Configuring an Azure shared site with domains4less

I've fumbled my way around configuring my domain (http://quiet.net.nz to host apps I create) and azure shared site with the domains4less control panel templates and the howto from http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/documentation/articles/web-sites-custom-domain-name/

On of my gotchas is the default template with its * and @, my confusion around the MX and TXT records I configured (prefixed with @) in my previous post about domains.live.com setup.

I added a CNAME for www to my azurewebsites.net address, awaited the replication and then added the awverify settings. But the wildcards of both @ and * and the restrictions on @ in CNAME led me to killing the A for * and setting the * in the CNAME.

If you get what I mean.
CNAMEs
* -> mysite.azurewebsites.net
awverify -> awverify.mysite.azurewebsites.net
www -> mysite.azurewebsites.net

A
Deleted the entry for * -> domains4less destination IP.
Changed the entry for @ -> azure IP from the Manage Domains configuration.

Setting up free email hosting with Microsoft

After far too long I've finally nabbed a domain for myself. Using the standard forwarding of email and an iframe redirect with cloaking seemed... a bit off. A quick search led me to Google apps who now charge for hosting an email domain, and to Microsoft who don't using mail.live (outlook.com) as the base.

Head over to https://domains.live.com and sign in, you'll get to the Domain settings mail setup.

The instructions are fairly straight forward, the only issue I had was configuring my dns settings via my provider. The advanced control panel on domains4less.co.nz had an odd layout that I had to get my head around.

Logging in, select domain templates from the menu and add a new template.

There is a selection of A records and MX records added by default, but following the instructions from MS I removed all the MX and set a single record prefixed with @, 10 priority and the address of the server (blah.hotmail.com in this case).

I then added the TXT record as they advised using the same prefix @ as the MX.

domains4less updates once every 30 minutes so I waited till the next tick and hit refresh on live.com. Nothing.

Waiting another 15 minutes for the settings to roll out properly and success! I was then able to configure the email account I wanted and logged into the familiar looking site of that account.

Now to continue setting up with an azure site.