Oct 9, 2024

Using DNS TXT Records for Specifying Domain Approver Emails

From October 28, 2024 onwards, we have added support for using DNS TXT records for specifying domain approver emails. For customers wanting to use email to approve domains we strongly encourage to create DNS TXT records with the desired approver email address, especially customers who have historically relied on using WHOIS contacts. 

When the set of constructed email addresses (‘admin’, ‘administrator’, ‘webmaster’, ‘hostmaster’, or ‘postmaster’ @domain.com) can’t be used, we strongly recommend that customers create a DNS TXT records with the desired approver email addresses. This is a one-time action, so that the email address can be used to approve and renew the domain until this DNS TXT record is updated or removed.

The technical specification is: 

The RDATA Value of this TXT record MUST be a valid email address as defined in RFC 6532, Section 3.2, with no additional padding or structure as shown in the image below, else it cannot be used.  

Procedure 

Go to your DNS provider and select the domain you’d like to add an approver email for, then add a DNS  ‘TXT’ record for that domain. Enter  “_validation-contactemail” in the ‘Host Name field, then enter the desired email address into the “Value” field.     

Note: Below is an example of a DNS Manager page. The user interface may be different depending on the Domain Manager.