What is an SPF Record?
Posted on January 6th, 2009 by Paula SkaperAn SPF record is a small text file that tells ISPs who you are, and what domains you will send legitimate email from. You publish this file on your DNS server and more and more frequently, an incomplete or inaccurate SPF Record will cause your emails to be blocked by the recipients Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Your SPF record should include information about your domain and the domains of any third-party e-mail service providers you use.
How does it work?
Any time an e-mail is sent, the receiver’s mail server checks the domain name of the servers sending the message (hidden in the message headers). If it matches any of the domains listed in the sender’s SPF record, the mail is authenticated and delivered to the receiver. If there is not a match with the published SPF record or the SPF record doesn’t exist, the mail fails authentication and is not delivered.
Tagged with: Email Marketing • email terminology • ISP • SPF Record
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2 Comments
I am afraid I will have to disagree with most of the how it works bit.
The SPF record is actually linked to the from domain in the email ‘envelope’ and not the actual from field. This is because the Agent which actually sends the email does not always have the same domain as the from field and one Agent can send on behalf of infinite domains as long as the domain are configured correctly.
This is how a lot of ESPs are able to send email from a branded domain even though the emails are actually coming from a shared and hosted sending set-up.
Thanks for flagging the inaccuracy! Sometimes in an effort to simplify an explanation, we overdo it and end up mis-communicating. I believe the technicalities have now been fixed.