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Last Updated: August 20, 2022

In this article, I am going to talk about how to configure a DNS for a GTM server side container.

Note: This is the second part of the article for setting up server side tagging. Make sure you complete the steps in the first part before proceeding. For the first part please visit: How to Create Server Side Container for Google Tag Manager.

Why configure a DNS server for GTM?

It is strongly recommended to map your custom domain to the Google Tag Manager server side container. This is because the default server side tagging deployment is hosted on an app engine domain in Google Cloud. 

If you go to your GTM server side container settings you will find that the tagging server URL does not contain your domain.

If you don’t map your custom domain, you won’t be able to use the cookies information sent in the incoming request. It will consider the app engine domain as a third-party context and it will be dropped by the browser. 

Now let’s begin with configuring a Google Cloud project.

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Configuration in Google Cloud

Follow the below steps to configure a Google Cloud Project

Step-1: Navigate to https://console.cloud.google.com/ and then click on the drop-down available in the top right corner.

Step-2: Select the project you created earlier when creating the GTM server side container.

Step-3: Click on the three horizontal lines in the upper left corner and then click on ‘App Engine’.

Step-4: Now click on ‘Settings’.

Step-5: The settings window will open. Now click on ‘Custom Domains’ and then click on ‘Add a custom domain’.

Step-6: Now click on the drop-down ‘Select the domain you want to use’. 

Step-7: Now select the option ‘Verify a new domain’.

Step-8: In this step, you need to provide the domain name that you own and for which you have created the server side container. In our case, I will use gtm.optimizesmart.com.

Add your Domain name without ‘https://’ and ‘www.’ and click on ‘Verify’. 

Step-9: A new window tab will open in which Google will ask you to verify your domain. 

Step-10: Now click on the drop-down list and select ‘Other’. It will generate a TXT record which you will need to add to your DNS records to verify. Copy the TXT record.

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Domain verification

Step-11: Log in to your DNS record manager (like Godaddy, Cloudflare, etc.) In our case, I use Cloudflare to manage all my domains and their DNS records. Once you log in, select the domain name for which we want to add the TXT record.

Step-12: Click on ‘DNS’ to enter the record settings and you will get a window like below.

Step-13: Click on ‘+Add Record’ and select the record type as ‘TXT’ from the dropdown menu.

Step-14: Paste the ‘TXT’ record that we noted down earlier in Step-10, and click on ‘Save’.

Step-15: Now go back to the Google webmaster window and click on ‘Verify’.

Step-16: Upon successful verification, you will get the below notification.

Step-17: Now go to Google Cloud Console. You will see the message as ‘Successfully verified ownership of <your domain name>. Now click on ‘Continue’.

Step-18: Select your newly added domain and map it with the Google Cloud project by clicking on ‘Save Mapping’.

Step-19: You will see the status marked with a green tick mark. Click on ‘Continue’.

DNS configuration

In these steps, we are going to configure the DNS records. Continue following the below steps for more details.

Step-20: After clicking on ‘Continue’,  you will be provided with a list of records that you need to add to your DNS to enable security. 

Step-21: Navigate to your DNS console and click on ‘Add record’ and select a configuration like below.

• Record Type: ‘A’ 
• Name: gtm (prefix to our main domain)
• Ipv4 address: record value which is provided in earlier step for ex: 216.239.38.21
• TTL: Set to Auto
• Proxy status: set to DNS Only

Click on ‘Save’. 

Step-22: Repeat the above step for the remaining records also.

Note that there are four ‘A’ type records and four ‘AAAA’ type records. You need to add all these records to your DNS. 

Once you have added all the provided records from the list you will get a screen like below.

Step-23: Navigate to Google Cloud Console and click on ‘Done’.

Step-24: You will see a screen like below with all mapped DNS records to your custom domain.

It may take an hour or two for mapping to update in Google Cloud. 

GTM server side container configuration

Now you need to follow the below steps to make some changes in the server side GTM container.

Step-25: Navigate to your server side container and click on ‘Admin’.

Step-26: Now click on ‘Container Settings’.

Step-27: Change the tagging server URL to your newly mapped domain. 

For example, earlier our tagging server URL was ‘https://ethreal-art-293017.uc.r.appspot.com’ (app engine domain). Change it to your new domain URL e.g. ‘https://abc.yourdomainname.com’. In our case, I will use ‘https://gtm.optimizesmart.com‘.

Then click on ‘Save’.

Congratulations! You have successfully configured DNS for a GTM server side container. 

Now you are ready to use your server side GTM container for tagging. 

We will see about this in more detail in the next article: ‘How to send data from Website to Server Side Container’.

Other Articles on Server Side Tracking

1. Server Side Tracking for Google Analytics via GTM
2. How to Create Server Side Container for Google Tag Manager
3. How to send data from Website to Server Side Container
4. How to set up GA4 via GTM Server Side Tagging
5. Setting up Facebook Conversion API via Google Tag Manager (GTM)
6. Google Tag Manager Tutorial
7. How to set up Data Layer for GTM Server Side Container
8. GTM Server Side Preview Mode – Tutorial

Frequently asked questions about how to configure DNS for GTM server side container