Really need help with seting up SPF records with the DNS features under the WHM

[5stars]

I have looked around the forum, there are alot of topics on SPF on this forum but none seems to help me.
The main reasons I'm doing this ,is because hot mail is rejecting my e-mails
I wanted something done manualy because the wizard from http://www.openspf.org/ for SPF is confusing, and some say it doesn't really work as I have read on this forum.

I have tryed to add the folloing to my DNS zone and to my DNS templates.

For the DNS zone I have added:
webhosting5stars.com 14400 IN TXT "v=spf1 mx a: pluto.webhosting5stars.com ?all"

I have also tryed before for my dns zone this formula, but also with no results
webhosting5stars.com 14400 IN TXT "v=spf1 ip4:89.34.112.12a mx ptr ?all"


In my dns zone templates I have added:
%domain%. IN TXT "v=spf1 ip4:89.34.112.12 a mx ptr ?all"

I still get the warn message from DNS report
It does not see any SPF records.

"Your domain does not have an SPF record. This means that spammers can easily send out E-mail that looks like it came from your domain, which can make your domain look bad (if the recipient thinks you really sent it), and can cost you money (when people complain to you, rather than the spammer). You may want to add an SPF record ASAP, as 01 Oct 2004 was the target date for domains to have SPF records in place (Hotmail, for example, started checking SPF records on 01 Oct 2004). "


What am I doing wrong?
Does any one have a working formula?
Pls help.

[5stars]

SPF problem solved

[mdbasco]

SPF problem solved

Glad to hear it. Would you mind sharing your findings, please? (i.e.: what was wrong and how did you fix it?)

Thanks.

[5stars]

The problem was the quotes, I left out the quotes. "" ""
Another problem was that I didint know how to add it to the DNS zone, there were 3 fields after you select TXT.
There are alot of explenations on this forum but none explain it step by step, I had to search search search and glue it all in one part, to find where and how everything is done.

If you want to add a SPF record here it is.

Go to the DNS functions under your WHM.
Select edit DNS zone.
Select what domain you want to edit.
After that you have the tab where it says "Add New Entries Below this Line"
In the first field enter your domain name, triky part don't forget to add a dot at the end of the domain, like this example.com. ,It won't work if you don't add the dot.
Next , leave 14400 as it is and chose from the select box TXT.
In the next field add "v=spf1 a mx ip4:XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX include:example.com +all"
with the quotes, just like I posted.
Where it says ip4: enter your IP, where it says include: add your domain.
The other 2 fields are not important, they will remain blank.

Clcik save
Go to Edit Zone Templates you got 3 links from there, standard, simple, and standard virtual ftp, I don't know if the last one is important, I edited all 3 of them.

So click standard, add there on the last line :
%domain%. IN TXT "v=spf1 a mx ip4:89.34.112.12 include:webhosting5stars.net +all"

Note that this are form my server, modify the iP and the domain to your needs.
click save , do the same to the other two.
Go to http://www.dnsreport.com/
You should now have a SPF record, it should show up.
Remember if you are doing this to solve the problem with hotmail it won't work, I have talked with them , they told me to do this just like I showed you above.
They say SPF records should be in this order and no other.
"v=spf1 a mx ip4:XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX include:example.com +all"
They told me to add it this way, and to take out the reverse dns "PTR" as it's makes problems.
But it does not work.
Still you may want to add this, and I'll share after I get an answer what the problem is with hotmail.

Hope it helps you, I know it's been a night mare for me, not that I'm out of it, I still can't send to hotmail.

Cheers.

[ramystyle]

What an amazing post !!
Do you know how long I was looking to make the Warning in dnsreport dissapear for SPF !!
You just really helped me !!

I followed each steps and it worked

Please let me know if you find out about how to make emails not go to Junk !!

Thanks

[ramystyle]

I got a response from hotmail and I would like to add the following to this post:

2) Your SPF can authorize traffic from your IP, but it ends with the "+all" termination. Please note that this particular terminator tells Hotmail to accept traffic regardless of whether or not it passes the tests declared by you in your SPF. Hotmail will not do this, and the suggestion can even harm the reputation of your IP. Instead, we strongly recommend that you use the "-all" termination. This is far more reassuring to our servers in that it tells Hotmail to accept traffic claiming to be from you ONLY if it passes your tests.

[5stars]

I got a response from hotmail and I would like to add the following to this post:

2) Your SPF can authorize traffic from your IP, but it ends with the "+all" termination. Please note that this particular terminator tells Hotmail to accept traffic regardless of whether or not it passes the tests declared by you in your SPF. Hotmail will not do this, and the suggestion can even harm the reputation of your IP. Instead, we strongly recommend that you use the "-all" termination. This is far more reassuring to our servers in that it tells Hotmail to accept traffic claiming to be from you ONLY if it passes your tests.

Tell me, did you manage to make it work with hotmail, can you please share with me your SPF record.
Is it the same as I did it only that you put "-all"" ?
It's been a e-mail nightmare for me.

[ramystyle]

Unfortunatly i am living the same nightmare ! I am still trying to figure out how to get my mails not sent to the Junk mail folder of my users (I run a forum)..

I did the exact same thing as you posted excepted I put -all instead of +all because Hotmail suggest so. I will email them again soon and let them know that this did not fix the problem..

If anyone is able to fix this problem, please let us know

thanks

[5stars]

Unfortunatly i am living the same nightmare ! I am still trying to figure out how to get my mails not sent to the Junk mail folder of my users (I run a forum)..

I did the exact same thing as you posted excepted I put -all instead of +all because Hotmail suggest so. I will email them again soon and let them know that this did not fix the problem..

If anyone is able to fix this problem, please let us know

thanks

My problem is not junk mail, I'll be hapy for the moment at least if I managed to get the mail in to the junk folder.
My problem is that the mail I send to hotmail won't resolve at hotmail at all, I can't send mail to hotmail at all.
Did you configure something extra?
Did you change anything in exim?

[5stars]

I finaly got My E-mails to resolve on hotmail, but they all go to the junk mail, just like yours, if you find anything of use please share with me.
Regards.
Daniel.

[trinity1511]

I finaly got My E-mails to resolve on hotmail, but they all go to the junk mail, just like yours, if you find anything of use please share with me.
Regards.
Daniel.

Please share with us how you managed to get the emails to resolve on hotmail, as this nightmare continues for us . Thank you very much!

[5stars]

Okay, I asume you can't send at all?
Do you get any errors in the logs?

[Ashley-P]

Hi

Check your firewall is allowing auth, could be that there server is trying to do an ident check back to yours after a sender verify check. You may notice errors like "sender verify check could not complete" in your logs if tha is the case.

Ash

[trinity1511]

Hi, thank you very much for the help. The message I am receiving from hotmail is:

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

XXXXXX@hotmail.com
SMTP error from remote mail server after MAIL FROM:<nobody@zion.quetzal-hosting.com> SIZE=1766:
host mx1.hotmail.com [65.54.245.8]: 550 Command rejected for policy reasons. For troubleshooting information, go to http://postmaster.msn.com

The problem is, as I realized later, that the entire server hosting company which rents me the server(VRTSERVERS, around 4000 IPs) was banned in SBL Spamhaus. We're still waiting for a solution, but at least we now know which is the problem. Thank you very much for your help

[maokob]

so Have you managed to work it with hotmail about mail ended up in junk folder after all?