Add the Smart Hostname dedicated domain to Microsoft 365 accepted domains

About this article

The origin domain, Smart Hostname, should be considered inside the customer organization for Exchange Online to accept emails returning on the Inbound Connector.

Organizations must add the unique domain, the Smart Hostname, generated for the deployment as an accepted domain to their Exchange Online configuration.

Prerequisites

Start new domain registration.

• Navigate to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center at admin.microsoft.com
• Click Settings in the left-hand pane.
• Click Domains
• Click [+Add domain]

   

• Add a domain.

  • Add the ESS Smart Hostname [tenant-name].templafy-ess.com for the Domain name in the textbox.
  • Click [Use this domain]

     

• Verify you own your domain.

  • Select the default first option: Add a TXT record to the domain's DNS records.
  • Click [Continue]

     

• Add a record to verify ownership.

  • This screen will display values that are needed by the Templafy Solutions Engineer to proceed.
  • The Templafy Solutions Engineer will need the "TXT value" shown on the screen.

    The process will hold here until the ESS Smart Host DNS record is updated for your implementation by the Templafy Solutions Engineer and will resume in the Verify the domain step afterward.

     

• Verify the domain.

  • • Go back to the "Add domain" process and click the [Verify] button.
    • Continue the process in the UI there.
      • • Select "More Options" --> "Add your own DNS records" 

• •  
    • Uncheck the "Exchange and Exchange Online Protection" box. 

• • • Continue the process until the end.
    • If after the verification step the flow displays some missing DNS records, go back and make sure you have uncheck the box related to having the domain as an Exchange Online Protection domain.

• The status should update as the following.

• The organization domains (unchanged) The ESS domain with the status "No services selected" - the status is expected and should be considered as a success.