SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a system to help domain owners identify all the servers which are expected to send mail from their domain. The aim is that other mail systems can then check to make sure the server sending email from that domain is authorized to do so - reducing the chance of email 'spoofing', phishing schemes and spam!
Important: SPF records need to be added to the DNS records for a domain name and need to be tailored to you or your company's needs so it is not possible to use them with free / low cost email addresses such as Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL etc.
When used with AuthSMTP to send your outgoing mail the setup can be very simple - a 'typical' SPF record would be:
"v=spf1 a mx include:authsmtp.com ?all"
This will by default allow email from the default IP address for your domain (typically your web server), any hosts at your domain (i.e. hostname.your-domain-name.com) and all the domains we currently use for sending your email.
There are 3 options for 'all' - we recommend using '?all' to start with then consider changing to the stricter '~all' and strictest '-all' when you are 100% sure the SPF records you have chosen are accurate.
Note: Depending on your email / server configuration you may need to setup some additional records - contact your ISP for more details and to add SPF to your domain DNS records or use the official SPF Wizard.
If you have any questions please contact us.
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