Please whitelist cPanel in your adblocker so that you’re able to see our version release promotions, thanks!

The Community Forums

Interact with an entire community of cPanel & WHM users!
  1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

cPanel SPF records always configured for SOFTFAIL, why?

Discussion in 'E-mail Discussions' started by jols, Feb 27, 2015.

  1. jols

    jols Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 13, 2004
    Messages:
    1,111
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    168
    Hi,

    I keep reading this sort of thing:

    Publishing an SPF record that uses -all instead of ~all may result in delivery problems.

    So I am wondering why all cPanel SPF records are automatically established with SOFTFAIL "~all", rather than "-all"?
     
    #1 jols, Feb 27, 2015
  2. kdean

    kdean Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2012
    Messages:
    277
    Likes Received:
    16
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Orlando, FL
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    Softfail "~all" is a safe default because receiving mail servers will not as likely block it or send it to a spam folder.

    When you set it to "-all" you better make sure that you have all the included servers, IPs, etc. that send email with your domain, otherwise the SPF record will indicate that a server may not be authorized to send mail on behalf of your domain.

    So, if you know you have everything you need, then go ahead and set it to "-all" in my opinion.
     
    #2 kdean, Feb 27, 2015
  3. jols

    jols Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 13, 2004
    Messages:
    1,111
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    168
    Thanks very much for the clarification. This is something I've been grappling with for years, and you've explained it clearly.
     
    #3 jols, Feb 27, 2015
  4. cPanelMichael

    cPanelMichael Forums Analyst
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2011
    Messages:
    42,802
    Likes Received:
    1,714
    Trophy Points:
    363
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    Hello :)

    Yes, the consensus is to avoid hard fails on SPF records since it breaks email forwarding unless the forwarding server uses SRS. The "~all" entry is generally preferred since it gets messages from non-standard senders bumped up in spam detection systems, but doesn't outright fail them.

    Thank you.
     
    #4 cPanelMichael, Mar 2, 2015
  5. kdean

    kdean Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2012
    Messages:
    277
    Likes Received:
    16
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Orlando, FL
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    #5 kdean, Mar 2, 2015
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)
Loading...
Similar Threads - cPanel records always
  1. thowden

    cPanel DNSonly SSL No Records Found error

    thowden, Mar 4, 2018, in forum: Security
    Replies:
    5
    Views:
    173
    cPanelMichael
    Apr 3, 2018
  2. Menkele

    SOLVED Issue with DNS records for Office 365 in cPanel account

    Menkele, Dec 15, 2017, in forum: E-mail Discussions
    Replies:
    9
    Views:
    382
    Menkele
    Jan 9, 2018
  3. tom.dev

    cPanel and CloudFlare MX records working but email not working

    tom.dev, Oct 23, 2017, in forum: E-mail Discussions
    Replies:
    2
    Views:
    439
    cPanelMichael
    Oct 25, 2017
  4. swbrains

    After update to cPanel 66, error 255 in fetchzone_records

    swbrains, Sep 4, 2017, in forum: cPanel Developers
    Replies:
    3
    Views:
    425
    cPanelMichael
    Sep 6, 2017
  5. stormy

    cPanel transfer tool wipes custom A records?

    stormy, Dec 22, 2016, in forum: Bind / DNS / Nameserver Issues
    Replies:
    11
    Views:
    748
    cPanelMichael
    Jan 20, 2017

Share This Page