Sender Policy Framework
A Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record permits our mail server to send email on behalf of your domain. This helps to prevent spammers from sending messages with forged email address, claiming to be from your domain.
About SPF Records
Sender Policy Framework (SPF) Records is a type of Domain Name Service (DNS) TXT record published in the domain’s DNS that identifies the email servers that are permitted to send emails using the particular domain name. The main purpose of SPF records is to help the recipient email server identify the spam emails, sent using your domain name by spoofing/ forging the From email addresses.
The purpose of an SPF record is to detect and prevent spammers from sending messages with forged From addresses on your domain. The SPF protocol is one of the standard validations to fight against spam. Additionally, it is also a part of DMARC specification.
Configure SPF Records for Caribonix Mail
When you send an email using info@yourdomain.com from Caribonix Mail, the recipient servers refer the SPF records to check if the email sent from Caribonix Mail is genuine. Some email servers reject the emails if there is a mismatch or if there are no valid SPF records for your domain. Generally, you can publish the SPF records as TXT records in the DNS Providers (Domain Registrars/ DNS Managers).
The Valid SPF records that need to be published in your domain TXT records are provided below:
Specific Instructions for some DNS Providers:
- GoDaddy
- 1 and 1
- Enom
- Euro DNS
- cPanel DNS
- Hostgator – cPanel
- Bluehost
- Squarespace
- WordPress
- Wix
- Name.com
- Namecheap – cPanel
- Network Solutions
- Yahoo
- Register.com
- Shopify
Once you have successfully added the SPF record for your domain. You can check the SPF record with the third party tool mxtoolbox.com
Important Points:
- Ensure that you have deleted all the SPF records related to your previous email provider. Any other existing SPF record will conflict with Caribonix Mail, affect email delivery and result in permanent loss of emails delivered.
- The SPF Caribonix that should be returned when you check in mxtoolbox.com should be
- Valid SPF records value provided above
Using additional entries instead of multiple SPF Records
Multiple SPF records are invalid according to the Sender Policy Framework. Every domain should have a single SPF record, including all the servers that the domain uses to send emails.
When you add multiple TXT records of type SPF, it causes an interruption in the email delivery and your emails may end up being classified as Spam. As per the RFC Specifications for SPF records, a domain should not have multiple SPF records and this will cause the validation to select more than one record.
In case you need to use multiple email servers for your domain, you can update the details in the same SPF record instead of multiple entries.
Troubleshooting SPF Record Addition
DNS Provider – Registrar conflict
When you register the domain with one provider, but point the Nameservers to another provider, then the TXT Record added in your Domain Registrar to configure SPF is not considered valid. You might have changed the DNS Provider for hosting your website or for your previous email provider configuration or based on your choice.
The TXT Records added in the provider where the Nameservers are pointed will only be effective and valid. Hence, do a ‘NameServer’ Lookup for your domain, to check where your domain is hosted. You may also check with your Domain Registrar or the technical contact for your domain on where the name servers are pointed to, if you are not sure.
Longer TTL
TTL (Time To Live) is the time specified in your DNS for each change in your DNS to be effective. If you have a huge TTL value (24 hrs/ 48 hrs), then the TXT Record might not be provided during the verification process. It might take up to 12 – 24 hours for DNS changes to take effect, based on the TTL set. Please check the TTL value and try verifying after a while.
Typos/ Spelling Mistakes
Ensure that the TXT Record value that you enter while configuring SPF is in accordance with the value specified in this help page.