Configure SPF, rDNS, DKIM, and DMARC for email

Introduction

Sending and receiving email should be straightforward, but a lot of background checks happen before your organization’s email is delivered reliably and securely. Use this article to activate SPF, rDNS, DKIM, and DMARC to make sure your email reaches recipients, and protects your email server from crippling outcomes like dropped email and public blacklisting.

What cost a lost email that you never know a recipient has not seen?

Click open the headers below to understand more and learn how to configure your email server for minimum business standards. Please read through this entire article before starting to engage modifications to your email server. Changes you make are done so at your risk so be sure to contact us for general advice if you are in doubt. Click on images to view at full-sized resolution.

Why do these protocols matter?

If you do not put a stamp on a letter, it probably will not reach its destination, and without a return address you will certainly never know what happened to the letter.

Similarly, without SPF, rDNS, DKIM, and DMARC, email that you send will be erratic and unpredictable. You may think “it has never been a problem before”. Partly this is because when email does not reach a recipient, you know you sent it but the recipient does not know it was supposed to be received.

Perhaps this is not so noticeable in casual or individual usage. In an organisation, eventually patterns start emerging. Either way, everyone has sent an email that has never reached its target. These protocols are why most failures happen, and in business communications…. it matters. The protocols enable your supplier and customer email servers to “trust” your email and its “brand”.

“Postage stamps” for email

The one question we are posed by clients in 25 years of IT support is the plaintive “why aren’t my emails getting through?”. Hopefully, it is only because of a badly spelled email address. Often, though, the answer is that the client’s service is not sending adequately “stamped” emails with return addresses.

Protecting your identity – “trust”

Protocols like SPF, rDNS, DKIM, and DMARC are email’s answer to postage stamps. They enable receiving email servers to measure and “trust” the authenticity of your communication. Put another way, you need these protocols to protect your email from being measured as spam or malicious email.

Self serve guides for implementing email protocols

Your web server is optimised for delivering your web pages. If email is included in your package, we have made sure that an email server is enabled with necessary email tools. However, like flat pack furniture, your email server is minimally configured and the protocols need to be aligned with your domain name.

These domain name modifications can only be manually configured by you or your agent. If we look after your domain name, we would configure these modification within your ongoing support. If we do not have admin privileges in your domain name, and you have elected against support, then you need to configure these tools.

If you do not have expert in-house IT skills, consider our email configuration service and ongoing support plans. We are glad to quote on request.

Configuration guides

Use the “self-serve” guides linked below to implement SPF, rDNS, DKIM, and DMARC. There are a few ways to deal with these modifications, and it really depends on how your domain name and authoritative nameservers are configured, so these articles might not be exactly on point. Implement the protocols in the order listed:

Tips and tricks

some protocols may take up to 24 hours to resolve
read through each guide before starting
monitor email for a week or so before enabling the next protocol
document what you do with screen shots

Bear in mind that changes made to domain names happen in real time, and errors can cause web site and email outages that could take up to 72 hours to restore. If in doubt, contact us first.

Summary

Email is vulnerable to malicious attacks that pose risks to your online identity, reputation, and hijack. Implementing SPF, rDNS, DKIM, and DMARC helps to ensure that your outgoing email reaches recipients.

Implementing these kinds of services is challenging without experience. If you do not have expert in-house IT skills, consider our email configuration service and ongoing support plans. We are glad to quote on request.