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Email Guide

Getting Started with Email Hosting

Everything you need to point your domain, manage mailboxes, and use every feature of your NordServ portal.

Pointing your domain Webmail access Self-service mailboxes Multi-domain plans Anti-spam, SPF, DKIM & DMARC Daily backups

🌐 Pointing your domain

Email hosting needs a handful of DNS records before mail, webmail, and SSL all work — an MX record plus A/AAAA records for the mail, IMAP, SMTP, and webmail subdomains, sometimes a DKIM record, and a recommended SPF and DMARC record. The exact records and IP addresses to use are sent to you in a dedicated setup email right after signup — they're not shown anywhere in the portal, so hang on to that email (or search your inbox for "DNS" if you can't find it).

  1. Log in to wherever your domain's DNS is managed.
  2. Create the A and AAAA records for mail., imap., smtp., and webmail. exactly as listed in your setup email — 8 records in total (one A + one AAAA per subdomain).
  3. Create the MX record: Name/Host @, Value/Points to mail.yourdomain.com, Priority = 10.
  4. If your setup email lists a DKIM TXT record, add that too — it's required for other mail providers to fully trust your outbound mail.
  5. Add the SPF and DMARC TXT records from your setup email as well — one on the bare domain, one on _dmarc.. Neither is required for SSL or for mail to flow, but together with DKIM they're what keeps your outbound mail out of spam folders.
  6. Remove or disable any existing MX records for the domain pointing elsewhere — having two MX records for the same domain can cause inconsistent delivery.
  7. Save — DNS changes typically take a few minutes to an hour to spread, occasionally longer.

Where exactly to click varies by provider — here's the general path for the most common ones:

  • Cloudflare: DNS → Records → Add record. Set every one of these records (A, AAAA, and MX) to "DNS only" (grey cloud) — never the orange proxy cloud.
  • GoDaddy: My Products → DNS (next to your domain) → Add a record.
  • Namecheap: Domain List → Manage → Advanced DNS → Add New Record.
  • Google Domains / Squarespace Domains: DNS settings → Custom records → Manage custom records.
Warning: If you use Cloudflare, these records must stay on "DNS only" (grey cloud) permanently — enabling Cloudflare's orange proxy on any of them will break SSL certificate activation for your mail services.
Tip: If you're moving from another mail provider (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, etc.), update the MX record only once you're ready to cut over — mail sent during the DNS propagation window can land on either the old or new mailbox depending on which record the sender's server picked up.

📧 Webmail access

Every mailbox includes webmail access, so you can check your inbox from any browser without configuring a mail app — the webmail link is on your service page. You can still set up Outlook, Apple Mail, or a phone's mail app too, using the IMAP/SMTP settings on the same page.

📬 Self-service mailboxes

Add or remove mailboxes anytime from your service page — no ticket required, and it takes effect immediately. You can also reset a mailbox's password from the same panel if someone forgets theirs.

🗂️ Multi-domain plans

Mail Business and Mail Pro let you host multiple domains on one plan. Add a domain from your service page, then point its MX record the same way as your first domain — each domain gets its own set of mailboxes.

🛡️ Anti-spam, SPF, DKIM & DMARC

Every domain gets spam filtering and automatic DKIM signing on outbound mail — there's nothing to turn on. Your DNS setup email (covered above) also includes an SPF and a DMARC record — publishing them is optional but recommended, since together with DKIM they're what tells Gmail, Outlook, and other providers your outbound mail is genuinely yours, reducing the chance it lands in spam.

Tip: The DMARC record we send defaults to p=none — monitor-only, it never blocks or spam-folders your mail. Once you're confident your outbound mail (and any other tool sending as your domain, like a marketing platform) is properly aligned, you can tighten the policy yourself: p=quarantine sends misaligned mail to spam, p=reject blocks it outright. Start with p=none unless you already know you need stronger enforcement.

💾 Daily backups

Automatic daily backups are included free on every plan — there's nothing to set up. If you ever need a restore, contact us with the mailbox and date you'd like restored.

Still stuck? Check the FAQ or contact us — we'll answer directly.

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