Hello I own a website which uses 2 different ways to sent emails to users:
-gmail configured like support#example.com
-amazon SES
The problem is that the emails sent with SES goes allways into spam!
my SPF record looks like: "v=spf1 include:amazonses.com include:_spf.google.com ~all"
my TXT record looks like: "v=spf1 include:amazonses.com include:_spf.google.com ~all"
I have just changed this records as above, should I need to wait 48 hours or something similar?
Are this correct settings? if yes what could be the reason of my problem?
The first comment is actually not entirely correct!
Mechanisms can be prefixed with one of four qualifiers:
"+" Pass
"-" Fail
"~" SoftFail
"?" Neutral
SoftFail is usually the better choice than Fail because SPF has some flaws and a Fail could prevent some forwarded emails to not arrive at all instead of being flagged as possible spam. (I have experience with those problems since I have worked for several email providers)
Make sure to test your SPF records. You can use this website to test them:
http://spf.myisp.ch
First, as others noted, you are using SoftFail ~all. From openspf.org Record Syntax:
SoftFail: The SPF record has designated the host as NOT being allowed to send but is in transition
Intended action: accept but mark
You should use HardFail -all if you want the emails to be rejected when sent from an unauthorized server.
SPF protection is used to prevent spoofing. It's there to define the servers that are authorized to send emails for a certain domain. Generally, if the spf fail, the email will just be rejected and will not get into the spams.
There's a lot of possible reasons an email is getting into the spams, but it's generally because your email has been flagged as spam by a content analysis tool like SpamAssassin. You should contact whoever is managing the email filtering and ask them why exactly your email got in the spams.
Related
I just found out my domain's emails have been going to the spam folder of gmail recipients. I did some research and I put the following in my DNS records for my domain name:
TXT - "v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all"
I'm not sure if I have to put anything before the spf like my server's IP address or a or mx in some configurations I see. I mainly use my google apps domain email by using my plain gmail account and set "Send As" to send from the domain specific emails.
Is there something else I am missing or overlooking that I need to do to resolve this issue?
If you're only using google apps to send emails then that's the correct SPF record.
If you want to be sure, the best thing you can do is send an email to
mailtest#unlocktheinbox.com
check-auth#verifier.port25.com
They are know as reflectors and will auto-respond with your configuration, letting you know if you have your SPF set up correctly.
If you're unsure of what you need just use an SPF Wizard, but I think based on your description you're 100% fine. The MX and A just tells the receiving mail server that if the mail comes from you MX or A of your domain, then it's a good email, but you're sending from google, so you wouldn't need it.
Also with GMAIL in-boxing takes time and SPF isn't the magic cure, but it helps.
I am trying to help out a little non-profit organization, who has decided to let One.com host their domain, including website and e-mail. Now, my issue is that One.com does not add SPF-records or DKIM-keys to your domain and I believe that is the reason why a large number of mails sent from the domain, end up in spam.
I've been in touch with their support, who kindly answered:
You are already using our mail servers, there is no need to use SPF for that.
Our mail servers already have SPF installed, and if you are using our mail servers, SPF will not be question since domain is hosted here and it is using One.com's mail server. SPF will only be required if your domain is hosted here but is using a different MX record or mail server
I've tried to figure out if you can leave out SPF, but all I've been able to conclude is that proper SPF on each domain is definitely the proper way, instead of just the hosting companys main domain. I mean, if it was that simple, how come even Google Apps, Zoho, Rackspace etc. recommends adding SPF, if it worked just as well leaving it out - you'd be using their MX as well, so isn't that the same? And wouldn't leaving SPF out leave us with the same issues as before SPF, namedly that you'd have no way to validate if mail was truly being sent from the owners of the domain or just somebody imposing.
So what it comes down to: Can One.com really leave out SPF records on their clients domains, send mail on the clients behalfs and still expect mail to come through without ending up in spam more often?
Thank you very much for your time!
The short answer is "No, they can't". The longer answer is a little more complicated.
SPF uses either the EHLO domain of the sending server or the domain in the Return-Path to look up SPF records in DNS. Most systems that handle multiple domains do not use SPF records on the EHLO domains of the sending servers, so the SPF domain is taken from the email's Return-Path. You should take a look at the Return-Path for one of the emails that this non-profit has sent through One.com to determine whether the Return-Path is on a subdomain of one.com, or is using the non-profit's domain. The latter is definitely preferred.
If the Return-Path is on a subdomain of one.com, then that's the domain that will be used to look up SPF records. So adding SPF records to your non-profit's DNS won't do anything. While this may seem the easier path, it causes problems with DMARC and may cause the email to be flagged as spam even if it passes SPF, as the address in the 'From' header will have a domain that doesn't match the Return-Path
If the Return-Path is on a subdomain of your non-profit's domain, then you should definitely add an SPF record to your non-profit's DNS. Looking at one.com's current records, something like:
v=spf1 include:_spf.one.com ~all
should do it.
By the way, you should be able to see whether an email has been SPF or DKIM authorized by looking at the headers of the received email. That's the best way to understand the actual behavior.
I am planing to use both Mandrill and MailChimp for my website, and I`m trying to set up the crazy SPF DKIM for both of them. At same time still keep my own email flowing In and Out :)
My current plan is :
SPF TXT Record
yourdomain.com
v=spf1 include:spf.mandrillapp.com include:servers.mcsv.net ?all
1 hour
And a DKIM Record (for only Mandrill)
mandrill._domainkey.yourdomain.com
k=rsa; p=*****
1 hour
Can anyone see any missing characters? And is MailChimp Domain still Valid?
