Codelab: Automating domain verification for Google Workspace

Why automate domain verification?

While the Cloud Channel API allows you to provision Google Workspace entitlement at scale, the customer still needs to take the following actions to enable services.

  1. Accept the Terms of Service
  2. Verify ownership of the domain
  3. Set up MX records

A newly-created customer will follow a guided requirements process when they access the admin console (on admin.google.com) for the first time.

If you have programmatic access to the domain's DNS records (for example, if you resold the domain to the customer) you can automate steps 2 and 3 to increase activation rates since those steps typically require technical knowledge from a resold customer.

This codelab explains how to use the Site Verification API to implement this automation.

Before you begin

  • Make sure you complete the API setup codelab to set up a Google Cloud project and create a service account to call the Cloud Channel API.

  • Read about the Channel Services operations.

  • We recommend using your Test Partner Sales Console for this codelab.

This codelab also expects you to have finished the Workspace end-to-end provisioning codelab.

Overview

Verifying the domain for Google Workspace entitlement involves several API calls.

Steps to automate domain verification

The Site Verification API is not specific to resellers. Domain verification is a signal used across various Google products (search console, Ads, etc). The process described here relies on setting your reseller domain's super admin as an "owner" of the domain and setting your customer's first admin as a co-owner. You can learn more about those concepts on the Getting started with the Site Verification API page.

Step 1: Prepare for the Site Verification API

Step 2: Get verification token

This codelab will focus on the most common way to verify a domain: using TXT DNS records. The Site Verification API supports other verification methods.

To retrieve the token you will place as a TXT record, you need to get tokens for type=INET_DOMAIN and verificationMethod=DNS_TXT.

In the following code, fill in these variables using your information.

  • jsonKeyFile: The path to the JSON key file generated when you created a service account.
  • resellerAdminUser: The email address of a reseller domain super admin.

  • customerDomain: The end customer's domain. If you run this codelab on your Test Partner Sales Console, make sure the domain follows domain naming conventions.

C#

Using the following imports:

using Google.Apis.Auth.OAuth2;
using Google.Apis.Services;
using Google.Apis.SiteVerification.v1;
using Google.Apis.SiteVerification.v1.Data;

Create the API client and fetch the token:

// Set up credentials with user impersonation
ICredential credential = GoogleCredential.FromFile(jsonKeyFile)
                             .CreateScoped("https://www.googleapis.com/auth/siteverification")
                             .CreateWithUser(resellerAdminUser);

// Create the API service
var verificationService = new SiteVerificationService(new BaseClientService.Initializer{
    HttpClientInitializer = credential,
});

// Fetch the token
var request = new SiteVerificationWebResourceGettokenRequest {
  VerificationMethod = "DNS_TXT",
  Site = new SiteVerificationWebResourceGettokenRequest.SiteData {
    Type = "INET_DOMAIN",
    Identifier = customerDomain
  }
};
var response = verificationService.WebResource.GetToken(request).Execute();
string token = response.Token;
Console.WriteLine("Site Verification token: " + token);

Go

Using the following imports:

import (
  "context"
  "fmt"
  "os"

  "golang.org/x/oauth2/google"
  "google.golang.org/api/option"
  "google.golang.org/api/siteverification/v1"
)

Create the API client and fetch the token:

ctx := context.Background()

// Set up credentials with user impersonation
jsonKey, _ := os.ReadFile(jsonKeyFile)
jwt, _ := google.JWTConfigFromJSON(jsonKey, "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/siteverification")
jwt.Subject = resellerAdminUser
tokenSource := jwt.TokenSource(ctx)

// Create the API Service
verificationService, _ := siteverification.NewService(ctx, option.WithTokenSource(tokenSource))

// Fetch the token
req := &siteverification.SiteVerificationWebResourceGettokenRequest{
  Site: &siteverification.SiteVerificationWebResourceGettokenRequestSite{
    Type:       "INET_DOMAIN",
    Identifier: customerDomain,
  },
  VerificationMethod: "DNS_TXT",
}
res, _ := verificationService.WebResource.GetToken(req).Do()
token := res.Token
fmt.Println("Site verification token: " + token)

