your services on the

Google website. 

Step 1: Sign up



To begin, browse to www.google.com/a/interest?login=yes and login at the box to
the right. If you don't yet have a Google/Gmail account, click on the 'Create

an account now' link to sign up for one. Regardless of the number of accounts

you have created, you will see the Interest Form, which asks for a few details

about your organization as well as yourself. Make sure your domain already

exists.

Sign up as an IT decision maker for your

organization
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Now, Google's FAQ says, “we won't be able to consider your organization

for this beta unless we hear directly from someone who makes your group's IT

decisions”. So, in 'About You' section of this form, select the first or

second option for 'How are you involved in IT decisions for your organization?'

The next step lets you set up the account for the first administrator for

this domain. Select a username and a password for this account. The username is

in an e-mail address format and the sign-up application will automatically

create this account for you in your GAYD mail module. Since GAYD is still an

early stage of the beta, chances are your application is immediately accepted

(check the admin e-mail account) and you're taken to the Dashboard.

Step 2: Enable and configure



You are now at the Dashboard of your control panel for this service, logged on
as the designated administrator. Only the administrators configured for this

domain (through this control panel) can see this website. Check on the services

you need for your domain (E-mail, Chat, Calendar and Domain Web pages are

currently available) and click on 'Setup Selected Services' to continue.

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Before you can start using these services, there are a couple of steps you

need to perform for each. To set up E-mail, you need to change the DNS MX

records for your domain. Contact the service provider who registered and manages

your domain account for you to make this change.

The settings you need to make are given on the page when you click on 'Set

up email delivery'. You need to similarly make modifications to your DNS CNAME

records to use the Domain Web pages module.

Add or remove the modules available at any time
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To verify domain ownership, you need access to upload files to the root

folder of your domain's website (www.yourdomain.com). The page shows

instructions on what file to upload and what to put in that file when you click

on the 'Verify domain ownership' link.

Once you have performed each step, click on the 'I've completed these

steps' button at the bottom of that page. Enabling Chat and Domain Web pages

can take up to 48 hours from the time you click on this button. You can set up

catch-all addresses (receives e-mail sent to accounts that don't exist on your

domain), time zone you operate in, contact sharing and branding for various

pages from the Services>Domain settings.

Step 3: Manage user accounts



It is easier if you have a CSV file with the user account information and upload
this file to the configuration applet. To do this, open Excel. In the first row

of the worksheet, type in 'username', 'first name', 'last name' and

'password'. On each subsequent row, type in the corresponding names and

passwords of those users.

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Finally, do a File>Save As, type in a filename and select the file type as

'CSV (comma delimited) (*.csv)'. On the Google Apps control panel, click on

the Advanced Tools menu item and upload this file. This update can take a couple

of hours to a day depending on the number of accounts you have asked to be

created. All status (including error) reports are e-mailed to your admin e-mail

account.

Check quota usage of a user and promote him to administrator

To change a user's setting or suspend or delete the account, go to

Accounts>User accounts on the left side menu and click on the user's name.

All users enjoy a fixed 2 GB storage limit on their e-mail account and can

receive e-mail from multiple addresses as configured on this page.

You can set up Nicknames (alternate IDs) that have no storage space by

themselves, but is a pointer to one or more real accounts. You can also

subscribe a user to a mailing list (a single address that delivers e-mail sent

to it to multiple real user accounts). You can look up the mappings from

Services> Email addresses.

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