Quick summary
- What it is: SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a type of record in your domain's DNS that lists the mail servers authorized to send emails on your behalf.
- What it's for: it helps configure, send, receive and protect email for a domain.
- When to check it: when creating email accounts, configuring an email client or investigating sending and receiving issues.
SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a type of record in your domain's DNS that lists the mail servers authorized to send emails on your behalf. When someone receives an email from you, the receiving server checks the SPF record to verify that the message comes from a legitimate server.
What is SPF used for?
SPF protects your domain against identity spoofing: it prevents third parties from sending emails pretending to be you from unauthorized servers. It also helps your emails reach the inbox and not end up in the recipient's spam folder.
What does an SPF record look like?
The SPF record is a TXT record in your domain's DNS zone. A typical example:
v=spf1 include:_spf.bacan.com ~all
v=spf1: indicates it is an SPF version 1 record.include:_spf.bacan.com: authorizes Bacan's servers to send email for your domain.~all: emails from unlisted servers are marked as suspicious (softfail). If you use-all, they are rejected directly.
Why is it important for hosting users?
If you send email from your domain and you do not have SPF configured (or it is misconfigured), it is very likely that your messages will end up in recipients' spam folders. Many modern mail servers directly reject messages from domains without SPF. Configuring SPF correctly is one of the first steps to ensuring email delivery.
When will you encounter it?
SPF appears when you have email delivery problems, when a recipient tells you that your messages go to spam, or when you first configure email for a domain. At Bacan, the SPF record is usually configured automatically when you activate email in your hosting plan.
SPF works together with DKIM and DMARC to form a complete email authentication system.
Why it matters in hosting
Understanding this concept will help you make better decisions when managing your service. In practice, it relates to configuring, delivering, receiving and protecting email for a domain. If it appears in a guide, the control panel or a support response, review the context before making changes.
Related articles
- Webmail
- IMAP
- POP3
- SMTP
- DKIM