Mailing List Archive: Creating SPF record on shared host using Google Apps and PHPList

Creating SPF record on shared host using Google Apps and PHPList

Jan 19, 2009, 7:31 AM

Post #1 of 5 (6691 views)

Hi all,

My first message hope it gets to someone in the know...

I have bought my own domain on a shared host which I'd like to use PHPList on, which is configured to use my Google Apps domain hosted account (my credentials with smtp.gmail.com) to send the newsletters.

I'm trying to use the SPF wizard having come across the SPF site to create one of these SPF records, trying to do the right thing etc, but am failing at the first hurdle.

The first thing I came up with from the example on the SPF site regarding googleapps is the following but I'm not sure now that I've looked at the wizard whether that on its own is correct?

mydomain.co.uk. TXT "v=spf1 include:aspmx.googlemail.com ~all"

I have about 5 google mx records as per googleapps setup instructions.

Wizard:

I've entered my domain name of my web site and clicked on begin.

[a] Does my web host server send mail from my domain?

I think so, PHPList is set up to use smtp account at gmail though, but if this means does this web server pass mail on, I guess it must do to use the smtp settings at gmail?

[mx] MX records, the wizard has found more than just those set up as per google apps instructions, all appear to relate to google though. I only have google mx records set up on this domain. Do these mx servers also send mail from my domain?

Unsure, email is either sent from PHPList using gmail's smtp with my credentials, or from Outlook using my gmail smtp settings, or google apps web interface.

[ptr] I'm guessing from the comments on ptr that the answer should be no?

[a:] Do any other servers send mail from my domain?

I don't use my isp's smtp, as mentioned above, my mx records point to the googleapps domain hosted service.

[mx:]?
[ip4]?

[include:] Do i need to include my isp somewhere as what ever ip address i'm allocated when connecting to the internet with t-mobile, although i dont use t-mobile's smtp do i still need to include t-mobile as the server connecting me to the internet, i'm guessing it's transferring email when i send it, to gmail's smtp, but does that mean it originated from my isp's server, and thus should be included here?

[~all] Im guessing this would be yes, once I know what is correct with the above?

I hope someone can off me some help please...
Kind regards
Justin

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RE: Creating SPF record on shared host using Google Apps and PHPList [ In reply to ]

steve at teamITS

Jan 19, 2009, 2:57 PM

Post #2 of 5 (6445 views)

Permalink

Justin wrote on 1/19/2009 9:31:33 AM:

> [a] Does my web host server send mail from my domain?
>
> I think so, PHPList is set up to use smtp account at gmail though, but
> if this means does this web server pass mail on, I guess it must do to
> use the smtp settings at gmail?

The overall goal with SPF is to list the mail servers that send
mail using your domain. You have stated that all mail you send will
send through Google. This question is asking if the web server itself
sends mail using your domain name. It sounds like the answer is no.

> [mx] MX records, the wizard has found more than just those set up as
per
> google apps instructions, all appear to relate to google though. I
only
> have google mx records set up on this domain. Do these mx servers
also
> send mail from my domain?
>
> Unsure, email is either sent from PHPList using gmail's smtp with my
credentials,
> or from Outlook using my gmail smtp settings, or google apps web
interface.

The wizard has its issues and has been "being worked on" for a
year or two now. Google typically says to use an include to reference
their mail servers, which lets them change IP addresses, etc., as they
wish. So I would just use Google's include and not worry about the
rest.

> [ptr] I'm guessing from the comments on ptr that the answer should be
no?

Generally, yes.

> [include:] Do i need to include my isp somewhere as what ever ip
address i'm
> allocated when connecting to the internet with t-mobile, although i
dont use t-
> mobile's smtp do i still need to include t-mobile as the server
connecting me to
> the internet, i'm guessing it's transferring email when i send it, to
gmail's smtp,
> but does that mean it originated from my isp's server, and thus should
be
> included here?

You would reference the mail server that delivers your message.
If your wireless device connects to Google via SMTP then you have
already referenced Google's servers.

> [~all] Im guessing this would be yes, once I know what is correct with
the above?

Generally use ~all for testing and -all when are happy with your
SPF record.

So therefore "v=spf1 include:aspmx.googlemail.com ~all" sounds
right. This says that the only source for mail from your domain is
whatever Google says.

-----
SPF FAQ: http://www.openspf.org/FAQ
Common mistakes: http://www.openspf.org/FAQ/Common_mistakes

- Steve Yates
- ITS, Inc.
- Astronomy Final Exam question: Describe the universe. Give two
examples.

~ Taglines by Taglinator: www.srtware.com ~

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RE: Creating SPF record on shared host using Google Apps and PHPList [ In reply to ]

justin_inbox at hotmail

Jan 20, 2009, 4:47 AM

Post #3 of 5 (6436 views)

Permalink

Hi Steve,

Many thanks for your response.

My shared Linux hosting provider set things up as follows, in fact this is how I had done it once I found the option in cpanel, but this made me include an ip address too. This is referred to as the "main server interface ip" in the cpanel interface and states that this cannot be removed in the ip4 section.

v=spf1 a mx ip4:xx.xx.xx.xx include:aspmx.googlemail.com ?all

I contacted my host as I was expecting to be able to put "~all" but this couldn't be done through the cpanel interface. Is "?all" regarded the same as "~all"?

