Domain & DNS Setup

Before visitors can reach your website and before email can flow, your domain’s DNS needs to point at your server. This guide covers the steps for a typical domain setup.

Your server’s IP address

Find your server IP in your welcome email or in the client area under Services → your server. You’ll need this for every DNS record you create.

Option 1: Use RemarkableCloud nameservers (recommended)

The simplest setup: point your domain’s nameservers at RemarkableCloud and manage all DNS from your control panel.

RemarkableCloud nameservers:

ns1.remarkablecloud.com
ns2.remarkablecloud.com

Log into your domain registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.).

Find the nameserver settings for your domain: usually under DNS or Domain Settings.

Replace the existing nameservers with ns1.remarkablecloud.com and ns2.remarkablecloud.com.

Save. Nameserver changes propagate within 24-48 hours, often within 1-4 hours.

Once active, manage all DNS from your cPanel (WHM → DNS Functions) or DirectAdmin (DNS Administration).

Option 2: Keep existing DNS, add A record

If you manage DNS elsewhere (Cloudflare, your registrar, Route53) you can keep it there and just add an A record pointing at your server.

Add this record at your DNS provider:

Type	Name	Value	TTL
A	@ (or your domain)	YOUR_SERVER_IP	300
A	www	YOUR_SERVER_IP	300

Email DNS records

For email to work reliably, you need three records in addition to your A record.

MX record: mail routing

Tells other mail servers where to deliver email for your domain:

Type	Name	Value	Priority	TTL
MX	@	mail.yourdomain.com	10	3600

Also add an A record for mail.yourdomain.com pointing to your server IP.

SPF record: sender authorization

Tells receiving servers which IPs are allowed to send mail for your domain. Prevents spoofing:

Type	Name	Value	TTL
TXT	@	v=spf1 ip4:YOUR_SERVER_IP include:mailchannels.net ~all	3600

All outbound mail routes through MailChannels on RemarkableCloud. The `include:mailchannels.net` part of the SPF record is required for this relay to work correctly.

DKIM record: email signing

DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to outgoing mail, proving it wasn’t tampered with in transit. The DKIM key is generated by your mail server.

To get your DKIM record from cPanel:

1. Go to cPanel → Email → Email Deliverability
2. Click Manage next to your domain
3. Copy the DKIM TXT record shown and add it to your DNS

DMARC record: policy enforcement

Tells receiving servers what to do with mail that fails SPF or DKIM checks:

Type	Name	Value	TTL
TXT	_dmarc	v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com	3600

Start with p=quarantine (suspicious mail goes to spam) rather than p=reject until you’ve confirmed legitimate mail is passing.

Checking DNS propagation

Use dnschecker.org to see your DNS records from locations around the world. Enter your domain and select the record type you want to verify.

From the command line:

# Check A record
dig yourdomain.com A +short

# Check MX record
dig yourdomain.com MX +short

# Check TXT (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
dig yourdomain.com TXT +short
dig _dmarc.yourdomain.com TXT +short

Common issues

Site not loading after pointing DNS

• Confirm the A record has propagated using dnschecker.org
• Verify the domain is added in your control panel (it must exist there, not just in DNS)
• Check that Apache/LiteSpeed is running in WHM → Service Status

Email going to spam

• Verify SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are all set correctly
• Check your server IP isn’t on a blacklist at mxtoolbox.com/blacklists
• Ensure rDNS is set for your server IP (see client area → Server Management → Network)

Next steps

• Create mailboxes and manage email
• Preview a site without changing DNS
• RemarkableCloud nameservers