Contents:

Steps to Set Up DKIM on Ezekia

Video Guide

Common DNS/Hosting Providers

Finding Your Domain’s Registrar

Troubleshooting

Notification and Client Portal Email Delivery Issues

My DKIM Settings Are No Longer Valid

DMARC


Steps to Set Up DKIM on Ezekia

For a detailed explanation of the DKIM setup process, please see this article.

 

Video Guide

For a detailed explanation of the DKIM setup process, please watch this video.


Common DNS/Hosting Providers

Different DNS/hosting providers have their own specific instructions for adding DNS records. Below is a table with links to the documentation for some of the most common providers: 

 

Finding Your Domain’s Registrar

Before you can add DMARC, DKIM, and SPF records, you need to know where your domain is registered so you can access your DNS settings. If you're unsure, you can find out who your domain registrar is by using a WHOIS Lookup service.

WHOIS is a query and response protocol that is widely used for querying databases to determine the registered users of an Internet resource, such as a domain name.

  1. Go to a WHOIS Lookup Service:
  2. Enter Your Domain Name:
    • In the search field, enter your domain name (e.g. your website URL address such as yourdomain.com) and initiate the search.
  3. Review the Results:
    • The WHOIS lookup will provide information about your domain, including:
      • The registrar's name (e.g., GoDaddy, Namecheap)
      • The registration and expiration dates
      • Contact information for the domain owner
    • Look for the section that says "Registrar" to find the name of your domain registrar.


DNS Troubleshooting

  • Propagation Delays: DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate. Be patient and check periodically.
  • Incorrect Selector: Ensure that the DKIM selector is correctly formatted and matches what your email service provider specifies.
  • Public Key Issues: Verify that the DKIM public key is correctly entered without any extra spaces or characters.
  • Missing SPF Record: An SPF record is also required for DKIM to work properly. Make sure you have both an SPF and a DKIM record set up for your domain.

 

Checking and Validating Your DNS Records

If you are still encountering issues with DKIM verification, follow these steps to help resolve most DKIM setup issues:

  1. Verify the CNAME Records:
    Double-check that you’ve added the correct CNAME records exactly as displayed on your Ezekia integration page under Email Settings. A common issue is accidentally swapping the Name and Value fields or missing one of the records.
  2. Use MXToolbox for Validation:
    To confirm whether your DNS records are properly configured, you can use MXToolbox. In the MXToolbox search bar, enter the following:
dkim:domain.com:email

Replace “domain.com” with your domain and hit enter. MXToolbox will show whether your records are missing (or not public) and/or contain errors.

  1. What to Do If Records Are Incorrect:
     If the records are missing or incorrectly configured:
    • Ensure all required records are present in your DNS settings.
    • Confirm that the Name and Value fields match exactly with what’s displayed on the Email section of the Ezekia Integration page.
  2. If Records Appear Correct but Verification Fails:
     If your records seem correct but the DKIM setup still doesn’t work, please contact Ezekia Support as we may need to re-trigger the domain verification process from our end.


Notification and Client Portal Email Delivery Issues

Why Are Some Notification or Client Portal Emails Not Arriving?

It is likely that the emails are being treated as spam by the recipient email system and are either in a junk folder or have been blocked altogether. As a result of stricter spam filtering by some email providers and email servers, some of our ‘system’ type notification emails (which include client portal invitations for client portal access, new user invitations, and password reset emails) may start to find their way into junk folders, or be blocked entirely. Note that this does not affect day-to-day emails which use an alternative system.

Steps to Resolve Email Delivery Issues

  1. Set Up Your Firm's DKIM Settings:
    • This provides a level of assurance to email systems that the email is genuine and should not be treated as spam.
    • If you have an IT team, they will be able to action the changes for you, but if not, it is a fairly simple job for the person who administers your website to do.
    • Watch this video for a step-by-step guide.
  2. Whitelist ezekia.com:
    • Have the recipient company whitelist ezekia.com on their email server (or have them whitelist your own email domain if you have successfully completed step 1).
  3. Whitelist Amazon IP Addresses:
    • The recipient company can whitelist our Amazon IP addresses in their Exchange server. Our system emails come via these IP addresses:
      • 54.240.104.160
      • 54.240.104.161
      • 54.240.104.162
  4. Perform a Message Trace:
    • If the above steps do not resolve the issue, ask the recipient company's IT team to perform a message trace on their mail server to see what happens to the notifications. They may have a rule that blocks emails if they come from Amazon, for example.

Workaround:

If you prefer to use a workaround while completing these steps, you could use a personal email address for the contact (such as Gmail) as these tend to have less rigorous spam filters.

 

My DKIM Settings Are No Longer Valid

Why This Happens: You may have had some sort of system update or server change which has resulted in the required settings being lost on your website.

Impact on Email Delivery: DKIM is used so that Ezekia is able to send emails with your email domain on your behalf. All day-to-day emails are sent via your Outlook account, so we only use the DKIM settings for 'system' type emails such as GDPR notifications, password notifications, and new user & client portal invites. If DKIM is not set up, these invitations will come from 'ezekia.com'. If it is set up, the notifications will appear to come from your firm.

Setting up your DKIM email will also lower the likelihood of your firm's notification emails being marked as spam by email systems, so it is recommended that you do complete the configuration for it. The DKIM details are contained in the Settings/Integrations page. Someone with access to your firm's website settings will need to make the amendments detailed there.

 

DMARC

DMARC works alongside DKIM and SPF to provide even more robust email security. Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) is a protocol that builds on SPF and DKIM. DMARC works alongside DKIM and SPF to provide even more robust email security. To set up DMARC for your domain, you will need to create a DMARC Record by:

  • Add a new TXT record.
  • In the Host/Name field, enter _dmarc.
  • In the Value field, enter your DMARC policy, for example: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc-reports@yourdomain.com; ruf=mailto:dmarc-failures@yourdomain.com; fo=1.
  • Publish the DMARC record in your DNS settings, just like you did with your DKIM and SPF records.