Trying to understand spf settings

Customer Support Email Support
1

Hi Folks,

Can someone help me to understand what spf settings should be used?

I have a client that has several domain name email addresses that are being used. He didn’t want any email boxes and wanted all email forwarded to a different place. I setup all the email addresses so they only forward. He is getting a number of bounces and other problems. I am guessing that at least part of the problem might be the spf policy that is being used currently but I really don’t know.

After reading up a lot on spf policies I am more confused than ever as to what they do and how they work.

The four choices are:

[SIZE=13px][FONT=Verdana]fail[/FONT][/SIZE][SIZE=13px][FONT=Verdana]: the mail is a forgery, and you can reject it with confidence.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=13px][FONT=Verdana]softfail[/FONT][/SIZE][SIZE=13px][FONT=Verdana]: the message could be a forgery.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=13px][FONT=Verdana]pass[/FONT][/SIZE][SIZE=13px][FONT=Verdana]: the mail is not forged, but that doesn’t mean it’s legitimate.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=13px][FONT=Verdana]neutral[/FONT][/SIZE][SIZE=13px][FONT=Verdana]: The domain owner has explicitly stated that doesn’t know whether the IP is authorized or not.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=Verdana]It is currently set to “fail”[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=Verdana]Could that be contributing to the problem possibly?[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=Verdana]Should it be set to something else?[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=Verdana]Thanks![/FONT][/SIZE]

2

Joe, if SPF on the CP is set to ‘fail’ then it will report a fail on any mail sent through a server that is not part of the domain MX record, i.e. your domain or myhsphere. That will definitely contribute to possible spam classification on some recipients, though some just ignore it. If mail is coming through client’s own ISP or other SMTP for which you cannot account for, you should set it to neutral, or just turn it off. You can set up a custom txt record to allow other domains if you are sure what they might be, but if it’s unclear it’s better to set the thing to neutral or off.

3

Thanks bro!

What you just said was far easier to understand than everything else I was reading about regarding these policies. I appreciate that and have changed to neutral and will be hoping for better results.

Thanks again!