Category Archives: MX News

General news about our company, products and future releases.

April 2010 Newsletter – Ping Tool

MxToolBox Ping is one of the free tools provided by MxToolBox to help you determine if Inbound and Outbound mail flow is working.

As System Administrators, most of us are familiar with using the ping command as a tool to see if a host is unreachable or unavailable. Ping works by sending Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request packets to the intended host and waits for a response. If a response does not occur, it will fail and return blank packets. If a response does happen, the results will be returned in the form of response packets.

At MxToolBox we wanted to harness the power of ping in a different manner to help administrators troubleshoot their Inbound and Outbound Mail Flow. We have created a quick and easy tool to do this. Simply send an email from your network to ping@mxtoolbox.com and the tool will look at the email headers of your message and send you a notification back immediately. Please note that the subject and body do not matter. The response email will include several helpful troubleshooting tools including your Outbound IP, server hops, any transaction times or delays and it can help trace the route your email is taking to discover any outbound gateways you might be using.

An example of what the email looks like when it comes back from ping@mxtoolbox.com is below and a few of the features have been highlighted:

This is your Outbound IP Address
Link back to Blacklist Tool. We would highly recommend setting up a Blacklist Alert through our Free Server Monitoring Tool. If this is configured, you will get an automatic alert if your server becomes Blacklisted.
Link back to our SMTP Diagnostics Tool. We would highly recommend setting up a SMTP Alert through our Free Server Monitoring Tool. If this is configured, you will get an automatic alert if your server becomes unreachable.
Transaction time on this email and an explanation of the actual transaction times and hops. The hops will also include any delays if they are present.
Other Misc Headers

While this is one of our favorite free tools, we have even more tools available on our website. Be sure to check out the MX Record Tool, Blacklist Tool, SMTP Diagnostic Tool, Free Server Monitoring, SPF Tool, DNS Lookup and more!

If you are not able to resolve your mail server problems or have other questions, please do not hesitate to contact us or view our Email Business Products.

March Newsletter
Introducing the MxToolBox Super Tool

From all of us at MxToolBox, thank you for your business and your time.

Find updates on our BLOG	Join us on our FORUMS
Follow us on TWITTER	Become our fan on FACEBOOK

March 2010 – MxToolBox Supertool (DNS tool)

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MxToolBox has provided many free tools over the years and we are pleased to announce our newest tool, the SuperTool! This tool gives users the ability to do different types of lookups from one common location. To use the new tool, simply go to MxToolBox.com and input a domain name, IP Address or Host Name. To give you an example, I looked up the MX records for crawfordbowling.com:

Included in the results box are links to related tests you might want to run based on the lookup you just performed. Or if you want to go in a different direction you can run any other lookups by typing the command in the box like blacklist:208.65.144.12 , a:google.com, or smtp:208.65.144.12 .

Next, I ran an email diagnostic on the server by clicking on SMTP Test:

Then the last test I did was a reverse lookup:

A really cool feature that you may not have noticed is that the page adds the results from your latest test on top of your previous tests. This helps keep track of all the tests you have run.

Recently we added even more DNS lookups to the SuperTool and we are adding new tools as fast as we can to make sure we stay on top. If you have any tool additions that you would like to see, please let us know. We are also very interested in how these tools are being used out in the wild so we can better tailor them to your needs.

command	explanation
blacklist:	Check IP or host for reputation
smtp:	Test mail server SMTP (port 25)
mx:	DNS MX records for domain
a:	DNS A record IP address for host name
spf:	Check SPF records on a domain
txt:	Check TXT records on a domain
ptr:	DNS PTR record for host name
cname:	DNS canonical host name to IP address
scan:	Perform a port scan on the host New!
whois:	Get domain registration information New!
arin:	Get IP address block information New!
soa:	Get Start of Authority record for a domain New!

	Other tools coming soon
http:	Get web page at URL
https:	Get web page at URL using SSL encryption
ping:	Perform a standard ICMP ping
trace:	Perform a standard ICMP trace route

The SuperTool is the culmination of our firm’s six year track record of providing Free tools for system administrators to assist in Network troubleshooting. This one-of-a-kind tool gives users the ability to do different types of lookups from one common location. Since many DNS tool providers have chosen to provide paid only services, we are proud to continue hosting these free tools on our site.

