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emailspf

Mail SPF configuration?

THE SITUATION: I have ONE e-mail account per domain. I use e-mails such as [some-alias]@[one-of-my-domains-name]. (server: mail.[mydomain]:[secure port] My registrar (OVH) is different from my web host (Arvixe). My hosting plan is a mutualised .NET hosting. When I want to reply with one of my aliases, I use Mozilla Thunderbird 'Identities'. (Login = concrete domain mail account, FROM: 'the alias e-mail'.) (And yes, this is very efficient to avoid getting spams and unwanted mailing lists.)

THE PROBLEM: For some recipient using some spam protection services, I constantly get the error:

Remote server replied: 550 Blocked by SPF ()

HINTS/QUESTIONS AND IDEAS IN SEARCH FOR A SOLUTION

  • a friend said I have to configure the TXT spf record of my domain.
  • using different webmaster tools sites to get DIG info, I never get infos about the 'TXT' record. So I'm not sure: Should I edit this record on the side of my domain registrar or in the side of the hosting ?
  • Current on my registrar's side the record reads: v=spf1 a:mail.[mydomain] include:mx.ovh.com ~all and on my hosting's side it reads: v=spf1 a:mail.[mydomain] ~all

THE BIG QUESTION: How can I solve this ?

Thank you for your help

Solution

  • Solution found: - I actually had to set the SPF or TXT (I set both at the same value) record on the hosting's side. - I used [email protected] , which a mail service to checking if your e-mails are passing some anti-spam filter. - The reply given by [email protected] made me understand the Source IP/HELO hostname were not mail.[mydomain] but [myhostingserversubdomain].arvixe.com here what my SPF and TXP spf records look like:

    v=spf1 mx ptr:[thesubdomain].arvixe.com -all

    (I think 'mx' is really not necessary in my case.)

    EDIT : Slight improvement:

    v=spf1 ip4:[[thesubdomain].arvixe.com IP] ptr:[thesubdomain].arvixe.com -all

    mx removed since in my case the mx servers have nothing to do with it. "ptr" requires DNS lookup, so I added the direct IP. I left "ptr" in case the IP changes (since it's managed by my host).