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Add Your Reply Domain Records in Route 53

Route 53 is the one provider on this list that wants the fully qualified name, and the console shows you the result as you type. The MX value carries the priority in the same string as the host.

Copy the real values from the domain screen in Know Reply before you start. Three of the four are unique to your domain.

Add the records in the console

Section titled “Add the records in the console”
  1. Open the Route 53 console, choose Hosted zones, and open the zone for your domain.
  2. Choose Create record. Enter reply in Record name, choose MX for Record type, enter 10 mx.sendgrid.net in Value, set TTL to 300, and leave Routing policy on Simple routing.
  3. Choose Create record again. Enter the subdomain part of the host, for example em1234.reply, choose CNAME, and paste the SendGrid target in Value.
  4. Repeat step 3 for s1._domainkey.reply and s2._domainkey.reply.
  5. Choose Create records.

The Record name field shows your zone name greyed out to its right, so typing reply produces reply.yourbrand.com. The MX value is priority, a space, then the mail server, as one line. Multiple mail servers go on separate lines in the same value box, though you only need one here.

Or do it from the CLI

Section titled “Or do it from the CLI”

Save the four records as a change batch and apply them in one call. Replace the zone ID and the SendGrid targets with your own.

Terminal window
aws route53 change-resource-record-sets \
  --hosted-zone-id Z123456789ABCDEFGHIJ \
  --change-batch file://reply-domain.json

Each entry in reply-domain.json is a CREATE action with Name set to the fully qualified host and a trailing dot, for example s1._domainkey.reply.yourbrand.com., and ResourceRecords holding the target as a quoted string. Run aws route53 get-change --id <id> to watch it reach INSYNC.

If the zone is not authoritative

Section titled “If the zone is not authoritative”

Route 53 will happily hold records for a domain whose nameservers point elsewhere. Check that the NS records at your registrar match the four nameservers on the hosted zone’s detail page. A zone that is not live is the usual reason correct-looking records never verify.

Then check it

Section titled “Then check it”

Route 53 publishes within a minute or so. Go back to the domain screen in Know Reply and click Check DNS.

Full record reference and what each one does: How a reply domain works.