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Incompatibilities(?) between Enom and cPanel

cobra65

My client, referred to below as example.com, has the following setup:

  • domain purchased through Google with DNS outsourced to Enom
  • Enom has antiquated DNS interface which only allows "Address" field length of 260 characters, so no 2048 strength dkim keys
  • hosting on a third-party dedicated server (named exa.example.com) with WHM and cPanel
  • WordPress websites: example.com and dev.example.com

dmarc and spf all setup and verified via MXToolbox

Tried to paste the dkim key offered by cPanel Email Deliverability for example.com into Enom DNS form but it was cut off at 260 characters.  Contacted Enom support last summer and they did something behind the scenes and made it work.  Verified by MXToolbox.

But now it is not working, MXToolbox says field is truncated and invalid.  Contacted Enom support again who say no dice, I must use a smaller key.

I can generate a 1024 dkim key via Google interface and get that installed in Enom, no problem.  But then cPanel Email Deliverability complains and outgoing emails from WordPress are not dkim signed like they used to be.

Question 1:  As far as outgoing emails, dkim, dmarc and spf are concerned, are example.com and dev.example.com different domains?  And therefore must have their own records even though they are on the same physical server?

Question 2:  How can I make cPanel Email Deliverability happy with only the 1024 strength key Enom wants?  It shows this message:

DKIM is not properly configured for this domain.  To properly configure your DKIM key, the record must use this server’s DKIM key.

This system does not control DNS for the "example.com" domain. You can install the suggested DKIM record locally. However, this server is not the authoritative nameserver. If you install this record, this change will not be effective. Contact the person responsible for the "dns3.name-services.com", "dns4.name-services.com", "dns1.name-services.com", "dns5.name-services.com", and "dns2.name-services.com" nameservers and request that they update the DKIM record with the following:

Question 3:  How exactly does the server name exa.example.com fit into all this as far as dkim is concerned?  I see a separate email deliverability section in WHM for it but it does not have an account in List Accounts.  Also, cPanel Email Deliverability for example.com says:

Domain: example.com
Mail HELO: exa.example.com

Is that normal?

Thanks much

Comments

1 comment

Date Votes
  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    Hey there!  This seems like a limitation on the registrar's side - they should not be asking you to make changes that reduce the security of your keys that work in other providers DNS solutions.

    It's odd to me that they have this restriction, but they do confirm it here:

    https://support.enom.com/support/solutions/articles/201000065361-managing-dns-host-records

    But no, there isn't going to be a way to get this to validate the Email Deliverability tool with the 1024 key.

    Question 1 - Yes.  The sender can use the subdomain to send email and both domain.com and sub.domain.com can be created as completely unique cPanel accounts.

    Question 2 - Unfortunately that won't be possible

    Question 3 - cPanel includes the hostname DKIM key in WHM >> Email Deliverability.  This gets added to either the hostname zone if you have a separate zone for that, or the domain.com zone that controls the host record.  On my personal system I have everything inside of domain.com and this is what that record looks like there:

    default._domainkey.host 14400   IN      TXT     "v=DKIM1\; k=rsa\; p=<long string goes here\;"
    0

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