You can configure a custom mail domain, such as mail.mycourses.client.com, as the default outgoing mail domain in your Brightspace environment. As a best practice, the custom mail domain should be used in configurations for sending system emails and notification emails.
To indicate that your custom mail domain will rely on the D2L servers for delivery, every domain used in addressed outgoing mail must have Mail Exchange (MX), Sender Policy Framework (SPF), and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) records.
|
Note: Any custom email domain you select must be different from a custom URL used for site access to avoid interference with CNAME records. Other options, such as your Helpdesk Display Name or prefix OrgUnit text, can be adjusted using Mail configuration variables. |
SPF record
An SPF record allows receiving mail systems to validate that the server IPs sending the mail are approved to send on behalf of the custom mail domain. Create a TXT record including the D2LSPF record to allow sending on your behalf.
| Type |
Host |
Value |
TTL |
| TXT |
mail.mycourses.client.com |
"v=spf1 include:a._spf.brightspace.com" |
60 min. |
DKIM record
DKIM records point to the public keys to be used by receiving mail systems when validating the encrypted signature added by D2L servers. Create two domain key records CNAMEd to D2L records.
| Type |
Host |
Value |
TTL |
CNAME
|
d2lmail1._domainkey .mail.mycourses.client.com |
d2lmail1._domainkey.brightspace.com |
60 min. |
| CNAME |
d2lmail2._domainkey .mail.mycourses.client.com |
d2lmail2._domainkey.brightspace.com |
60 min. |
D2L will rotate the active DKIM key every six months. When one key is rotated, the second will become active in signing emails, after which the process will repeat at six-month intervals. For organizations that have DKIM enabled and are using a custom mail domain, email delivery may be impacted if both required DKIM CNAME records are not in place at the time of rotation.
MX Record
An MX (Mail Exchange) record must exist for the sending domain so that receiving mail systems have a valid destination for replies or automated responses (for example, delivery failures or out-of-office messages).
- If your organization expects to receive replies, you may configure the MX record to point to your own mail server.
- If replies are not required, an MX record pointing to a valid server must still exist. A D2L endpoint is available for this purpose, but it does not retain or process messages and does not provide full mail functionality.
For each outgoing domain configured to use the D2L endpoint (when not using Full Mail), you must contact D2L before creating the MX record so the gateway can be configured for your domain. Failure to do so may result in email routing loops that negatively impact email delivery.
After D2L confirms configuration, create an MX record pointing to the default D2L gateway hostname:
| Type |
Host |
Value |
Priority |
TTL
|
| MX |
mail.mycourses.client.com |
gourmand.brightspace.com |
10
|
24 hrs. |
Full Mail configuration records
AP01 MX Record for Full Mail
| Type |
Host |
Value |
Priority |
TTL
|
| MX |
mail.mycourses.client.com |
ap01psmtp.brightspace.com |
10
|
24 hrs. |
AP02 MX Record for Full Mail
| Type |
Host |
Value |
Priority |
TTL
|
| MX |
mail.mycourses.client.com |
ap02psmtp.brightspace.com |
10
|
24 hrs. |
CA05 MX Record for Full Mail (Canada)
| Type |
Host |
Value |
Priority |
TTL
|
| MX |
mail.mycourses.client.com |
ca05psmtp.brightspace.com |
10
|
24 hrs. |
EU01 MX Record for Full Mail (Europe)
| Type |
Host |
Value |
Priority |
TTL
|
| MX |
mail.mycourses.client.com |
eu01psmtp.brightspace.com |
10
|
24 hrs. |
US04 MX Record for Full Mail (North or South America)
| Type |
Host |
Value |
Priority |
TTL
|
| MX |
mail.mycourses.client.com |
us04psmtp.brightspace.com |
10
|
24 hrs. |