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Resolving Email Delivery Issues: Missing DNS Records for Your Domain

Why your organization's email domain might be experiencing issues with email delivery, leading to problems with student and parent accounts.

Laura Litton avatar
Written by Laura Litton
Updated over a week ago

The Problem: Your Domain is Missing Key Email Security Records

Emails sent to your domain (e.g., youremail@yourdomain.org) are being flagged as "risky" by email services like Microsoft and Google. This happens because your domain is missing specific identifiers known as DNS records. Without these records, email providers cannot verify that the emails are legitimate and safe to deliver. As a result, emails sent to your domain are often rejected, sent to spam folders, or "bounced."

When our system sends an email to a student or parent account on your domain and it bounces, our system may automatically disassociate the account. This is a necessary step to protect our overall email deliverability and prevent our own email service from being flagged as spam.

This issue isn't limited to our platform; it affects all emails sent from your domain, potentially causing problems with communication across your entire organization.

The Technical Details: What's Missing?

The primary issue is the absence of crucial DNS records for your domain. DNS (Domain Name System) records act like a directory for your domain, telling the internet where to find your website and where to send your emails.

Here is a breakdown of the missing records and their importance:

  • A or CNAME Record (High Priority): These records link your domain name to an IP address, essentially pointing your domain to its hosting server. Without a valid A or CNAME record, your domain can't be resolved, which impacts all services associated with it, including email.

  • MX Record (High Priority): The MX (Mail Exchange) record is what tells other mail servers where to send emails for your domain. Without an MX record, incoming emails have nowhere to go.

  • SPF Record (Lower Priority): SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email authentication protocol that allows domain owners to specify which mail servers are authorized to send email on their behalf. An SPF record helps prevent email spoofing and makes it less likely for your emails to be marked as spam.

  • DMARC Record (Lower Priority): DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is an email validation system that helps protect your domain from unauthorized use (like email phishing). A DMARC record tells a receiving mail server what to do with an email that fails SPF or DKIM checks.

How to Fix It: A Guide for Your IT Team

To resolve this issue, your IT team or the person who manages your domain's DNS records needs to add the missing records. This is a task that must be done at the domain level, with your domain registrar or DNS host.

Your domain is hosted by a third-party. The following steps are a general guide for adding these records, with specific instructions for the DMARC record on Squarespace.

Step 1: Access your DNS Settings

The first step is to log in to your account with your domain host (for example, Squarespace). Navigate to the DNS settings or custom records section for your domain.

Step 2: Add the Missing Records

Your IT team needs to publish the following records:

  • A or CNAME Record: If an A or CNAME record is missing, it must be created to correctly point your domain to its web server.

  • MX Record: An MX record must be added to direct incoming emails to your mail server (e.g., Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, etc.). The specific value will be provided by your email service provider.

  • DMARC and SPF Records: These are typically TXT records.

Example: Adding a DMARC Record on Squarespace

Here are the specific instructions for adding a DMARC record in Squarespace:

  1. Log in to your Squarespace account.

  2. Navigate to DNS and then DNS Settings.

  3. Scroll down to the Custom Records section.

  4. Click Add record.

  5. In the Type dropdown menu, select TXT.

  6. In the Host field, enter _dmarc.

  7. In the Data field, enter a value similar to this: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:<systemadminemail@yourdomain.com>;

    • Note: Replace <systemadminemail@yourdomain.com> with the email address of a system administrator or a mailbox that should receive DMARC alerts.

  8. Click Save.

Step 3: Allow Time for Propagation

After adding these records, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to 72 hours for the changes to take effect across the internet. This process is known as DNS propagation.

Once these records are set up and the domain's reputation improves, emails will be delivered reliably. We can then work with you to add student and parent accounts without the risk of them being automatically reset in the future.

If you have any questions or need any help with this process, please reach out to us at support@liveschoolinc.com.

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