Not sure about SPF settings consequence, need advice
Hello there.
Besides my own stuff, I run my brother's domain/site/email in my Linode and I instructed him that we are not going to generate any SPAM from Linode's IP. He is buying a plan for his e-mail marketing intentions. The company behind the mass email plan is asking to us to add the following settings to DNS setup.
In this transcription, I changed the real IP’s/hosts to fictional ones:
Our Linode IP: 216.58.222.78
Our domain: ourdomain.com
third party e-mail host: emailkt.com
third party e-mail host rDNS: 128.30.52.17
The settings they asked us to add to our DNS:
Name TTL Class Type Data
emkt.ourdomain.com 300 IN A 128.30.52.17
emkt.ourdomain.com 300 IN MX d440692.emailkt.com
emkt.ourdomain.com 300 IN TXT "v=spf1 include:_spf.emailkt.com ?all"
ourdomain.com 300 IN TXT "v=spf1 ip4:216.58.222.78 a mx include:_spf.emailkt.com -all"
Besides these lines they asked to add an additional DKIM TXT with an rsa that they informed.
What confuses me is the existence of two SPF records and one of them includes my Linode IP.
I understand that these settings can impact ourdomain.com domain reputation but my question is: This settings can impact my Linode IP reputation?
I think I understand the need of informing my linode ip in the second SPF but I'm unsure if this can cause impact on my IP reputation.
Any clues?
Thanks!
1 Reply
tbaka
Linode Staff
That's a great question. A SPF record is meant to tell other servers what is a legitimate source of mail from your URL. In this case, it makes sense to me to include SPF records for both your IP and the email company's as both will be visible in the headers and taken into account for SPAM filtering purposes.
As far as the potential impact on your IP reputation, sending out SPAM or other acts of that nature will certainly affect your IP reputation, and could lead to it being listed on an RBL. However, the simple existence of the record should not affect your IP's reputation.
I think that as long as the mailing campaign is in compliance with CAN-SPAM it shouldn't be an issue. I would suggest double checking against the information provided in that link before you start any mailing to make sure you are checking all the boxes. I would also recommend using a resource like mxtoolbox.com just to make sure you have all the required records. We also have a very thorough guide on Running a Mail Server that might come in handy.