On this page: Learn how to delegate your email sending subdomains to Adobe in Adobe Journey Optimizer using full delegation or CNAME setup, and how to access, validate, and undelegate them.
Domain name delegation is a method that allows the owner of a domain name (technically: a DNS zone) to delegate a subdivision of it (technically: a DNS zone under it, which can be called a sub-zone) to another entity. Basically, as a customer, if you are handling the “example.com” zone, you can delegate the sub-zone “marketing.example.com” to Adobe.
You can either:
The full subdomain delegation is the recommended method. Learn more about the differences between the different subdomain configuration methods in this section.
Guardrails guardrails
When setting up subdomains in Journey Optimizer, follow the guardrails and recommendations outlined below.
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By default, Journey Optimizer allows you to delegate a maximum of 10 subdomains, combining email, landing page, and web channels. However, depending on your license contract, you may be able to delegate up to 3000 subdomains. Reach out to your Adobe contact to learn more about the number of subdomains you are entitled to.
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Parallel submission of subdomains is not supported in Journey Optimizer. If you try to submit a subdomain for delegation when another one is in the Processing status, you get an error message.
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Delegating an invalid subdomain to Adobe is not allowed. Make sure you enter a valid subdomain which is owned by your organization, such as marketing.yourcompany.com.
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You cannot use the same sending domain to send out messages from Adobe Journey Optimizer and from another product, such as Adobe Campaign or Adobe Marketo Engage.
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Delegating both a parent and a subdomain is not supported. For example, if you delegated subdomain.domain.com, you cannot delegate email.subdomain.domain.com. Similarly, if you delegated email.subdomain.domain.com, you cannot delegate subdomain.domain.com.
Access delegated subdomains access-delegated-subdomains
All your delegated subdomains display in the Administration > Channels > Subdomains menu. Filters are available to help you refine the list (delegation date, user or status).
The Status column provides information on the subdomain delegation process:
- Draft: The subdomain delegation has been saved as a draft. Click the subdomain name to resume the delegation process,
- Processing: The subdomain is going through several configuration checks before it can be used,
- Success: The subdomain has gone through the checks successfully and can be used to deliver messages,
- Failed: One or several checks have failed after the subdomain delegation was submitted.
To access detailed information about a subdomain with the Success status, open it from the list.
You can:
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Retrieve the subdomain name (read-only) configured during the delegation process, as well as the generated URLs (resources, mirror pages, tracking URLs),
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Add a Google site verification TXT record to your subdomain to ensure that it is verified (see Add a Google TXT record to a subdomain).
Set up a subdomain in Journey Optimizer set-up-subdomain
To set up a new subdomain in Journey Optimizer, follow the steps below.
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Access the Administration > Channels > Email settings > Subdomains menu, then click Set up subdomain.
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From the Set up method section, select either:
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Fully delegated - Learn more
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CNAME set up - Learn more
Learn how to set up subdomains with CNAMEs in this dedicated section
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Custom delegation - Learn more
Learn how to set up custom subdomains in this dedicated section
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Specify the name of the subdomain to delegate.
note NOTE After creating a new subdomain with your DNS provider, allow 24-48 hours for DNS propagation before attempting delegation to Adobe. 
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You can create the records and submit the subdomain configuration later on using the Save as draft button.
note NOTE You will then be able to resume the subdomain delegation by opening it from the subdomains list. -
The subdomain displays in the list with the Processing status. For more on subdomains’ statuses, refer to this section.
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Before being able to use that subdomain to send messages, make sure that all DNS records are properly created, then wait until Adobe performs the required checks, which can take up to 3 hours. Learn more.
Subdomain validation subdomain-validation
The checks and actions below are executed until the subdomain is verified and can be used to send messages.
These steps are performed by Adobe and can take up to 3 hours.
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Pre-validate: Adobe checks whether the subdomain has been delegated to Adobe DNS (NS record, SOA record, Zone setup, ownership record). If the pre-validation step fails, an error is returned along with the corresponding reason, otherwise Adobe proceeds to the next step.
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Configure DNS for the domain:
- MX record: Mail eXchange record - Mail server record that processes inbound emails sent to the subdomain.
- SPF record: Sender Policy Framework record - Lists the mail servers’ IPs that can send emails from the subdomain.
- DKIM record: DomainKeys Identified Mail standard record - Uses public-private key encryption to authenticate the message to avoid spoofing.
- A: Default IP mapping.
- CNAME: A Canonical Name or CNAME record is a type of DNS record that maps an alias name to a true or canonical domain name.
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Create tracking and mirror URLs: if the domain is email.example.com, the tracking/mirror domain will be data.email.example.com. It is secured by installing the SSL certificate.
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Provision CDN CloudFront: if CDN is not setup already, Adobe provisions it for the your organization’s ID.
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Create CDN domain: if the domain is email.example.com, the CDN domain will be cdn.email.example.com.
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Create and attach CDN SSL certificate: Adobe creates the CDN certificate for the CDN domain and attaches the certificate to the CDN domain.
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Create forward DNS: if this is the first subdomain that you are delegating, Adobe will create the forward DNS which is required to create PTR records - one for each of your IPs.
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Create PTR record: PTR record, also known as reverse DNS record, is required by the ISPs so that they do not mark the emails as spam. Gmail also recommends having PTR records for each IP. Adobe creates PTR records only when you delegate a subdomain for the first time, one for each IP, all IPs pointing that subdomain. For example, if the IP is 192.1.2.1 and the subdomain is email.example.com, the PTR record will be: 192.1.2.1 PTR r1.email.example.com. You can update the PTR record afterwards to point to the new delegated domain. Learn more about PTR records
Once the checks are successful, the subdomain gets the Success status. It is ready to be used to deliver messages.
The subdomain will be marked as Failed if you fail to create the validation record on your hosting solution.
Upon validating the record, Adobe automatically creates the PTR record for the subdomain. Learn more
Undelegate a subdomain undelegate-subdomain
If you wish to undelegate a subdomain, contact your Adobe representative.
However, you need to perform several steps in the user interface before reaching out to Adobe.
note NOTE You can only undelegate subdomains with the Success status. Subdomains with the Draft and Failed statuses can simply be deleted from the user interface. First, perform the following steps in Journey Optimizer:
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Deactivate all the channel configurations associated with the subdomain. Learn how
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Undelegate any landing page subdomains, SMS subdomains, and web subdomains associated with this subdomain.
You need to raise a dedicated request for each landing page, SMS, or web subdomain.
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Stop the active campaigns associated with the subdomains. Learn how
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Stop the active journeys associated with the subdomains. Learn how
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Point the PTR records linked to the subdomain to another subdomain.
If this is the only delegated subdomain, you can skip this step.
Once done, reach out to your Adobe representative with the subdomain you want to undelegate.
After you request is handled by Adobe, the undelegated domain is no longer displayed on the subdomain inventory page.
note caution CAUTION After a subdomain is undelegated, the following applies: - You cannot reactivate the channel configurations which were using that subdomain.
- You cannot delegate the same subdomain again through the user interface. If you want to do so, reach out to your Adobe representative.
How-to video video
Learn how to create a subdomain using CNAME to point to Adobe-specific records.
embed https://video.tv.adobe.com/v/339484?quality=12&learn=on -