Setting up your domain

4 min

Delegate DNS

The DNS delegation is divided into the configuration of the sender domain and the configuration of an additional subdomain. The subdomain is used by Optimizely Campaign for the technical part of the email delivery and the creation of tracking links.

When the DNS delegation is configured, Optimizely Campaign sends emails with a from address like [email protected]. If a recipient clicks a link in an email (e.g. https://www.example.com/special-offers), Optimizely Campaign converts the link to a tracking link based on the technical subdomain (e.g. https://newsletter.example.com/trackingcode). The recipient is forwarded to our tracking servers to register action data and then forwarded to the original landing page.

Forward this information to the party responsible for your domain.

Note If you need to set a TTL, use the value "900 seconds". This ensures that in case of any mistakes, changes will propagate in about 15 minutes. Note also the different subdomains needed in the steps below.

Configure

To use a preferred domain, several DNS records must be created. The following configuration steps use the domain example.com.

Note The domain t.example.com is the technical subdomain of example.com.

Messages sent to the return path will not be accepted if their size exceeds the 1MB limit.

Create a new A-RR entry to lead tracking links to the Optimizely tracking server

Domain: t.example.com

Value: 193.169.180.193

Create a new MX-RR entry to lead technical responses (e.g. bounce messages) to the Optimizely email server.

Domain: t.example.com

Priority: 0

Value: mail.srv2.de.

Create a new TXT-RR entry to authorizes all IP addresses used by the Optimizely email servers for your domain.

Domain: t.example.com

Value: v=spf1 include:spf.srv2.de -all

Create a new CNAME-RR entry to authorize the subdomain and ensure compatibility.

Domain: mailing._domainkey.t.example.com

Value: dkim.srv2.de.

Create a new CNAME-RR entry to authorizes the Optimizely servers to use your domain for sending emails via Optimizely Campaign.

Domain: mailing._domainkey.example.com

Value: dkim.srv2.de.

Create a new TXT-RR entry to set a DMARC record to protect your domain from email spoofing.

Domain: _dmarc.example.com

Value: v=DMARC1; p=reject; rua=mailto:[email protected];

Optional: If you have domain management self-service enabled in your client, you will need to add a CNAME record for verification. (Replace VERIFICATION_CODE with the string displayed in Campaign UI, see Adding a domain in the User Guide)

Domain: VERIFICATION_CODE.t.example.com

Value: t.example.com.

For information on how to set up DMARC, see the Optimizely User Guide.

Summary

The example.com entries can be summarized as below.

Domain	TTL		Entry	Value
t.example.com	900	IN	A	193.169.180.193
t.example.com	900	IN	MX	0 mail.srv2.de.
t.example.com	900	IN	TXT	v=spf1 include:spf.srv2.de -all
mailing._domainkey.t.example.com	900	IN	CNAME	dkim.srv2.de.
mailing._domainkey.example.com	900	IN	CNAME	dkim.srv2.de.
_dmarc.example.com	900	IN	TXT	v=DMARC1; p=reject; rua=mailto:[email protected];
VERIFICATION_CODE.t.example.com	900	IN	CNAME	t.example.com.