Without IPv6 entry in my SPF record, I get softfails if the other server uses IPv6. However when I add a ip6 record (which is my accurate address, with a reverse DNS entry) I get a permerror. I cannot figure out what the issue is.
From email header:
Received-SPF: permerror (google.com: domain of [email protected] uses a mechanism not recognized by this client. unknown mechanisms: )) client-ip=2600:3c01::f03c:91ff:fe6e:85d7
My full SPF record:
v=spf1 mx ptr ip4:173.255.244.150 ip6:22600:3c01::f03c:91ff:fe6e:85d7 a:watershedmg.org include:_spf.google.com ~all
Can anyone shed light on this? Thank you.
22600:3c01::f03c:91ff:fe6e:85d7 is not a valid IPv6 address. Check the first section - it's got too many digits. It looks like you added an extra '2'
You also don't need the mx since you're using Google Apps for your email. So a better version of this record would be
v=spf1 ip4:173.255.244.150 ip6:2600:3c01::f03c:91ff:fe6e:85d7 include:_spf.google.com a:watershedmg.org ~all
and the a directive is only necessary if you've got a web server that is directly sending email using a local mail server. Otherwise you should remove it as well.