Is Netlify your DNS host?
Only if the domain is delegated to Netlify DNS. Its nameservers then read dns1.p01.nsone.net, dns2.p01.nsone.net and so on — four of them, the number after p different from zone to zone. Netlify runs its DNS on NS1's servers, and so do many other companies, so a nameserver ending nsone.net is not proof by itself: open DNS in your team's sidebar, choose the domain, and check the four under Name servers are exactly the four the domain uses.
A domain can have a zone at Netlify that is not in use — added to Netlify while the registrar still points elsewhere. Netlify calls that an inactive zone: it exists, it lists records, and it is never asked. If the nameservers name another company, that host's guide is the one to follow.
Where the records go
- Sign in at app.netlify.com.
- Open DNS in the team's sidebar and choose the domain. (From a site, Domain management has a Go to DNS panel link to the same page.)
- At the bottom of DNS records, press Add new record. A form titled Create a new DNS record opens; choose the Record type first, and the fields under it change with it.
What Netlify calls each field
| On imado | On Netlify | What to put |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Record type | Choose it from the list first; the fields under it change with the type. |
| Host | Name | Only the part before your domain — Netlify adds .example.com itself. For the MX record it is @, which the form's own hint says means the domain itself. |
| Value | Value | Exactly as shown, copied with the button, without quotes. |
| Priority | Priority | Appears once Record type is MX, between Name and Value. 10. |
| — | TTL in seconds (optional) | Optional. Netlify fills in its default if you leave it empty. |
What to put for the domain itself
One record — the MX record, the one that makes mail arrive — belongs to the domain itself rather than to anything in front of it. Every DNS panel has its own way of saying that, and instructions written for a different one are the usual reason a correct-looking MX record receives nothing.
On Netlify, type @. The form says so under the Name field itself: @ sets the record on the domain.
Do not type the domain in full. Netlify appends your domain to whatever is in Name — its own staff describe exactly this, with a DKIM record whose name was typed whole and came out as ….example.com.example.com.
The other five records all have something in front of the domain — _imado-challenge, _dmarc, the three _domainkey names — and those go in Name exactly as shown, with no domain after them.
Add the six records
First the ownership record; then, once imado shows it as Added, the other five. Each is Add new record, the fields, and Save.
| Record type | Name | Value | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| TXT | _imado-challenge | imado-verification=… | — |
| CNAME | …._domainkey | ….dkim.amazonses.com | — |
| CNAME | …._domainkey | ….dkim.amazonses.com | — |
| CNAME | …._domainkey | ….dkim.amazonses.com | — |
| MX | @ | inbound-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com | 10 |
| TXT | _dmarc | v=DMARC1; p=none; | — |
What gets in the way
- An inactive zone. Records added to a zone the domain is not delegated to are never answered, and the panel looks the same either way. Check the name servers as above before you start, and again if imado sees nothing.
- A record that did not save. Netlify's forum has reports, some recent, of a TXT or MX record whose form closed without an error and without the record appearing. After each Save, find the record in the list. If it is not there, add it again; if it still will not appear, Netlify's support is the one to ask.
- Records cannot be edited. A record typed wrong is replaced, not corrected: add the right one, then delete the wrong one.
- The site's own records. A domain used by a Netlify site has records of type NETLIFY on the domain and on
www. Leave them: deleting them takes the site down, and they do not affect mail. - Moving the nameservers to Netlify. Records at the previous DNS host stop counting once Netlify takes over. Copy any you still need across first; Netlify says the switch can take up to a day.
Then, on imado
Back on your domain's page, press Check again. Netlify says a record change can take up to a few hours to be seen. When the ownership record is Added, the other records appear; when those are, create the mailbox and send yourself a message — steps 5 and 6 of the setup.
Netlify's own guides cover DNS records and delegating a domain to Netlify DNS.
