Creating an SPF record
By adding an SPF record to your domain, you can control the ability of where and who can send out mail from your domain name and lessen the odds of your emails being flagged as spam by other mail servers.
What is an SPF record?
An SPF record lists all authorized IP addresses and/or hostnames permitted to send emails on behalf of the domain name. To put it simply, an SPF Record is simply a TXT record added to your domain's DNS. The details of the record must be exact to function properly.
Note: Hover's DNS panel has a character limit of 255. This means the SPF record will need to be shorter than 255 characters.
An SPF record needs to have the hostname as @. The value is what differentiates an SPF record from other TXT records. Here is an example of an SPF record that our customers frequently use:
v=spf1 include:_spf.hostedemail.com include:hover.com ~all |
Different parts of an SPF record
v=spf1 |
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a |
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mx |
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-all |
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If you want to force a “soft fail” instead, which allows the email sent through the different mail server to be delivered, change the -all to ~all. With the ~all in place, the email will be tagged as suspicious but will still be delivered to the recipient.
Adding/Removing an SPF record
- Sign in to your Hover Control Panel.
- From the Domain's Overview page, click on the DNS section.
- From the DNS section, click on Add a record.
- Select TXT from the dropdown menu.
SPF configuration examples
Specify a single IPv4 address that can send emails |
v=spf1 ip4:204.200.197.197 -all
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Specify a range of IPv4 addresses that can send emails |
v=spf1 ip4:192.168.0.1/16 -all
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Specify a mail server that can send |
v=spf1 mx:mx1.domain.com -all
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Specify multiple items in one SPF record |
v=spf1 a mx ip4:204.200.197.197 mx:mx1.domain.com -all
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Make domain unable to send any emails |
v=spf1 -all
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Specify a single IPv6 address that can send |
v=spf1 ip6:1080::8:800:200C:417A -all
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Specify a range of IPv6 addresses that can send |
v=spf1 ip6:1080::8:800:200C:417A/96 -all
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Specify another domain that can send email from the domain |
v=spf1 include:anotherdomain.com -all
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