How to Update DNS Records in Hover

Hover is a domain registrar known for its clean, straightforward interface. It strips away the upsells and complex navigation that plague many registrars, making DNS management simple and direct. This guide walks you through adding and editing SPF, DMARC, MTA-STS, and DKIM DNS records for your domain in Hover. Each section includes the exact steps, correct field values, and Hover-specific details to get your email authentication records configured correctly.

Hover's DNS management is one of the more intuitive registrar panels available. Records are displayed in a clear table, and adding new records takes just a few clicks.

Accessing Your DNS Zone

1. Sign in to your Hover account at hover.com.
2. Click Domains in the top navigation to see your domain list.
3. Select the domain you want to manage.
4. Click the DNS tab. This displays all DNS records for your domain in a table format.

Hover shows each record's type, hostname, and value. To add a new record, click the Add A Record button (this button works for all record types, not just A records). To edit an existing record, click directly on the record row to expand it for editing.

Note: If your domain uses third-party nameservers (not Hover's), you need to manage DNS records at the provider hosting your zone. Check your nameserver configuration under the Nameservers section of the DNS tab.

TXT Records

SPF Record

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) tells receiving mail servers which IP addresses and services are authorized to send email for your domain. Your SPF record is published as a TXT record at the root of your domain.

1. In the DNS tab, click Add A Record.
2. Select TXT from the Record Type dropdown.
3. In the Hostname field, enter @. Hover uses @ to represent the root of your domain.
4. In the Value field, enter your SPF record: v=spf1 include:_spf.mxio.io ~all
5. Hover uses a default TTL that is appropriate for most configurations. If a TTL option is visible, set it to 3600 (1 hour).
6. Click Add Record.

If you already have an SPF record, do not create a second one. Multiple SPF records cause a PermError and break email authentication entirely. Instead, click on the existing TXT record that begins with v=spf1 to edit it, and add include:_spf.mxio.io before the ~all or -all mechanism.

DMARC Record

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) tells receiving servers how to handle email that fails SPF and DKIM checks. It also enables aggregate reporting so you can see who is sending email as your domain.

1. Click Add A Record.
2. Select TXT from the Record Type dropdown.
3. In the Hostname field, enter _dmarc. Hover will append your domain, resulting in _dmarc.yourdomain.com.
4. In the Value field, enter your DMARC policy: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com
5. Click Add Record.

Replace dmarc@yourdomain.com with the address where you want to receive DMARC aggregate reports. Start with p=none to collect data before enforcing. See the DMARC Deployment Guide for the full progression from none to quarantine to reject.

Note: mxio will support DMARC policy management in a future release.

CNAME Records

MTA-STS

MTA-STS (Mail Transfer Agent Strict Transport Security) tells sending servers that your domain supports TLS encryption for inbound email and that they should refuse to deliver over an unencrypted connection. The MTA-STS policy is published via HTTPS, and a CNAME record points to the policy host.

1. Click Add A Record.
2. Select CNAME from the Record Type dropdown.
3. In the Hostname field, enter _mta-sts. Hover will append your domain automatically.
4. In the Value field, enter the CNAME target provided by your MTA-STS hosting service.
5. Click Add Record.

You also need a TXT record at _smtp._tls to publish the MTA-STS policy version identifier. Follow the same TXT record process described above, using _smtp._tls as the Hostname and the policy string as the Value.

Note: mxio will support MTA-STS hosting in a future release.

NS Delegation

DKIM Key Hosting

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) uses cryptographic signatures to verify that an email was sent by an authorized server and that the message body was not altered in transit. DKIM keys are published as DNS records under the _domainkey subdomain.

For centralized DKIM key management, you can delegate the _domainkey subdomain to a dedicated DNS host via NS records. This lets the key hosting service manage DKIM records without requiring changes in Hover every time a key rotates.

1. Click Add A Record.
2. Select NS from the Record Type dropdown. If NS is not available in the dropdown, Hover may not support custom NS records through the standard interface — see the troubleshooting section below.
3. In the Hostname field, enter _domainkey. Hover will append your domain, resulting in _domainkey.yourdomain.com.
4. In the Value field, enter the first nameserver provided by your DKIM hosting service.
5. Click Add Record.
6. Repeat for each additional nameserver (typically 2-4 NS records are required for redundancy).

Note: mxio will support DKIM key hosting via NS delegation in a future release.

Verifying Your Changes

After adding or editing DNS records in Hover, verify that your changes are live and correct.

1. Use the mxio SPF Checker to validate your SPF record. Enter your domain and confirm that the record resolves correctly, the lookup count is within the 10-lookup limit, and all your sending services are included.
2. Use the mxio DMARC Checker to verify your DMARC record is published and syntactically correct.
3. Use the mxio Domain Health tool for a full overview of your domain's email authentication status, including SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and MX configuration.
4. If you created NS delegation records for DKIM, use the Delegation Health tool to verify that the NS records are resolving correctly and the delegated zone is responding.

DNS propagation from Hover typically takes 15 minutes to a few hours. Most changes are visible within 30 minutes. If your changes are not appearing, clear your local DNS resolver cache and check again.

Troubleshooting

Record not appearing after save

Hover's interface sometimes requires a page refresh to display newly added records. After clicking Add Record, refresh the DNS tab page and verify the record appears in the table.

Duplicate SPF records

Your domain must have exactly one SPF TXT record at the root. If you see two TXT records starting with v=spf1, delete one and merge the include mechanisms into a single record. Use the SPF Checker to confirm you have only one record after merging.

Hostname field format

Hover uses @ to represent the root domain. For subdomains, enter only the subdomain portion — Hover appends the domain automatically. For example, to create a record at _dmarc.yourdomain.com, enter _dmarc in the Hostname field, not the full domain name.

NS records not supported in the interface

Some versions of Hover's DNS interface may not expose NS record creation. If you need to create NS delegation records and the option is not available in the Record Type dropdown, contact Hover support to request NS record creation for the _domainkey subdomain, or consider migrating your DNS hosting to a provider with full record type support.

Email forwarding conflicts

If you use Hover's built-in email forwarding feature, Hover automatically creates MX records pointing to their mail servers. These MX records do not conflict with SPF or DMARC TXT records, but be aware that Hover's email forwarding may affect DKIM alignment if the forwarding server does not preserve the original DKIM signature. Verify your DKIM status with the Domain Health tool after enabling forwarding.