When you delegate a top-level domain for email marketing, Acoustic Campaign uses a new, unused domain name that is distinct from your existing corporate domain name. For example, if your corporate domain name is example.com, Acoustic Campaign might use example.net or example-online.com.

Considerations for a top-level domain

• The domain name must be registered and must be unused for email. The domain name appears in email and is subject to spam filtering rules.
• Do not select a name that might be considered a source of spam. Acoustic Campaign can help you evaluate your name selection to reduce this risk.
• Must be delegated as the DNS provider for this domain. Acoustic Campaign is then responsible for all management of the domain name and its corresponding DNS records.

Delegation

To delegate as the NS provider, changes must be made at the domain's registrar account.

The existing NS list for the chosen domain must be replaced. These records are the only replacement that needs to be made, and the syntax must be identical to the following example.

Note: The trailing dot at the end of the domain names is essential.

• example.com. IN NS ns1.acoustic-adm.com.
• example.com. IN NS ns2.acoustic-adm.com.
• example.com. IN NS ns3.acoustic-adm.com.
• example.com. IN NS ns4.acoustic-adm.com.

• For a successful delegation, only the host names (not the IP addresses) of the NS servers should be used.
• No additional records for the domain (such as A, MX) are necessary, and if they are present, they should be removed.
• The delegation does not work if name servers other than the listed servers are used.

Because many registrars do not have self-service websites, these changes might require telephone, email, or fax correspondence with the registrar.

Delegating a subdomain

To delegate as the DNS provider, your IT department must add records to delegate the name servers (NS) for the new subdomain. The exact process depends on your specific name server technology.

These records are the only additions that need to be made, and the syntax must be identical to the following example.

• subdomain.example.com. IN NS ns1.acoustic-adm.com.
• subdomain.example.com. IN NS ns2.acoustic-adm.com.
• subdomain.example.com. IN NS ns3.acoustic-adm.com.
• subdomain.example.com. IN NS ns4.acoustic-adm.com.

Example

Standard plain text zone file of second-level (parent) domain with delegation listing

$TTL 3600 ; Default record TTL
@ IN SOA ns01.exampleNS.com. ns02.exampleNS.com.(
2014082001 ; Date based serial number.
21600 ; Secondary server refresh TTL
3600 ; Secondary refresh failure try again TTL
604800 ; Secondary zone keep alive if primary unavailable
1800 ) ; Negative Cache TTL

NS ns01.exampleNS.com.
NS ns02.exampleNS.com.
NS ns03.exampleNS.com.

IN MX mx.example.com.
mx IN A 1.2.3.5
www IN A 1.2.3.4
subdomain.example.com. IN NS ns1.acoustic-adm.com.
subdomain.example.com. IN NS ns2.acoustic-adm.com. 
subdomain.example.com. IN NS ns3.acoustic-adm.com. 
subdomain.example.com. IN NS ns4.acoustic-adm.com.

Verifying that the delegation is correct

This example shows how to verify that your delegation is correct.

This task can be completed by using either the web interface or a command line interface.

To use the web interface, complete the following steps.

1. Navigate to http://www.digwebinterface.com/.
2. In the Hostnames or IP addresses field, enter the subdomain that is being delegated.

   For example, YOURSUBDOMAIN.example.com

3. In the Type field, select NS.
4. Click Dig.

To use the command line interface, complete the following steps:

1. At the command line prompt, type the following command: dig ns YOURSUBDOMAIN.example.com
2. Click Enter.

The result looks like the following output:

; <<>> DiG 9.8.2rc1-RedHat-9.8.2-0.23.rc1.el6_5.1 <<>> ns
 YOURSUBDOMAIN.example.com.
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 64893
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
YOURSUBDOMAIN.example.com. IN NS

;; ANSWER SECTION: 
YOURSUBDOMAIN.example.com. 43200 IN NS ns1.acoustic-adm.com.
YOURSUBDOMAIN.example.com. 43200 IN NS ns2.acoustic-adm.com.

;; Query time: 84 msec
;; SERVER: 9.0.138.50#53(9.0.138.50)
;; WHEN: Wed Sep 24 13:10:33 2014
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 83

If the delegation is correct, the text in the ANSWER SECTION looks like the example. If the delegation is not correct, the results show a different set of name servers. In that case, make adjustments until you see the correct name servers.

When the delegation is correctly completed, notify so that we can verify the changes and continue with the provisioning of your account.