Thanks for any help :)
you should be able to omit the Mandrill info from your SPF record, because it's already included by virtue of including the MailChimp one (that MailChimp record includes Mandrill, too). So you just need the include:servers.mcsv.net part.
Your SPF record might need some other info, too, though, depending on how you manage your regular mail, to specifically authorize your own servers to send the mail. For example, if you use Google Apps for your domain, you probably want to include the Google SPF information, too. That's going to be pretty dependent on your regular mail, so best to contact your email hosting provider for more details on how to handle it specific to them.
I have SPF and TXT record configured. When i check the SPF record syntax. It says PermError SPF Permanent Error: Too many DNS lookup.
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:netcore.co.in ~all
And my emails are landed in SPAM as well.
1) I am on shared hosting, I dont have dedicated IP and DKIM configured. Actually I dont send emails with spam triggering words. Since I am on shared hosting. Is there any possibility of other's on the shared hosting sending the emails which resulted in my emails to land in SPAM.
2) I am using the netcore.co.in to send the mass mails. and google.com to send the mails from gmail.
And I have properly configured MX records as well. I have mentioned google MX records But not netcore.net MX records.
I am using sendgrid's free smtp server to send the emails from my java web app. which i am not mentioned in spf record.
Is SPF record causing the spam issues.
You should have a look at this question I answered a few weeks ago:
Too many DNS lookups in an SPF record
You only get 10 DNS lookups for SPF (that's part of the protocol). There are automatically two lookups to get your TXT records and the actual SPF record. Without doing the actual math (I'll leave that to you as an exercise), you're hovering in the neighborhood of 13-14 lookups. You need to either consolidate your SPF records into one, or drop one of those services. (For instance, SendGrid allows you to do both transactional and mass mail under one set of IPs, so you could drop netcore or gmail entirely).
As for your spam issue, you should contact SendGrid support (http://support.sendgrid.com), that shouldn't be happening to you and they will be able to help you troubleshoot and resolve the issue.
Another option is to use an SPF Proxy service like spfproxy.org. It masks all the lookups behind a proxy that does it in the background. Takes just a couple minutes to setup. =
This has nothing to do with shared hosting, dedicated IP, DKIM set up or not, or if your content looks spammy.
The only culprit here is that your SPF contains 10+ mechanisms and/or modifiers that do DNS lookups. The SPF spec imposes this limit to prevent DDoS attacks.
You can use an online SPF checker to check the DNS lookup count in your SPF record: Online SPF checker
When "SPF PermError: too many DNS lookups" is returned during an SPF check, DMARC treats that as fail since it's a permanent error, and all SPF permanent errors are interpreted as fail by DMARC. This can have a negative impact on your email deliverability and you should seek a solution to this problem.
I've written a post on this topic: SPF PermError: too many DNS lookups
I'm using Amazon SES and Route53 and confused how I specify the TXT value to include the proper SPF config. Amazon gave me a SES TXT name/value pair which looks something like this:
Name: "_amazonses.xxx.com"
Value: "bInxJfnRbxxxxx9uFXgmxxxxxQHd08UxxxxxxsG+k="
I plugged this into my Route53 Record Set (same as "Zone file" on Godaddy). Sure enough after adding my SMTP credentials to my app and having Amazon verify my account ("grant production access"), it works and I can send email from my site to a variety of accounts (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, my .edu university account).
I know nothing about SPF but hear it is good include in one's email server configuration. By googling about Amazon SES, I keep seeing to include the flowing snippets:
"v=spf1 include:amazonses.com ~all"
"spf2.0/pra include:amazonses.com ~all"
Currently, these 2 snippets are included in the same TXT value field as that big, ugly value above("bInxJfnRb...") and my emails still get sent ok.
Two related questions:
Whether putting all 3 of the snippets in a single TXT value field is the right place for these snippets?
What are the circumstances under which "v=spf1 include:amazonses.com ~all" and "spf2..." come into play? Basically, how do I know if they are doing anything?
Tim,
I have always used TXT records for keeping SPF and SenderID information, like follows (the lines below are the result of a dig):
mydomain.com. 86400 IN TXT "v=spf1 include:amazonses.com ?all"
mydomain.com. 86400 IN TXT "spf2.0/pra include:amazonses.com ?all"
This is also how Amazon recommends you to do it.
Both SPF and SenderID are mechanisms ISPs use to verify the server which sent the email as being from your domain is really authorized by your domain to do so. Whenever an ISP is about to forward your email message, they will perform this kind of checks in order to guarantee it is not a SPAM. The explanation on Amazon SES page is one of the most concise I could find:
ISPs that forward email traffic on the Internet are well aware of spammers and their activities. Most ISPs have taken measures to evaluate whether email is legitimate. One such action that ISPs consider is email authentication, in which senders provide evidence that they are the owner of the account that they are sending from. In some cases, ISPs will refuse to forward email that is not authenticated.
If providers like Gmail, Yahoo!, etc, delivered your email to its final destination, your DNS entries are probably already correct. If you try to remove them and wait some time for the DNS settings to propagate, it is very likely your email will start being classified as spam. There are some web tools, like this one, which can help you validate your SPF records.
Hope it helps.
SPF and Amazon SES
If you are using Amazon SES to send from your domain, you need to know
that the current SES implementation involves sending emails from an
SES-owned MAIL-FROM domain. This means that you do not need to make
any changes to your DNS records in order for your emails to pass SPF
authentication.
Source: SPF and Amazon SES
More info:
Authenticating Email with SPF in Amazon SES
Authenticating Email with DKIM in Amazon SES