Stumped by DNS Set-Up for Cloudflare

[GRichards4]

One-man band here struggling to make Hubspot work. Currently I'm on  "managing email authentication." Cloudflare is my primary DNS provider. According to Hubspot instructions for adding DNS records to Cloudflare, I need to add two CNAME records:

In the Hubspot instructions for adding DNS records to Cloudflare on this page, it discussing adding "a" (single) CNAME record. But in my account settings under "Connect an email-sending domain," the form looks for TWO CNAME records (one addressed to mydomain-com.hs19a.dkim.hubspotemail.net. and the other to mydomain-com.hs19b.dkim.hubspotemail.net. 

Cloudflare's DNS Record Management page lets me add the first ("a.dim") record. Then, while I am trying to adding the second ("b.dkim"), the form throws the error: "A CNAME record with that host already exists."

Funny that the Hubspot instructions for setting up Cloudflare DNS records calls for 2 CNAME records while Cloudflare appears to only permit 1 record. Help!! Where am I going wrong?

P.S. I'm sure my next question will be about SPF and DMARC. Hubspot has already found one (TXT) SPF record in my Cloudflare DNS, so I'm hoping I won't run into conflicts if I an additional one: the one "strongly recommended" by Hubpot. I also have 3 MX records in Cloudflare which help with email forwarding to Outlook; hopefully I don't have any problems leaving those alone. 

Thanks for any help. I am weeks into Hubspot setup and now am very behind schedule getting set up to send my first marketing email.

[GRichards4 · Accepted solution]

Hi all, to close out the discussion: The solution was not at all obvious, but I finally got it from a person on the Cloudflare Community forum. Basically, the instructions in Hubspot for DNS records don't match the terminology in the Cloudflare DNS editor.


The Hubspot instructions provide the text to copy/paste for “HOST” in the DNS record. But Cloudflare’s DNS record asks for text for “NAME.”

Meanwhile, Hubspot provides text to copy/paste for “Required Data” but Cloudflare asks for “Target”

You can see why terminology differences are such a big pothole for us know-nothings! Bottom line, Hubspot's instructions don't use terminology that you will find in Cloudflare DNS set-up. I hope you never have to worry about this. If you have an IT-knowledgeable person, you probably will be fine.

[kennedyp]

Thanks so much for following up with that answer @GRichards4! I can definitely understand how that terminology difference could mix things up. I am happy to hear your domain is all set. 😊

Best, 
Kennedy

[GRichards4]

Hi Kennedy, thanks for your reply. So far I have used the domain to route emails to my Outlook account, hence the MX records, but not for Hubspot marketing emails of course as I'm still trying to get the domain authenticated. I will follow your suggestion of opening a support ticket. I had used Support chat a couple of times but it is so slow and laborious, perhaps I will try sending an email (with essentially the body of this Community post, but without the typos!) to see if they can provide help. Thanks again!

[kennedyp]

Hi @GRichards4! Welcome to the Community-- happy to have you here 😊

Thanks for your post. I understand HubSpot is prompting you to connect two CNAME records, but Cloudflare only permits one. Have you used this domain as an email-sending domain before? Your account has access to HubSpot Support, so I recommend opening a ticket for a more thorough investigation. The Support team can access your account from the backend to get a quicker resolution. Ultimately, you may need to contact Cloudflare for more details on the error you are getting from them.

Best, 
Kennedy