Information regarding OVHcloud service administration and how to find appropriate assistance

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• User instructions aim to provide as many details as possible but cannot cover individual use cases. You might need to adapt the pertinent actions to your requirements.
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Objective

This guide explains how to use an OVHcloud-registered domain name with the Apple iCloud Mail service. You can then create custom email addresses (firstname@mydomain.com), which are fully managed and hosted by Apple.

Requirements

• A domain name registered with OVHcloud.
• An Apple ID with an iCloud+ subscription.

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OVHcloud Control Panel Access

• Direct link: DNS zones
• Navigation path: Web Cloud > DNS zones > Select your domain name

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Instructions

1 - Activate the domain name in iCloud

To activate your domain name in iCloud, follow the instructions from the “Add a domain you own to iCloud Mail on iCloud.com” page in Apple's official documentation. Focus on the “Step 3: Update the records with your domain registrar” section, to find the DNS records to add to your OVHcloud DNS zone.

At the end of this step, Apple will send you a list of DNS records (MX, CNAME, TXT) to configure in your OVHcloud DNS zone. Save them for the next step.

2 - Configure the DNS records in your OVHcloud Control Panel

Click on the tabs below to view each of the 2 steps.

3 - Add a DMARC record (optional)

To improve the deliverability of your emails and prevent them from being delivered as SPAM, add a DMARC record.

To find out how to create a DMARC record in the OVHcloud Control Panel, refer to our guide "Enhancing email security via a DMARC record".

4 - Verify and activate the domain in iCloud

Once the DNS records (MX, CNAME, TXT, DMARC) have been correctly added to your OVHcloud DNS zone, go back to iCloud.com.

Follow the instructions from the “Add a domain you own to iCloud Mail on iCloud.com” page in Apple's official documentation. Focus on the “Step 4: Finish setting up the domain” section.

Once this step is complete, your custom domain name is fully activated and you can create up to 3 addresses per person within your family.

Common troubleshooting

Check where the DNS zone is managed

If your domain name is associated with DNS servers external to OVHcloud (Wix, Squarespace, Cloudflare, etc.), the configuration must be carried out in the management interface for these DNS servers, outside of the OVHcloud Control Panel.

CNAME already exists

• A CNAME record cannot coexist with a A, AAAA, or TXT record configured on the same domain or subdomain.
• Delete the old record before creating the CNAME requested by Apple.

Duplicate SPF

• There can only be one SPF record per domain name. If an OVHcloud SPF record already exists (e.g.: v=spf1 include:mx.ovh.com ~all), merge it with the one provided by Apple (e.g.: v=spf1 include:mx.ovh.com include:icloud.com ~all).

Incomplete DKIM

• Apple invites you to save several DKIM keys (sig1, sig2, etc.) in your DNS zone.

Propagation time

• DNS changes can take several hours (up to 24 hours) to be recognized by Apple.

Go further

For specialised services (SEO, development, etc.), contact OVHcloud partners.

If you would like assistance using and configuring your OVHcloud solutions, please refer to our support offers.

Join our community of users.