Google Apps-An Introduction

  

Just had a great opportunity today attend a Mindboggling Presentation on Google Apps by Ashish Mittal-Country Lead Sales Engineering at Google India Enterprise and one of his colleagues.

With a simple presentation these guys just bought so many ignored facts and innovations by Google which we use every day and never think of their uniqueness!!!!!!! An example was Labels over Folders!!! Find out why it’s unique???

Just to be ready for the presentation I had subscribed for a trial of Google Apps to know about its features and hence this article.

Google Apps is a service from Google providing independently customizable versions of several Google products under a custom domain name. It features several Web applications with similar functionality to traditional office suites, including Gmail, Google Groups, Google Calendar, Talk, Docs and Sites. It was the vision of Rajen Sheth, a Google employee who later developed Chromebooks

Registration Process:

Ø  A simple process where you put in a domain name that’s registered under your name or belongs to you.

Ø  After the completion you receive a .html file that you need to add to the top level folder of your website. This requires you to logon to the Control Panel provided by Service Provider.

The .html mainly verifies your website using the Webmaster tools. Else, you have 2 more options

1.       Meta-Tag- Add a meta tag to your website

2.       TXT Record- Add a TXT record to your DNS Editor

MX Record:

After a successful verification you should be able to logon to your Google Apps console but what’s missing for now is to add a MX Record. The records should contain the settings as mentioned below with Priority depending on Admins choice.

These records need to added from MX Editor in the Control Panel

The MX Records take at least 2-3 hours to get updated for successful mail delivery for Outside domains.

One of the great things about Google Apps is that you can access your mail from any standard web browser. Just open any browser on any computer and go here to get your mail:

Your Gmail address:        http://mail.google.com/a/domainname.com

Console Evaluation

DashBoard:

A pretty neat looking Dashboard with a list of all the services provided to the registered domain. Also, contains a setup guide to help you Add Users, MX Record for mail flow and other setups.

User Access Management:

The User access management console has all the features that are expected from a Directory Services Console. Features like AD Sync are available using LDAP authentication as well user creation from the console itself.

Multiple User upload:

Groups:

Domain Settings:

Reports:

Advanced Tools:

The advanced tools section contains a bundle of tools like Bulk User upload , Single Sign On and Secure Data Connector.

Setup:

The Initial configuration is left incomplete can be finished from this console with detailed steps provided.

Support:

The Support page contains your Personal PIN associated with your account which comes in handy in case of support from Google. This section also contains other options like Online and Phone support.