You might be thinking, what’s the big deal about this new tool? Great question. Let me begin by saying that we’re just as skeptical as you are when people throw around words like one-of-a-kind, revolutionary, groundbreaking, etc. When we say that the SuperTool is one-of-a-kind, we can prove it. Try it out for yourself and you will see that you can look up all of your MX records, DNS, Blacklist and SMTP diagnostics in one integrated tool. It is amazing.

Find updates on our BLOG	Join us on our FORUMS
Follow us on TWITTER	Become our fan on FACEBOOK

ClueCentral Blacklist – RBL has gone down

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We have received reports that the RBL (Real Time Blacklists) ClueCentral has gone down. My Engineers have completed an investigation into the RBL and they discovered that stopped operating as of 1/21/2010. For more details of the site ceasing to operate, please view the Google Cache. At this time we have removed the Blacklist and our servers will be updated throughout the day to remove those alerts.

MxToolBox is not affiliated with any Blacklists, we just provide a public tool that can be utilized to see if you are on a Blacklist. If you are on a Blacklist, rest assured as we do offer Blacklist Protection! For more information please feel free to visit our website or email us at info@mxtoolbox.com.

For more information on what Blacklists are and how MxToolBox can help, read this blog post. We’re always looking for new Blacklists to add, so if you want to suggest one to us, please send an email to support@mxtoolbox.com.

For information about other Blacklists that have shut down or Blacklists that are having problems, view this forum post.

Integrating Microsoft Outlook and Exchange with Google Apps

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After introducing many small and medium sized businesses to Google Apps it became clear that most were only scratching the surface of the capabilities built into the Google products.

Google does an outstanding job of creating clear documentation explaining how each of the Google Apps work. We wanted to share how these innovative features can be used in your day to day business work flow.

We hope that these documents help you maximize the impact of your efforts by utilizing Apps to their full potential.

Google Apps offers a range of options to ease your migration from Microsoft Outlook and Exchange. If your users will continue to use Microsoft Outlook to access their email and calendars, follow the instructions below to get started.

1. Seamless Integration with Outlook

Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook allows you to use Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007 effectively with Google Apps. Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook provides seamless integration with your Google Apps email, contacts and calendar.

2. Alternate Outlook Integration Options

Alternatively, you can access your Google Apps email from Outlook using the IMAP protocol. For more information and step-by-step instructions see the supported IMAP client list.

To configure calendar synchronization between Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar, use the Google Calendar Sync tool.

3. Connecting Calendaring on your Exchange Server to Google Apps

The Google Calendar Connectors are a set of services, typically deployed by our Google Enterprise Partners, that allow Google Calendar to interoperate with Exchange 2003 servers through the bi-directional sharing of Calendar Free / Busy information. Each of the tools is installed in the local Exchange environment and must be maintained and configured by an Exchange Administrator.

4. Dual Delivery options for Exchange and Google Apps

Dual delivery allows incoming mail to be delivered to your current email infrastructure as well as Google Apps Email. This lets your organization test Google Apps Email without interrupting current systems, making it a nearly risk-free pilot. It also allows users to test Google Apps without having to abandon their current setup.

5. Migrating Email to Google Apps

If you’re interested in migrating mail from Exchange Server, an Outlook Client or another email system to Google Apps, review the list of migration options.

6. Single Sign-On and Directory Sync

While Google Apps provides single sign-on (SSO) support for SAML based systems. With Google Apps Directory Sync, you can automatically provision users and groups based on the user data in your LDAP server, such as Microsoft Active Directory or Lotus Domino. Google Apps Directory Sync connects to your Google Apps account and adds/deletes user accounts to match your existing organizational schema.

MxToolBox is proud to be a certified Google Apps Reseller. We would be happy to talk with you to determine if Google Apps would be appropriate for your business. We help our clients with initial configuration, planning the migration of existing data, and deployment so that they can take full advantage of all the services and features provided by Google Apps. Please contact us at 866-MXTOOLBOX or sales@mxtoolbox.com.

Google Apps: Gmail Labels

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After introducing many small and medium sized businesses to Google Apps it became clear that most were only scratching the surface of the capabilities built into the Google products.

