How to configure email autoconfiguration for a domain?

Question

Outlook and a number of other email clients now feature autodiscovery of mail server settings and it bugs me that I don't have this set up for our domains, but I'm not sure how to do it and a quick google hasn't turned up anything. I presume it's done with some kind of SRV record in DNS - is this correct and if so what's the correct format?

Solution 1

I am sorry I might be late to the party here. If you are still looking for a solution, I spent a weekend figuring out how to provide Auto Configuration (autodiscover what Outlook 2010 calls it) for most popular email clients including iOS.

I wrote it all down in a blog post here: http://moens.ch/2012/05/31/providing-email-client-autoconfiguration-information/ (also available via archive.org)

Outlook 2010 actually does a combination of DNS lookup and XML config. It first does a SRV lookup for _autodiscover._tcp.<yourdomain> and then does an xml POST request to your autodiscover url and expects an XML response. My post contains samples of the XML response and a link to the full autodiscover xml Response spec on MS technet.

In short: You can provide full autodiscover functionality to your users even without Exchange server.

Solution 2

RFC 6186 describes how to use SRV records for e-mail services. Summary:

• SRV records like _submission._tcp SRV 0 1 587 mail.example.com. and _pop3, _pop3s, _imap, _imaps. (Last number is the port number.)
• When offering both IMAP and POP, use the first number to show which is preferred (lower is preferable).

I don't know which MUA's already implement this. Maybe KMail. Thunderbird not yet?

Solution 3

So far as I know, the (Outlook) feature requires Exchange 2007 or later.

Comments

[Whisk]

I don't think it's an exchange feature, because you don't have to put in the address of your mail server...

[Whisk]

Apologies - just found this exchangeexchange.com/forums/t/551.aspx - looks like it does use dns but is exchange specific...

[Whisk]

I think android does something like this...

[Kara Marfia]

No worries, it wouldn't be the first time Microsoft had commandeered a bit of terminology and implemented it in a way that stomps all over someone else's standard. :/

[Whisk]

Yep, and again not for the first time it's one of those things that you wish the internet would manage to sort out a single standard for, but it never happens :/

[mohannad rateb]

Your blog is gone, is this post you mention available somewhere else?

[Friedrich]

web.archive.org/web/20120828065248/http://moens.ch/2012/05/3‌​1/…

[neutrinus]

android doesn't use SRV, just autodiscover.xml: code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=45380

[Shaun Bouckaert]

Here's an archive link that has some better formatting: web.archive.org/web/20150817115525/http://moens.ch:80/2012/0‌​5/…

[Alois Mahdal]

Claws Mail implements this (since 3.10, IIRC)

[mhmpl]

kmail does not seem to, unless I have done something wrong I filed a bug