Java

Using the following imports:

import com.google.auth.http.HttpCredentialsAdapter;
import com.google.auth.oauth2.GoogleCredentials;
import com.google.auth.oauth2.ServiceAccountCredentials;
import com.google.api.client.googleapis.javanet.GoogleNetHttpTransport;
import com.google.api.client.json.jackson2.JacksonFactory;
import com.google.api.services.siteVerification.SiteVerification;
import com.google.api.services.siteVerification.SiteVerificationScopes;
import com.google.api.services.siteVerification.model.SiteVerificationWebResourceGettokenRequest;
import com.google.api.services.siteVerification.model.SiteVerificationWebResourceGettokenResponse;
import com.google.api.services.siteVerification.model.SiteVerificationWebResourceResource;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.util.Arrays;

Create the API client and fetch the token:

// Set up credentials with user impersonation
FileInputStream jsonKeyFileSteam = new FileInputStream(JSON_KEY_FILE);
GoogleCredentials credentials = ServiceAccountCredentials.fromStream(jsonKeyFileSteam)
                                    .createScoped("https://www.googleapis.com/auth/siteverification")
                                    .createDelegated(RESELLER_ADMIN_USER);

// Create the API service
SiteVerification verificationService = new SiteVerification.Builder(
    GoogleNetHttpTransport.newTrustedTransport(),
    JacksonFactory.getDefaultInstance(),
    new HttpCredentialsAdapter(credentials)).build();

// Fetch the token
SiteVerificationWebResourceGettokenRequest request =
    new SiteVerificationWebResourceGettokenRequest()
        .setVerificationMethod("DNS_TXT")
        .setSite(new SiteVerificationWebResourceGettokenRequest.Site()
            .setType("INET_DOMAIN")
            .setIdentifier(CUSTOMER_DOMAIN));
SiteVerificationWebResourceGettokenResponse response =
    verificationService.webResource().getToken(request).execute();
String token = response.getToken();
System.out.println("Site Verification token: " + token);

Node.js

Using the following import:

const {google} = require('googleapis');

Create the API client and fetch the token:

// Set up credentials with user impersonation
const authJWT = new JWT({
  keyFile: jsonKeyFile,
  scopes: ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/siteverification'],
  subject: resellerAdminUser,
});

// Create the API service
const verificationService = google.siteVerification({version: 'v1', auth: authJWT});

// Fetch the token
const { data } = await verificationService.webResource.getToken({
  requestBody: {
    site: {
      type: 'INET_DOMAIN',
      identifier: customerDomain,
    },
    verificationMethod: 'DNS_TXT',
  }
});
const token = data.token;
console.log(`Site Verification token: ${token}`);

PHP

Create the API client and fetch the token:

// Set up credentials with user impersonation
$client = new Google_Client();
$client->setAuthConfig($JSON_KEY_FILE);
$client->setSubject($RESELLER_ADMIN_USER);
$client->setScopes('https://www.googleapis.com/auth/siteverification');

// Create the API service
$verificationService = new Google_Service_SiteVerification($client);

// Fetch the token
$request = new Google_Service_SiteVerification_SiteVerificationWebResourceGettokenRequest([
  'verificationMethod' => 'DNS_TXT',
  'site' => [
    'type' => 'INET_DOMAIN',
    'identifier' => $CUSTOMER_DOMAIN
  ]
]);
$response = $verificationService->webResource->getToken($request);
$token = $response->token;
print 'Site Verification token: ' . $token . PHP_EOL;

Python

Using the following imports:

from google.oauth2 import service_account
from apiclient.discovery import build

Create the API client and fetch the token:

# Set up credentials with user impersonation
credentials = service_account.Credentials.from_service_account_file(
    JSON_KEY_FILE, scopes=["https://www.googleapis.com/auth/siteverification"])
credentials_delegated = credentials.with_subject(RESELLER_ADMIN_USER)

# Create the API service
verification_service = build(serviceName="siteVerification", version="v1",
    credentials=credentials_delegated)

# Fetch the token
response = verification_service.webResource().getToken(
  body={
    "site": {
      "type": "INET_DOMAIN",
      "identifier": CUSTOMER_DOMAIN
    },
    "verificationMethod": "DNS_TXT"
  }).execute()
token = response["token"]
print("Site Verification token: " + token)

Step 3: Place verification token

Write the code to add the token as a TXT record on the customer domain's DNS records.

