DigitalOcean DNS Email Records for Your Domain
DO Networking tab walkthrough for startups hosting apps on Droplets but mail elsewhere.
Developer teams on DigitalOcean often forget mail DNS until launch week. Add records early so transactional and human mail share authentication.
Where the records go
DigitalOcean DNS only applies if your domain’s name servers are ns1, ns2 and ns3.digitalocean.com. If they are, add records under Networking → Domains in the control panel. If your name servers point somewhere else, add the records there instead.
Adding the mail records
- Create an MX records (the settings that tell the internet where to deliver email for your domain) with host @ and the mail server and priority OquMail shows
- Create TXT records for ownership, SPF and DMARC (host _dmarc)
- Create the DKIM TXT records (short text lines in DNS used for email security) at the selector host name OquMail provides
- Check that only one SPF record exists for the domain
- Run verification in OquMail
Sending from your Droplets
DigitalOcean restricts outbound SMTP from many Droplets to fight spam. Rather than running a mail server on your app server, send receipts and password resets over HTTPS with OquMail’s transactional API. Each send is signed with your domain’s DKIM key and logged, and human mail and app mail share one authenticated domain.
Want to see how your own domain is set up? Use the free SPF checker, DMARC checker and MX lookup: they run in your browser and store nothing.