We hope that these documents help you maximize the impact of your efforts by utilizing Apps to their full potential.

Google Apps Gmail has many great features that can simplify your email work flow and organization. One of these features is the labels, Google’s alternative to folders.

Most users are used to a traditional email client with a tree structure of folders and sub-folders. Almost all users manually maintain their folders by dragging messages from the inbox to their final resting place. Not only is this extremely time consuming, but it is also not uncommon for a message to get placed into the wrong folder. Filters are not commonly used to automatically place messages in folders because they are complicated to create and more importantly, users want the messages to come into the inbox first.

Labels can provide the same type of organization you get from traditional folders, but give you a few extra bonuses.

Gmail makes creating filters incredibly easy. You can either manually select messages or perform a search which selects messages, then click “filter messages like these”.

The filter can apply a label (which is the same as putting it into a folder) and still have it show up in the inbox as well.

You can’t be in two places at once. Traditional folders force you to decide where a message should be. Labels allow messages to appear in multiple labels, including the Inbox. So your filters can run automatically as messages arrive but are not lost in a folder where you won’t see them.

You can view all the messages with a label by clicking the label name along the left side of any Gmail page. For the screen shot below I choose the label Craig, you can see that all messages tagged with Craig are shown but if a message has more than one label it is available as well.

You can manually apply labels as well by manually dragging the label over one or more selected messages. In the screenshot below I dragged the label Wendy and applied it to the message.

If your users are using the Google Apps Sync Tool then their Outlook folder structure will reflect exactly on their Google Apps Gmail account as well.

The below image shows a typical Outlook folder structure before Google Apps.	The Google Apps Sync Tool applies labels which are identical to their Outlook folder counterparts.
Outlook with Folders and Sub-Folders	Google Apps Gmail with Labels

For more details on adding, creating and changing labels go here. For a great video that explains labels even more, go here.

Google Apps: One button to merge all duplicate contacts

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As Google Partners we love to see the adoption of Google Apps and we love to see all of the updates!

Managing a big address book can be a challenge, so it’s no surprise that the top request for Google contacts is a fast, easy way to merge duplicate contacts. You’ve been able to merge contacts one-by-one for a while, but now we’ve added a single button that merges all your duplicate contacts at once. To clean up your contact list in one fell swoop, just click the “Find duplicates” button in the contact manager, review the merge suggestions (and uncheck any suggestions you don’t want merged), and hit the “Merge” button.

If you’ve been considering getting all your contacts into Gmail or syncing your Gmail contacts to your phone, now’s the time to do it. As we’ve written about previously, you can sync your contacts to a wide variety of devices (including Android, iPhone, Blackberry, SyncML, etc). So if you were dreading spending hours getting your contacts in order, now you can do it with a couple clicks.

For more details, go here.

Hundreds of Thousands of UK Students Move to Google Apps

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Google announced today that several more UK universities are moving to Google Apps for their email infrastructure. Moving over to Google Apps will provide these universities with access to a suite of messaging and collaboration tools including Google Mail™, Google Docs™, Google Sites™ and Google Chat™. Now that these universities are using the Google suite of products, students will have access to schedule lectures, gather information in a shared location for group projects, organise society events and collaborate and communicate with tutors and peers. It will also familiarise them with a useful tool for their professional lives, as the adoption of Google Apps within UK businesses becomes increasingly widespread.

For more details on the UK universities moving to Google Apps, view the press release here.

As Google Partners we love to see the adoption of Google Apps. If you would like information on how Google Apps can help your organization, contact one of our Google Apps specialists.

MxToolBox is on Twitter! Make sure to follow us so that you stay up to date on any changes to our system, new blogs, new information etc.

New MxToolBox Website Released

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Thank you to all that tested out our Beta website in the last few weeks. We have officially released our NEW website with a new layout and even better and bigger tools! We affectionately call our tool the Super Tool as it combines all the tools into one Super Tool.

About the SuperTool!

All of your MX record, DNS, blacklist and SMTP diagnostics in one integrated tool. Input a domain name orIP Address or Host Name. Links in the results will guide you to otherrelevant tools and information. And you’ll have a chronological history of your results.

