Domain Health Checker

Oncord's Domain Health Checker is an intuitive tool that displays the status of each domain setting to ensure they’re configured properly. It also provides shortcuts and guides to help you quickly resolve any errors or misconfigurations.

It's recommended to use the Domain Health Checker regularly to ensure your domain stays correctly configured, helping you avoid issues with email deliverability, website performance, and security.

This article will guide you through using the Domain Health Checker to review your domain's status and briefly explain each setting so you understand its impact on your domain's health.

We have another article that goes in-depth on Domains and DNS hosting, and how they affect email deliverability.

Domain Health Checker

To use Domain Health Checker: 

• Navigate to Dashboard > Settings > Domains.

• The status of your domain will be displayed under the Domain Health heading.

• There are typically three status indicators:
  • "HEALTHY": Your domain is configured properly.
  • "NOT LIVE" : Your website has not been published yet.
  • "PROBLEMS FOUND": There are errors, or some domain settings are not configured correctly.

• You can then click the indicator, and a pop-up window will display the details of each setting. For any misconfigured settings, a shortcut will be provided to help you quickly fix the error.

Note: If you do need to manually configure the DNS records for your domain, navigate to Dashboard > Settings > Domains, and then click the domain you want to edit.

Domain Settings Explanation 

The following is a brief explanation of each domain configuration. If you'd like to learn more about DNS records and how they affect email deliverability, please check out our blog article, Improving Email Deliverability: The Role of DNS Records Explained

• Name Servers

Name servers direct your domain’s web and email services by storing DNS records. These records can be hosted within Oncord or externally. When hosted externally, Oncord’s DNS settings don’t apply.

Using Oncord’s name servers is recommended for better email deliverability and easier support. If you have an IT provider, they may prefer external DNS hosting. Oncord’s go-live wizard allows you to invite your IT admin to manage DNS changes.

• Website SSL Certificate

An SSL certificate encrypts traffic between your browser and our servers, ensuring secure communication. It’s essential for website security and is also a key factor in SEO rankings. Oncord automatically provides and renews SSL certificates for websites hosted on our platform, ensuring your site remains secure without any manual setup.

• Email Hosting - MX Servers

MX (Mail Exchange) servers direct incoming emails for your domain to the correct mail server. If you’re using an external provider like Gmail or Office 365, you’ll need to configure their specific MX servers.

If you choose "Use Oncord for e-mail," Oncord automatically configures the relevant MX records for you. Otherwise, selecting “Host mail elsewhere” allows you to specify custom MX records for another provider.

For more details, please check out our help article - Choosing an E-mail Host.

• Email - SPF Record

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records specify which servers are allowed to send email for your domain, helping mail servers decide whether to accept or reject emails. This prevents email spoofing and improves deliverability by ensuring only authorized servers can send mail on your behalf. It's important to note that there should be only one SPF record for your domain to avoid conflicts.

If you're migrating to Oncord and currently use Office 365 or Gmail, our Go Live Wizard can import your existing settings. For more details, please check out our help articles on Setting Up Gmail Hosting and Setting Up Office 365 Hosting.

Oncord automatically configures the SPF record for email hosted with us, but you’ll need to update it if using an external provider.

• Email - DKIM

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) secures your emails by cryptographically signing them, helping mail servers verify that the emails come from an authorized server and haven’t been altered. It works by adding a digital signature to the email headers. A private key encrypts the email header, while a public key, published as a TXT DNS record, allows receiving servers to verify the signature and detect potential email spoofing.

When DNS is hosted with Oncord, a DKIM record will be pre-configured automatically.

• Email - DMARC

DMARC helps protect your domain from unauthorized emails. It works alongside SPF and DKIM, telling receiving mail servers what to do if an email doesn’t pass authentication—such as rejecting or quarantining it. This prevents phishing attacks and email spoofing.

Without a DMARC policy, untrusted messages could still be accepted, putting your domain at risk.