Are you trying to set up Exchange 365 online plan 1 with 1&1 as your domain host?
Exchange 365 online plan 1 does not come with it's own DNS. This means Microsoft will not manage your DNS for you and you cannot change your nameservers to Microsoft's own.
By now you've also probably noticed that setting up cname and txt records is not obvious.
Well the good news is, cname records are possible... but pointless.
I will still reference how to set up cname records later in this article for historical purposes. But to resolve your problem, there is only the one solution.
It's not exactly the workaround we would like, but it seems to be the only workaround available to verify your domain using 1and1 as your current domain name provider.
Changing cname records on 1and1
Although this will not resolve your Exchange 365 setup issue, this is still useful for future reference.
Not the easiest DNS management we have ever played with and a shame that they do not support txt records, otherwise we would not have needed to point to an alternate name server.
Exchange 365 online plan 1 does not come with it's own DNS. This means Microsoft will not manage your DNS for you and you cannot change your nameservers to Microsoft's own.
By now you've also probably noticed that setting up cname and txt records is not obvious.
Well the good news is, cname records are possible... but pointless.
I will still reference how to set up cname records later in this article for historical purposes. But to resolve your problem, there is only the one solution.
- Move your nameserver records to another DNS provider.
- We had access to another DNS provider where we could set up DNS records for our clients domain and point through to the settings required by Office 365.
- Set up the domain in your secondary name server.
- log on to the 1and1 control panel
- Go to your domain
- Please make a note of all current DNS settings on 1and1 before making any changes. You will need to make these changes in your donor nameserver
- Select the domain and select to edit the DNS
- In the DNS, at the top, select to change the nameserver
- Change your nameserver to your new DNS provider
- On your new DNS provider, set up the necessary DNS records required by Microsoft
- Allow the records to update over the internet and test again within Microsoft's portal
- Hopefully you should now have a fully qualified domain
- Continue with the Exchange setup
It's not exactly the workaround we would like, but it seems to be the only workaround available to verify your domain using 1and1 as your current domain name provider.
Changing cname records on 1and1
Although this will not resolve your Exchange 365 setup issue, this is still useful for future reference.
- Within the 1and1 control panel, you will need to select your domain
- In your domain, select to create a new subdomain
- add the subdomain e.g. autodiscover
- Once added, select to edit the DNS settings for your subdomain
- Locate advanced DNS
- Change the advanced DNS to either a cname record or alternate IP address
- Enter the address as necessary
Not the easiest DNS management we have ever played with and a shame that they do not support txt records, otherwise we would not have needed to point to an alternate name server.