If you already know exactly what you want, you can force a particular test or lookup. Try some of these examples:

(e.g. “blacklist: 127.0.0.2” will do a blacklist lookup)

command		explanation
blacklist:		Check IP or host for reputation
smtp:		Test mail server SMTP (port 25)
mx:		DNS MX records for domain
a:		DNS A record IP address for host name
spf:		Check SPF records on a domain
txt:		Check TXT records on a domain
ptr:		DNS PTR record for host name
cname:		DNS canonical host name to IP address
scan:		Perform a port scan on the host New!
whois:		Get domain registration information New!
arin:		Get IP address block information New!

		Other tools coming soon.
http:		Get web page at URL
https:		Get web page at URL using SSL encryption
ping:		Perform a standard ICMP ping
trace:		Perform a standard ICMP trace route

Feedback: If you run into any problems with the site or have an idea that you think would make it better, we would appreciate your feedback. Please leave us a note in our forums.

Configuring iCal to sync with Google Apps using CalDAV

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Recently we were helping a client plan their migration from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps. The customer requested that we investigate how their OS X users were going to be able to use Google Calendars with iCal locally on their Macs.

As a Google Apps provider, we were happy to work with them to develop procedures that would work for their users with minimal impact on their current work practices. We began researching but were frustrated at first with what we found. We quickly discovered this helpful Google article, but it didn’t include any instructions on how to add additional calendars other than your own primary calendar.

The critical piece of missing information was how to build the CalDAV server address for the all the calendars you have set up in Google Apps. It is important to remember that all of the sharing and setting of permissions for calendars are controlled by the web interface. You will need to go into the settings panel for each calendar to find the Calendar ID for each calendar you wish to add.

The CalDAV address for your primary calendar is always https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/YOUREMAIL@DOMAIN.COM/user where your Google Apps account replaces YOUREMAIL@DOMAIN.COM. On the settings page of each of your calendars there is a section labeled Calendar Adress. To the right of the XML ICAL and HTML buttons you will see the Calendar ID. The CalDAV server address you will use when configuring iCal to sync with the Google Apps servers is https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/{CalendarID}/user.

It would be nice if Outlook could consume CalDAV natively like iCal which would make working with multiple Google Calendars as easy as this in Windows.

Detailed step-by-step instructions are in the full version of this blog post below.

To configure a calendar in iCal to sync with Google Apps using CalDAV

1) The unique Calendar ID needed for the account url is only available through Google Calendar settings. Select the small down arrow next to the calendar that you are importing and select Calendar Settings.

2) This will bring up a page with details for that calendar, scroll all the way to the bottom to the section labeled Calendar Address: and copy the Calendar ID:

3) Open iCal and go to Preferences.

2) This will pop up a list of your current Accounts. Click on the plus sign on the bottom left to launch the Add Calendar window.

3) Fill out the information that is requested including:

Description: (Something that will help you identify the calendar in the list)

Username: (your full Google Apps email address including the domain)

Password: (your Google Apps password)

Server Options (select the small arrow to open this field)

**Account URL: (The CalDAV server address you will use when configuring iCal to sync with the Google Apps servers is https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/{CalendarID}/user.)

**Account URL: The CalDAV server address you will use when configuring iCal to sync with the Google Apps servers is https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/{CalendarID}/user.

4) Once you click Add, the calendar will begin syncing in iCal, but before you close the Accounts window, make sure to set the Refresh calendar to a desirable time:

5) Simply repeat the steps above to add multiple Google Calendars to iCal! Below is a screenshot of iCal with several Google Calendars already synced.

Troubleshooting Tips

This error simply means that the password or username was mistyped and needs to be corrected. Ensure that you are using your full Google Apps email address and your Google Apps password.

This error means that either the URL https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/{CalendarID}/user is incorrect or the Calendar ID is incorrect.

MxToolbox Blog

Email Delivery Experts

Category Archives: MX News

ClueCentral Blacklist – RBL has gone down

Integrating Microsoft Outlook and Exchange with Google Apps

Google Apps: Gmail Labels

Google Apps: One button to merge all duplicate contacts

Hundreds of Thousands of UK Students Move to Google Apps

New MxToolBox Website Released

About the SuperTool!

Configuring iCal to sync with Google Apps using CalDAV

To configure a calendar in iCal to sync with Google Apps using CalDAV

Troubleshooting Tips