Troubleshooting Domain Verification Issues – Vanillasoft

Verifying a domain is usually successful within minutes but can take up to 48 hours depending on various factors. If your domain doesn't verify within 30 minutes, you should try the troubleshooting steps below. If you encounter problems while following the procedure for verifying a DKIM domain identity with your DNS provider, review the possible causes and solutions below.

Common Issues and Solutions

1. DNS Provider Appending the Domain Name

Some DNS providers, like GoDaddy, automatically append the domain name to the end of the DNS record. For example, if you create a record with the attribute name _domainkey.example.com, the provider might append the domain name again, resulting in _domainkey.example.com.example.com. To avoid this, add a period to the end of the domain name when entering the DNS record, making it _domainkey.example.com.. This step tells your DNS provider not to append the domain name to the record.

2. Verifying a Domain You Don't Own

Verifying domains you do not own, such as gmail.com, is not supported. You need to follow the SMTP configuration process for such domains.

3. DNS Provider Not Allowing Underscores

A few DNS providers don't allow underscores in DNS record names. However, the underscore is required in the DKIM record name. If your DNS provider doesn't allow underscores, contact their customer support for assistance.

4. DNS Provider Modifying DNS Record Value

Some providers modify DNS record values to use only lowercase letters. Amazon SES requires an exact match of the verification record. If your DNS provider changes your DNS record values to lowercase, contact them for support.

5. Verifying the Same Domain Multiple Times

If you need to verify your domain multiple times (e.g., sending from different regions or multiple AWS accounts), and your DNS provider doesn't allow multiple records with the same name, you might still verify two domains by using multiple attribute values in the same DNS record. For DNS managed by Amazon Route 53, follow these steps:

In the Route 53 console, select the CNAME record created for the first verification.
In the Value box, add the new attribute value on a new line.
Save the record set.

If your DNS provider doesn't support multiple values for the same DNS record, verify the domain once with _domainkey and once without it in the attribute name. This allows for two verifications, though only twice.

Checking Domain Verification Settings

VanillaSoft will indicate if your domain is verified on the Verify Email Domain page. To confirm, you can check if your Amazon SES domain verification DNS record is correctly published using the nslookup tool on Windows. Here's how:

1. Find Your Domain's Name Servers

1.1 Click the Windows Start button and search for the Command Prompt.

1.2 Open the Command Prompt.

1.3 Type the following command, replacing <domain> with your domain:

nslookup -type=NS <domain>

This will list all the name servers for your domain.

2. Verify CNAME Records

2.1 At the command prompt, type the following, replacing <random string>, <domain>, and <name server> with the SES generated CNAME name, your domain, and one of the name servers:

nslookup -type=CNAME <random string>_domainkey.<domain> <name server>

For example, if your domain is ses-example.com, and the name server is ns1.name-server.net:

nslookup -type=CNAME 4hzwn5lmznmmjyl2pqf2agr3uzzzzxyz_domainkey.ses-example.com ns1.name-server.net

2.2 Ensure the output matches the CNAME value provided by Amazon SES.

Common Email Verification Issues

Verification Email Didn't Arrive

Check the spam or junk mail folder.
Confirm that the address can receive email by sending a test email from another address.
Check the list of verified addresses in the Amazon SES console for errors.

Domain verification in VanillaSoft is straightforward but can require troubleshooting. This guide provides solutions to common issues, including DNS provider configurations and verification processes.

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