DKIM and SPF E-mail Authentication

[markpickford]

Hi,

I hope someone can help me solve a problem.

I want to use e-mail authentication on a domain controlled in a VPS cpanel environment. I have clicked the relevant buttons in e-mail authentication and get an error message:

Warning: cPanel is unable to verify that this server is an authoritative nameserver for domainname.com

All DNS entries seem to be present and correct

I have tried everything I can to solve this but to no avail, have searched Google for an answer and even compared my setting to another website hosted on cpanel where e-mail authentication is working correctly and I cannot see anything that accounts for the error I get.

I am very new to all this and would appreciate any advice that anyone can give me to resolve the issue.

Thanks in advance,

Mark

 

[kdean]

What DNS servers is your domain name set to use?

cPanel is telling you that they're not set to use your local DNS servers. You can manually set the SPF record using another DNS server's editor, but I'm not sure if you can do the same with DKIM.

 

[markpickford]

Hi kdean,

Thanks for the reply.

I am very new to this so I hope the information below is correct.

I am using a Memset DNS servers (this is where the site is hosted); the domain is set to use these.

For SPF I have a TXT entry as follows:

mydomainname.co.uk. 14400 in TXT v=spf1 +a +mx +ip4:100.100.100.100 ?all (the 100s are not the real IP)

For DKIM I have 2 entries:

_domainkey.mydomainname.co.uk. 14400 in TXT t=y
default._domainkey 1440 in TXT "v=DKIM1\; k=rsa\; p=loads of numbers, letters and symbols and ends with QAB\;"

I access the _default.domainkey via WHM.

I hope this provides you with enough information to point me in the right direction.

Thanks again for helping.

Kind regards,

Mark

 

[kdean]

It seems that you're set to Memset's shared DNS servers and not DNS local to your server.

You will need to go to wherever Memset allows you to edit the DNS and add the TXT records for SPF and domainkey so they match what cPanel is showing you.

cPanel only does it automatically when your DNS servers are the same server as your cPanel account. Right now your cPanel server is not the authoritative name server.

 

[markpickford]

Thanks for this.

Correct me if I am wrong, but would this be via WHM - DNS Functions - Edit DNS Zone?

I have the TXT entries (above) in the DNS Zone and the SPF entry and "default._domainkey 1440 in TXT "v=DKIM1\; k=rsa\; p=loads of numbers, letters and symbols and ends with QAB\;" are contained within speech marks.

If I have not set the DNS zones correctly then how do I set my DNS server to be the same server as my cpanel account so that cPanel server becomes the authoritative name server?

There is, incidentally, a DNS entry that refers to cpanel. It is:

cpanel 14400 in A 100.100.100.100

Is this relevant?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[kdean]

WHM - DNS Functions is normally where it is when you're using your own dns and not a 3rd party. It currently sounds like you're using a 3rd party DNS.

You point to new DNS servers by editing the domain registration at the Registrar.

You can see if you have local DNS setup or if you have any default dns setup by looking at:

WHM » Server Configuration » Basic cPanel & WHM Setup

Under Nameservers.

DNS servers names have to be registered at the registrar under that domains account. The steps for that can vary depending on registrar.

You'd also need to add A records for the nameserver. The Basic cPanel & WHM Setup page has a button for that.

This can be difficult for people new to this. If Memset has their DNS servers set on the Basic cPanel & WHM Setup and the IP addresses are different than any that are assigned to you, you may want to contact them for the correct procedure on adding the DKIM and SPF records to where they have the DNS information if they don't already provide an account login area to access that.

The problem is right now the DNS information you see at WHM - DNS Functions has no bearing on the actual DNS which is pointed elsewhere for that domain.

You did mention another account where Email Authentication is working. Are they pointing to different DNS servers when you do a WHOIS or DIG on the domain?

 

[markpickford]

Thanks. I'll look into this.