Authenticating Your Domain in SparkPost

• Introduction
• Adding a Sending Domain
• Adding DNS Records
• How do I know if the domain is verified and working?
• Adding A Bounce Domain

Introduction

To verify ownership of the domain used for outgoing messages, you must authenticate your domain within your SparkPost account. This step is required before setting up the SparkPost Integration in Gravity SMTP.

For more information and related articles, refer to SparkPost’s official documentation.

Adding a Sending Domain

1. Log in to your SparkPost account and click on Domains.
2. Click on Add Domain.

3. Select the type of domain you want to add. Select the default Sending Domain option > Save and Continue.

4. A modal will appear, letting you choose between Strict and Relaxed alignment.
   For a root domain (e.g., example.com), select No under Verify this domain for bounce to disable it.
   For a subdomain (e.g., mail.example.com), select Yes to enable it.

5. Click on Save and Continue.
   Now, you are ready to verify your sending domain. This process involves adding DNS records.

Adding DNS Records

After adding your sending domain, SparkPost will display two DNS records to add. Once added, check the box next to “The TXT and CNAME records have been added to the DNS provider“, then click Verify Domain.

You will be prompted to add one record when adding a root domain.

When adding a subdomain, you will be prompted to add two records.

1. Once you’ve done so, select the checkbox next to “The TXT and CNAME records have been added to the DNS provider.“
2. Click Verify Domain.

How do I know if the domain is verified and working?

Your domain’s status will change to Pending. This means the domain is in the final review process which will verify that the domain meets Sparkpost’s best practice requirements, which can take up to 24 hours as your DNS records update.

Adding A Bounce Domain

Note: A bounce domain is only required when using a root domain (e.g. example.com) as the sending domain.

Using your root domain as the sending domain requires the Relaxed domain alignment option in SparkPost. This means you’ll also need to set up a separate bounce domain to receive bounce notifications.

The requirements for sending domains are in SparkPost’s official documentation here.