DNS: SPF/DKIM Setup

Server Config
1

Hi guys,

Hoping someone might be able to offer a quick bit of advice around SPK and DKIM setup. Basically I have a server with about 20 sites on it, and many of them have a contact form that uses PHP mail() to send a message to a GMail/Google Apps account. The DNS is externally hosted, but I just wanted to run through what I’ve done to get your thoughts as I have a few questions:

  1. Create text record “v=spf1 a include:_spf.google.com ~all” - does it matter what the prefix is? I’ve seen some prefixes set as the domain and others _spf. The server IP is obviously the A record IP.
  2. DKIM is set up on the server, however I have not copied the text entry CPanel generates to the DNS host yet. I note that there is nothing there for any of the sites for Google, so will adding the server DKIM key affect deliverability of GMail messages?
  3. How quickly do changes take effect? I’ve tried just updating the SPF records, but the messages don’t show up even in GMail junk so I’m assuming its because it is because the DKIM record is missing?

Thanks in advance! :slight_smile:

2

If you have CPanel, I’d recommend setting up DKIM and SPF via CPanel, rather than going to the domain host. I’m not expert at this, but I have set up both of these with Google. Here are the tips I posted on DKIM and [URL=“http://pageaffairs.com/notebook/google-apps-spf”]SPF, in case they are of any use.

3

Thanks Ralph, I’ll take a look at those articles.