For new domains, this is a great time to set up the MX records required for Gmail.

Step 4: Trigger domain verification

Once the token is placed as a TXT record, you can call the Site Verification API to trigger the verification. This is achieved by calling webResource.insert().

The call fails with a 400 error if the expected token is not found. You can implement an exponential backoff retry strategy until the call succeeds to make up for DNS propagation delays.

If the call returns with no errors, the Site Verification API considers the domain to be verified, and any emails in the owners field of the webResource is a verified owner.

It may take about 3 hours for the verification status to propagate to your customer's Google Workspace account. You can force the status to propagate instantly by setting the customer's admin (created when you called provisionCloudIdentity) as an owner of the webResource.

C# 

// Set the customer's admin user as an owner to make sure the domain
// verification status is instantly propagated to the Workspace account
string[] owners = { "admin@" + customerDomain };

var resource = new SiteVerificationWebResourceResource {
  Site = new SiteVerificationWebResourceResource.SiteData {
    Type = "INET_DOMAIN",
    Identifier = customerDomain
  },
  Owners = owners
};

resource = verificationService.WebResource.Insert(resource, "DNS_TXT").Execute();
Console.WriteLine("=== Domain has been verified");

Go 

// Set the customer's admin user as an owner to make sure the domain
// verification status is instantly propagated to the Workspace account
resource := &siteverification.SiteVerificationWebResourceResource{
  Site: &siteverification.SiteVerificationWebResourceResourceSite{
    Type:       "INET_DOMAIN",
    Identifier: customerDomain,
  },
  Owners: []string{"admin@" + customerDomain},
}
resource, err := verificationService.WebResource.Insert("DNS_TXT", resource).Do()
if err != nil {
  fmt.Println(err)
} else {
  fmt.Println("=== Domain has been verified")
}

Java 

// Set the customer's admin user as an owner to make sure the domain
// verification status is instantly propagated to the Workspace account
SiteVerificationWebResourceResource resource =
    new SiteVerificationWebResourceResource()
        .setSite(new SiteVerificationWebResourceResource.Site()
            .setIdentifier(CUSTOMER_DOMAIN)
            .setType("INET_DOMAIN"))
        .setOwners(Arrays.asList("admin@" + CUSTOMER_DOMAIN));

resource = verificationService.webResource().insert("DNS_TXT", resource).execute();
System.out.println("=== Domain has been verified");

Node.js 

// Set the customer's admin user as an owner to make sure the domain
// verification status is instantly propagated to the Workspace account
await verificationService.webResource.insert({
  verificationMethod: 'DNS_TXT',
  requestBody: {
    site: {
      type: 'INET_DOMAIN',
      identifier: customerDomain,
    },
    owners: [`admin@${customerDomain}`],
  }
});
console.log('=== Domain has been verified');

PHP 

// Set the customer's admin user as an owner to make sure the domain
// verification status is instantly propagated to the Workspace account
$resource = new Google_Service_SiteVerification_SiteVerificationWebResourceResource([
  'site' => [
    'type' => 'INET_DOMAIN',
    'identifier' => $CUSTOMER_DOMAIN,
  ],
  'owners' => ['admin@' . $CUSTOMER_DOMAIN]
]);

$resource = $verificationService->webResource->insert('DNS_TXT', $resource);
print '=== Domain has been verified' . PHP_EOL;

Python 

# Set the customer's admin user as an owner to make sure the domain
# verification status is instantly propagated to the Workspace account
resource = verification_service.webResource().insert(
  verificationMethod="DNS_TXT",
  body={
    "site": {
      "type": "INET_DOMAIN",
      "identifier": CUSTOMER_DOMAIN
    },
    "owners": ["admin@" + CUSTOMER_DOMAIN]
  }).execute()
print("=== Domain has been verified")