Tagged “records”
14 articles
Why p=none gives a false sense of security
A DMARC record at p=none watches your domain but blocks nothing. Here is how to tell whether you are actually protected, and the safe path to enforcement.
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SPF PermError: when your SPF silently stops working
SPF breaks quietly. Cross the 10 DNS-lookup limit and your record returns PermError, fails open, and stops protecting your domain. Here is how to count, fix and flatten it safely.
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The DMARC record explained, tag by tag
A plain-English reference to every tag in a DMARC record: v, p, sp, rua, ruf, pct, adkim, aspf, fo, rf and ri. What each one does, the exact syntax it expects and the sensible default to reach for.
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How to enable DKIM in Google Workspace
A step-by-step guide to enabling DKIM for a Google Workspace domain: generating a 2048-bit key in the Admin console, publishing the public key as a DNS TXT record (including the 255-byte chunking that trips people up), verifying it is live, and turning on signing safely in the right order.
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How to enable DKIM in Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 signs your mail with a shared Microsoft domain by default, which does nothing for DMARC alignment. This guide walks through enabling DKIM signing for your own custom domain end to end: finding the exact CNAME values, publishing the two selector records, switching signing on, and verifying the result really passes.
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How to fix SPF PermError
SPF PermError means a receiver tried to evaluate your SPF record and gave up, so SPF stops counting towards DMARC. This guide diagnoses PermError, TempError and the ten-lookup limit, then walks through a step by step repair process.
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Publishing DMARC, SPF and DKIM on common DNS hosts
Exact steps to publish SPF, DMARC and DKIM on Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Namecheap and AWS Route 53, plus the two gotchas that break most setups: TXT chunking on long DKIM keys and CNAME coexistence at the apex.
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The SPF 10-lookup limit, explained
SPF caps how much DNS work a receiver may do when evaluating your record. Go over the 10-lookup limit, or the separate void-lookup limit, and SPF returns a permerror that quietly stops helping your DMARC result. Here is how includes consume the budget, why exceeding it breaks SPF, and how to get safely back under the line.
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SPF flattening: what it is and when you need it
SPF flattening replaces lookup-based mechanisms with raw IP ranges to dodge the ten-lookup limit. It works, but a hand-flattened record silently goes stale. Here is what flattening really does, the trade-offs, why doing it by hand is risky, and how hosted flattening stays current automatically.
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SPF records for common email providers
The correct, current SPF includes for Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Mailchimp, SendGrid, Amazon SES and more, plus how to combine several providers in one record without breaking the 10-lookup limit.
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DANE and TLSA records explained
DANE pins your mail server's certificate in DNSSEC-signed TLSA records so senders refuse to deliver over a downgraded or substituted TLS connection. Here is how TLSA records work, how DNSSEC anchors the trust, how DANE compares with MTA-STS, and which one fits your domain.
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What is DKIM and how does it work?
DKIM attaches a cryptographic signature to every message you send, letting receivers verify with a public key in DNS that the mail really came from your domain and was not altered. Learn how signing and verification work step by step, how to read the headers and DNS record, and why a DKIM signature survives forwarding that breaks SPF outright.
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What is MTA-STS and how does it work?
MTA-STS forces encrypted, authenticated delivery of your inbound mail. Learn how the _mta-sts DNS record and the HTTPS-hosted policy file work together, the difference between testing and enforce mode, and exactly how it stops TLS downgrade and interception attacks.
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What is TLS-RPT?
TLS-RPT (SMTP TLS Reporting) is a single safe-to-publish DNS record that gives you a daily, machine-readable summary of how other mail servers negotiated encryption with your inbound MX hosts. Learn what the record and its JSON reports contain, how to decode each failure type, and the exact publish-then-enforce workflow that pairs it with MTA-STS without risking an email outage.
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