Create User List To Upload
We recommend that you generate a list of current user names (the part before the "@" and your domain name) prior to the initial setup so that you can define what email addresses Scora will be filtering. This list must be comprehensive (including any aliases or shared accounts like "sales@example.com") because Scora will reject email sent to any address that isn't on the list. Save this list of user names as a plain text file with one user name per line on the computer you will perform the initial setup from and be prepared to reference it in step 2 (Quick-Start) of the setup process. A sample list would look like this:

support
admin
info
jane
john

Reduce the DNS Time To Live (TTL) Value
To direct email for your domain through the Scora service, you will need to make a change in the Domain Name System (DNS) records for your domain. In order to make this change go as smoothly as possible, it is highly recommended that you reduce the "Time To Live" (TTL) value for your domain to 5 minutes. The TTL value controls (among other things) how long mail servers remember where to direct email messages for your domain before they have to check back and see if the destination mail server has changed. By setting this value to 5 minutes, we ensure that when you are ready to start having Scora tackle your spam the change takes effect as quickly as possible.

If you host your own domain name, then you will need to make the MX change yourself. Otherwise, you will need to forward the request to your domain hosting company. If you're not sure who hosts the DNS for your domain, you might be able to track down more information by doing a Whois query on your domain. This is one web page you can use to do a Whois query (simply type in your domain name without "www"):

http://www.geektools.com/whois.php

Whoever controls the DNS for your domain needs to reduce the TTL value on MX (Mail eXchanger) record with the smallest "preference" value (the final destination MX) to 5 minutes. If the domain host is using the standard BIND file format it might look like this before the change:

example.com.  21600  IN MX 5   mailbox.example.com.

and like this after the change:

example.com.  300    IN MX 5   mailbox.example.com.

If you have multiple MX records for your domain, you must reduce the TTL on all of the MX records to 5 minutes. All of them must be reduced because RFC 2181 Section 5.2 requires that the TTLs on all resource record sets match. We recommend that you reduce the TTL at least 2 full days before you wish to start having Scora process your mail. If you are unable to reduce the TTL in advance for some reason, it will just take a day or two for you to see the full effects of the Scora filtering.

WARNING!!! Please confirm that only the TTL value is modified. Do NOT update the MX record to point to the Scora filtering server until *AFTER* you have completed the Quick-Start guide. Prematurely pointing your MX record to the Scora filtering server prior to completing the configuration will cause mail sent to your domain to be delayed and possibly bounced as undeliverable. In such cases, the Scora filtering server will tell other mail servers to try sending messages again later. The number of attempts a sending mail server will make before it gives up will vary from server to server and is controlled by the sending servers's administrator, not by Scora. Please contact Tiki Technologies Support if you have any questions.

Activate Your Account
Before you can utilize the Scora filtering service, you will need to Contact Tiki Technologies to create an account and have your domain(s) assigned to that account. This will prepare the service to handle your email without actually starting to direct mail through the service. Once your account is activated, your designated authorized Scora administrator will be given a Login name (normally an email address) and a password to access the Scora user interface.

You are now ready to proceed to Step 2: Quick-Start. To continue, click NEXT.