Ensuring reliable email delivery with DNS records
10 May 2014If your web app is sending emails, you will need to have these three DNS records configured properly to ensure reliable email delivery and avoid ending up in spam/junk folders:
PTR - It’s a pointer to a canonical name. Unlike a CNAME, DNS processing does NOT proceed but it just resolves an IP address to a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN). So just the name is returned. It’s also known as a Reverse DNS Record.
The most common use is for implementing reverse DNS lookups to check if the server name is actually associated with the IP address from where the connection was initiated. Here’s what it would look like:
SPF - Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an email validation system designed to prevent email spam by detecting email spoofing, a common vulnerability, by verifying sender IP addresses.
Microsoft has a great 4 step wizard to guide you through creating a SPF record.
If you have a Google Apps domain and you are using a 3rd party email delivery service such as SendGrid, here’s what it would typically look like:
"v=spf1 a mx include:_spf.google.com include:sendgrid.net ~all"
without Google Apps:
"v=spf1 a mx include:sendgrid.net ~all"
DKIM - DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) is a method for associating a domain name with an email message, thereby allowing a person, role, or organization to claim some responsibility for the message. The association is set up by means of a digital signature which can be validated by recipients.
This is usually set by the email delivery service you are using. Checkout their account settings to make sure its turned on.
Here’s some more useful links:
How can I check if my DKIM and SPF records are valid? by Postmark
What are SPF and DKIM and do I need to set them up? by Mandrill
How do I add DNS records for my sending domains? by Mandrill
Email Deliverability Guide by SendGrid