Content Delivery Networks

Content Delivery Networks are a great mechanism that you can use to serve up content very quickly and easily across multiple mediums as well as handle security certificates for you.

We suggest CloudFlare, Fastly, or KeyCDN when using Content Delivery Networks with SendGrid.

Using CloudFlare

The following instructions assume you already have a CloudFlare account made, using either a Full DNS setup or a CNAME setup. You can compare the 2 different setups here. Note that a CNAME setup is only available to Business or Enterprise level CloudFlare plans.

The instructions also assume that you have set up a valid branded link on your account. This step is essential for the following instructions to work.

Begin by logging into your CloudFlare account, and navigating to the DNS settings for your domain.

Add a new CNAME entry that points your configured branded link domain to sendgrid.net.

Once the record is created, click on the cloud icon under the Status column to turn it orange and enable HTTP proxy.

Next, navigate to the Page Rules settings for your domain. You will need to create a Page Rule for your branded link domain that sets SSL to Full. This is necessary due to how CloudFlare validates the certificate on the origin. You can find more information on the different SSL options here.

Ensure that the Page Rule is On.

If you are using a CNAME setup, you will also need to change DNS to point to the CloudFlare CNAME you created.

Once all of this is done, you will need to contact SendGrid support and request that SSL click and open tracking be enabled on your account. They will then verify the configuration and enable the setting on your account.

Using Fastly

1. Sign up for Fastly or log in to an existing account.
2. Click Configure on the Dashboard.
3. Click the gear icon to open the Manage Service menu and click Create.

Set the options as follows:

• Server address and port: sendgrid.net : 443 The connection on the SSL port 443
• Domain: email.example.com Enter your branded link domain here. Ensure it matches the domain configured in the SendGrid link branding settings. This value will be what recipients see in your SSL enabled click tracking links.
• Description: SendGrid (or whatever you like)

Finally, click the Create. The new service will appear in the list of available services.

Contact SendGrid support to validate your CDN settings and enable SSL click and open tracking.

Using KeyCDN

This section is maintained by KeyCDN, if you have any questions about KeyCDN please contact their support team.

Sign up for KeyCDN or login to your existing account.

Create a pull zone and point the origin URL to https://sendgrid.net.

Enable SSL and HTTP/2 (custom SSL or Let's Encrypt).

Enable the option "Forward Host Header."

Create a CNAME record in your DNS settings pointing the alias you want to use for your email branded link domain (e.g. email.domain.com) to the Zone URL provided within your KeyCDN dashboard (e.g. sendgrid-1c6b.kxcdn.com). Then, add that alias as a Zonealias.

Finally, contact SendGrid support, and they'll validate the CDN settings and enable SSL click and open tracking.