Want to use SendLayer with a domain hosted on Cloudflare?
Using SendLayer to send emails from a domain hosted on Cloudflare is a simple and straightforward process that requires just a few steps to set up.
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to set up SendLayer with a domain that’s hosted on Cloudflare.
Before getting started, be sure to:
Viewing DNS Records in SendLayer
Once you’ve added a domain to your SendLayer account, SendLayer will automatically detect your domain host and generate 5 DNS (Domain Name System) records unique to your domain.
If it doesn’t detect the correct domain host, click Change your domain host here to choose your domain registrar.
In the overlay that appears, click the Choose your domain host dropdown and select Cloudflare from the available options.
Note: When you add a domain to your SendLayer account, our platform automatically creates a subdomain for you. It starts with sl, as in sl.example.com. For additional information, be sure to check out why SendLayer creates a subdomain.
Here are the types of DNS records that SendLayer provides:
Each DNS record type has a HOSTNAME and VALUE specific to your domain. You’ll need to add each of the 5 DNS records to the DNS settings in your Cloudflare account, which we’ll go over in the following steps.
Locating DNS Settings in Cloudflare
To locate your domain’s DNS settings in Cloudflare, you’ll first need to log in to your Cloudflare dashboard. We recommend keeping your SendLayer and Cloudflare accounts open in separate tabs or windows, so you can quickly switch between the two.
Once you’ve accessed your Cloudflare dashboard, select your account.
On the next page, you should see a list of your domains. Go ahead and click on the same domain that you’ve added to your SendLayer account.
Next, click on DNS in the side menu.
This will take you to the DNS page where you can view and manage your DNS records.
In the next section, we’ll cover how to add SendLayer DNS records to your Cloudflare account.
Adding DNS Records to Cloudflare
To add a new DNS record to your domain, click the Add record button.
Now you’ll see a new section appear with some configuration options for adding a new DNS record. Here you’ll see inputs for the DNS record type, name (hostname), target (value), proxy status, and TTL.
For each of the 5 DNS records that SendLayer generates, you’ll need to add the TYPE, HOSTNAME, VALUE, and TTL to the corresponding fields in Cloudflare.
To provide an example, we’ll add our first CNAME record to our Cloudflare DNS settings.
Note: The DNS settings provided in our examples are for demonstration only. Your DNS records will be unique to your domain.
First, click the Type dropdown and select CNAME from the list of DNS record types.
Next, navigate back to your SendLayer account and locate the HOSTNAME. Here you’ll need to copy the sl subdomain.
Cloudflare will automatically add your domain name to the hostname of the DNS records you add to your account.
Once you’ve identified the HOSTNAME in SendLayer, head back to your Cloudflare account and add the HOSTNAME to the Name field.
After that, switch back to your SendLayer account and copy the VALUE by clicking on the copy icon.
Next, head back to your Cloudflare account and paste the VALUE into the Target field.
Then, turn off the Proxy status by toggling the switch to the off position. You’ll want to turn this off for each DNS record you add to Cloudflare.
Now, click the TTL dropdown and select 5 min from the list of TTL options.
Once you’ve entered the details for your first DNS record, go ahead and click the Save button.
Now that you’ve successfully added your first DNS record, be sure to repeat this process with the remaining DNS records that are in your SendLayer account. You should be adding a total of 4 different CNAME records and 1 TXT record.
After you’ve added all 5 DNS records, you should see them listed in the DNS table in your Cloudflare account.
Note: It can take up to 24-48 hours for DNS changes to propagate.
Checking Your Domain Status
After you’ve added the DNS records to your Cloudflare account, you can check if they’ve successfully propagated right from your SendLayer account. Remember, it may take up to 24-48 hours for your web hosting account to apply the DNS changes.
To learn how to check if your DNS records have been added successfully, check out our tutorial on checking your domain status.
That’s it! Now you know how to set up SendLayer on Cloudflare.
Next, would you like to learn how to check that your emails are successfully reaching users’ inboxes? Check out our tutorial on checking the email log for more information.