DNS Record Setup
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      3. DNS Record Setup

      Setting Up Your DNS Records with Amazon Route 53

      This article walks through how to add DNS records for email domains hosted by Amazon Route 53 so that Double the Donation emails can be sent from your organization's email domain.

      Step #1: Complete the CNAME Setup

      Step #2: Complete the DMARC Setup

      Troubleshooting CNAME records 

       

      When you create your account we default to sending emails from a Double the Donation email address. You can give Double the Donation's platform permission to send emails on your behalf by adding a few new records in your DNS.

      If you are sending emails from multiple Double the Donation modules, the following steps only need to be completed once. These records can be accessed from any module by navigating to Email Customization --> Sending. 

      Step #1: Complete the CNAME Setup

      1. Log in and navigate to Amazon Route 53 via Amazon Web Services (AWS).

       

      2. After logging in, click the hamburger menu on the left to view options.

       

      3. Select Hosted zones from the menu.

       

      4. Select the domain name that you’d like to update with a CNAME record.

       

      5. From the Hosted zone details page of your custom domain, you will see info relating to the domain and any existing records.

       

      6. Click on the orange Create record button:

       

       

      7. Enter the details for your first CNAME record:

      • Record Type: CNAME
      • Record Name: Navigate to the "Hostname" field from Dp. Copy only the text before .yourdomain.org. See the box in the picture below.
      • Value: Paste the information found under "Value Should Be" from your Double the Donation account.
      • TTL: Can be left as-is or set to 3600 seconds 

       

       

      8. Do the same for your second and third CNAME record.

       

      9. Click the Create records button on the bottom-right to save the changes, and you’re all set!

       

      DNS changes can take 48 hours to propagate. That means after you complete the above steps, you might need to wait up to 24-48 hours before you can log into Double the Donation and successfully click on the "Validate Domain" button.

       

      Step #2: Complete the DMARC Setup

      1. In your DNS Settings, look for the option to review the list of records already added. If you see a DMARC TXT record already added, congratulations! You're done. You can check to make sure that Double the Donation has correctly identified your DMARC record by checking the "TXT" row in Double the Donation "Email Customization - Sending" tab:

       

      DMARC record setup valid notification in 360MatchPro

       

      If you do not see a TXT record in the list, move on to step 2 below.

       

      2. Follow the steps 1-6 in the CNAME setup above.

       

      3. Enter the details for your DMARC record:

      • Record Type: TXT
      • Record Name: Navigate to the "Hostname" field from Double the Donation. Copy only the text before .yourdomain.org. See the box in the picture below.
      • Value: Paste the information found under "Value Should Be" from Double the Donation.
      • TTL: Can be left as-is or set to 3600 seconds 

       

       

      Please note: The sample value provided for your DMARC TXT record is very simple. Your IT team may want to modify it slightly. This value is sufficient for the purposes of sending emails through Double the Donation.

       

      4. Click "Create records"

      Troubleshooting CNAME records 

      If your DNS records still need to be set up or are still being processed, you'll see each record with a CNAME Not Found error displayed for one or all of them. Please check back 24-48 hours later to see if the changes have propagated. If you still see the CNAME Not Found error, please refer to the troubleshooting tips below.
       

      • If there are one or two valid records, but at least one record is still invalid, confirm that all three records have been added to the DNS settings.

      • Ensure CNAMEs were added to the correct domain. (If the From address in Double the Donation is matchinggifts@catrescueclub.org, ensure CNAMEs weren’t accidentally added to the catrescueclub.com domain). 

      • Ensure the CNAME records do not include typos- CNAME records should be copied and pasted directly from your Double the Donation account to ensure the best results. Hand-typing records from a screenshot can lead to accidentally entering the wrong value. Double-check for extra spaces or punctuation on the records.

      • Refer to the instructions provided by your individual DNS service. Instructions for service providers such as GoDaddy, Network Solutions, and DigitalOcean require Hostnames/Aliases to be entered without your organization’s domain included (for example dtd._domainkey.catrescueclub.org will be entered as dtd._domainkey for these providers).

      • If you use a custom nameserver, in place of the default nameserver of your provider, your CNAME records need to be entered into the account associated with the custom nameserver.


      If these scenarios do not apply to your CNAME records, please reach out to support@doublethedonation.com to troubleshoot to find a solution.