This seems to be implemented for any domain hosted on my shared web host account. I have 3 sub domains hosted on the account for the main domain. At the moment all of these use google apps for mail sending with the exception of server generated email for cron jobs. Would it cause a problem if i added a new sub domain that i didnt want to use google apps as my smtp?

kind regards
Justin

> Subject: RE: [spf-help] Creating SPF record on shared host using Google Apps and PHPList
> Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:57:10 -0600
> From: steve@teamITS.com
> To: spf-help@v2.listbox.com
>
> Justin wrote on 1/19/2009 9:31:33 AM:
>
> > [a] Does my web host server send mail from my domain?
> >
> > I think so, PHPList is set up to use smtp account at gmail though, but
> > if this means does this web server pass mail on, I guess it must do to
> > use the smtp settings at gmail?
>
> The overall goal with SPF is to list the mail servers that send
> mail using your domain. You have stated that all mail you send will
> send through Google. This question is asking if the web server itself
> sends mail using your domain name. It sounds like the answer is no.
>
> > [mx] MX records, the wizard has found more than just those set up as
> per
> > google apps instructions, all appear to relate to google though. I
> only
> > have google mx records set up on this domain. Do these mx servers
> also
> > send mail from my domain?
> >
> > Unsure, email is either sent from PHPList using gmail's smtp with my
> credentials,
> > or from Outlook using my gmail smtp settings, or google apps web
> interface.
>
> The wizard has its issues and has been "being worked on" for a
> year or two now. Google typically says to use an include to reference
> their mail servers, which lets them change IP addresses, etc., as they
> wish. So I would just use Google's include and not worry about the
> rest.
>
> > [ptr] I'm guessing from the comments on ptr that the answer should be
> no?
>
> Generally, yes.
>
> > [include:] Do i need to include my isp somewhere as what ever ip
> address i'm
> > allocated when connecting to the internet with t-mobile, although i
> dont use t-
> > mobile's smtp do i still need to include t-mobile as the server
> connecting me to
> > the internet, i'm guessing it's transferring email when i send it, to
> gmail's smtp,
> > but does that mean it originated from my isp's server, and thus should
> be
> > included here?
>
> You would reference the mail server that delivers your message.
> If your wireless device connects to Google via SMTP then you have
> already referenced Google's servers.
>
> > [~all] Im guessing this would be yes, once I know what is correct with
> the above?
>
> Generally use ~all for testing and -all when are happy with your
> SPF record.
>
> So therefore "v=spf1 include:aspmx.googlemail.com ~all" sounds
> right. This says that the only source for mail from your domain is
> whatever Google says.
>
>
> -----
> SPF FAQ: http://www.openspf.org/FAQ
> Common mistakes: http://www.openspf.org/FAQ/Common_mistakes
>
> - Steve Yates
> - ITS, Inc.
> - Astronomy Final Exam question: Describe the universe. Give two
> examples.
>
> ~ Taglines by Taglinator: www.srtware.com ~
>
>
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Re: Creating SPF record on shared host using Google Apps and PHPList [ In reply to ]

rob.macgregor at gmail

Jan 20, 2009, 5:21 AM

Post #4 of 5 (6447 views)

Permalink

On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 12:47, Justin <justin_inbox@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> I contacted my host as I was expecting to be able to put "~all" but this couldn't be done through the cpanel interface. Is "?all" regarded the same as "~all"?

http://www.openspf.org/SPF_Record_Syntax

In short, '~all' says "mark but don't reject" and "?all" says "you
cannot infer anything".

--
Please keep list traffic on the list.

Rob MacGregor
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
doesn't become a monster. Friedrich Nietzsche

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RE: Creating SPF record on shared host using Google Apps and PHPList [ In reply to ]

justin_inbox at hotmail

Jan 21, 2009, 5:03 AM

Post #5 of 5 (6451 views)

Permalink

Hi Rob,

Thanks very much for your reply.

Interestingly when I found a site to check what spf record I had in place after raising the issue with my shared host, it does appear "~all", although viewing spf through the shared host control panel only shows "?all".

Am happy that the tool has confirmed that the tilde version is the one that is in place, as this appears to be the correct one for Google Apps.

http://www.kitterman.com/spf/validate.html

Best regards
Justin

> Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:21:05 +0000
> From: rob.macgregor@gmail.com
> To: spf-help@v2.listbox.com
> Subject: Re: [spf-help] Creating SPF record on shared host using Google Apps and PHPList
>
> On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 12:47, Justin <justin_inbox@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I contacted my host as I was expecting to be able to put "~all" but this couldn't be done through the cpanel interface. Is "?all" regarded the same as "~all"?
>
> http://www.openspf.org/SPF_Record_Syntax
>
> In short, '~all' says "mark but don't reject" and "?all" says "you
> cannot infer anything".
>
> --
> Please keep list traffic on the list.
>
> Rob MacGregor
> Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
> doesn't become a monster. Friedrich Nietzsche
>
>
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> Sender Policy Framework: http://www.openspf.org
> Modify Your Subscription: http://www.listbox.com/member/
> Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/1020/=now
> RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/1020/
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_________________________________________________________________
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