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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

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    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

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    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

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    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
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    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

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    #5 kdean, Mar 2, 2015
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