Bulk Email and SPF

[EOTB]

Hi Guys,

I have been asked to look into creating Monthly newsletters for people who have registered on the website. As eUK (quite rightly) have a limit on email sending through their servers, I created a local application that downloaded the email addresses from the database on the website, created the email and sent them off via a local SMTP server.

Out of the 400 currently registered users, 100 were bounced by ISPs such as AOL, BTInternet, Freeserve etc, as I assume they think its .

Now, will it be SPF to the rescue? From what I understand, when you enter the SPF record in to DNS, the recieving SMTP server will look at it to see if the host server was allowed to send the mail. If it was it allows it through.

So if I enter my external IP address into this record this should also work OK??

Does anyone know how successful this actually is as I obviously can't test this on my subscribers?

Thanks

Adam.

[eUKhost.com]

You need need rDNS for your local IP address so you need to get it done from your ISP if you have fixed IP address. SPF record can be set only if you have a hostname associated with your local IP address so first you need to setup a hostname and then rDNS and then you need to setup SPF.

[EOTB]

Originally Posted by eUKhost.com

You need need rDNS for your local IP address so you need to get it done from your ISP if you have fixed IP address. SPF record can be set only if you have a hostname associated with your local IP address so first you need to setup a hostname and then rDNS and then you need to setup SPF.

I think I already have a hostname. I am with the ISP Plus.Net, so my hostname is [username].plus.com. If I ping -a [my Static IP], it resolves to this hostname, so does this mean rDNS is setup?

If the above is all correct, the SPF record will look like:

v=spf1 a mx a:[hostname] -all

where [hostname] is my hostname.

Cheers

Ad.

[eUKhost.com]

put your local IP address at http://webtools.eukhost.com/retrieve_host.php and check if it comes back with a hostname.

If your rDNS is already setup then you will need following SPF records :-

domain.com. 14400 TXT "v=spf1 a mx ip4:91.186.30.23 ~all"


replace domain.com with your domain and 91.186.30.23 with your IP address.

[EOTB]

Sorry, if I'm being a bit dumb . In Reg-123, I have 'Name', 'Type', and 'Content' fields for adding DNS entries.

TXT goes in the Type and v=spf1....... goes in Content. What goes in the Name field?

Thanks

Adam.

[247h]

Your domain name (as represented in Mark's post by domain.com.) — note that it has a period (full-stop or dot) at the end and, whilst I'm drawing attention to this detail, note that the SPF record is within double inverted commas too — critically important 'punctuation' ...

I've never registered any domains with 123-Reg (I believe that's who you meant) so cannot advise whether their data entry boxes for 'Name', 'Type', and 'Content' fields require you to add the important punctuation, or whether you don't include it as it's formatted automatically — once you've entered the updates and saved, make sure you check they display as they should.

[EOTB]

I've entered the domain into the name and the other bit into the content, but it doesn't like it - states invalid entry.

Please view the screenshot:

Any other ideas?

[247h]

Thanks for the pic (which is useful) but what did you actually enter?

Did you enter in the left box, domain.com or domain.com. (it should be with the trailing period otherwise it's invalid) ?? I presume your domain name is that as shown in the picture's MX record? I haven't typed it here, deliberately, but it is nxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com. that goes in the left field.

You appear to have not put the SPF syntax in double inverted commas — it MUST read:

"v=spf1 a mx ip4:91.186.0.20 ~all" (or whatever IP is correct)
Question: where did your 84.93.111.xxx address come from (as in the pic)? It should be that of your server's IP which seems to be 91.186.0.20 unless your domain is hosted on one of eUKhost's shared servers, in which case it may need to be different).

[EOTB]

If I enter random characters (eg wibble)in the Name field and put the SPF syntax in quotes, it doesn't accept it. If I don't enter the quotes it does accept it.

Also, I have tested entering the domain with the dot at the end and it also doesn't accept it. If I enter it without it does.

So bascially I now have the entry accepted with the domain without the dot and the SPF syntax without the quotes.

It could be that reg-123 enters this information automatically. Once it is propogated, I will check on and NSLookup tool

Thank for your help

Cheers

Ad.

[EOTB]

Just re-read your reply. The IP address you see is my own static IP for home.

The main reason why I am doing this is so I can send newsletter bulk-email direct from my PC at home, without it being blocked by the major ISPs. I have been told by adding the SPF record with my IP address included it will less-likely be blocked/bounced/deferred.

The posts above also stated to make sure the IP address has rDNS setup, which it does.

[EOTB]

OK,

Just to let you guys know, I found the solution on the 123-reg support site (of all places!! )

There are two special characters that are used as wildcards which are entered in the name field:
@ = when nothing is entered before your domain name
* = when you have something before your domain name

So if you set up a few A records to your domain 'wibble.com':
@ - A - 30.40.50.60
* - A 30.40.50.65
www - A 30.40.50.70
ftp - A 30.40.60.75

....and then ping:
wibble.com it will return 30.40.50.60
www.wibble.com it will return 30.40.50.70
smeg.wibble.com it will return 30.40.50.65

For the SPF record, as you want just the domain name, you need to enter the @ symbol so will be:

@ - TXT - v=spf1 a mx ip4:[IP] ~all
(or whatever your SPF record need to be). Please note, for 123-reg, the content doesn't need to be in quotes.

Hope this helps!

Thanks

Adam.