Using DNS SPF records for Internet domains

Create Domain Name Service (DNS) Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records to identify all of the Internet domains you use in SmartCloud Notes® Internet addresses. These SPF records should specify that the SmartCloud Notes servers are permitted to send email on behalf of all of your domains.

About this task

IBM uses SPF record definitions to identify the SmartCloud Notes servers that can send mail to the Internet on behalf of our customers. You can easily include these SPF records in your domain-specific SPF records to simplify the task of specifying that SmartCloud Notes servers are permitted to send mail on behalf of your domains.

Typically your Domain hosting service allows you to create an SPF record and will provide instructions. In some cases, for example, there might be a wizard that walks you through the process. There are many mechanisms for identifying the set of servers that are permitted to send mail. The examples provided show how to use the include mechanism in SPF records to identify the SmartCloud Notes servers.

Note: The DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) email validation system is not supported for SmartCloud Notes.

When you create your SPF records, be sure to include the SmartCloud Notes SPF record in addition to any other mechanisms used to identify other servers that are sending mail on behalf of your domains. Depending on your data center, use one of the following include statements in your SPF record definition:

Table 1. SPF Record Statements
Data Center	Statement
North American	`include:_spf.notes.na.collabserv.com`
Asia Pacific	`include:_spf.notes.ap.collabserv.com`
European	`include:_spf.notes.ce.collabserv.com`

Additionally, if there are multiple servers that send mail on behalf of your domain, it is important to include all of the servers in the definition.

For example, the Renovations organization has on-premises servers that accept incoming mail for the renovations.com domain. These same servers might also send outbound email, including non-delivery reports. The Renovations SPF record uses the MX mechanism to specify that the on-premises servers that accept mail for renovations.com are also permitted to send and accept mail on behalf of the domain, and includes the SmartCloud Notes SPF definition to indicate that the SmartCloud Notes servers can also send mail on behalf of the domain. The Renovations SPF record is defined using the following syntax:

v=spf1 mx include:_spf.notes.na.collabserv.com ~all

Your Domain hosting service is a good source of additional information about SPF records and the syntax to use. For additional information about other mechanisms, see your Domain hosting service website or the Sender Policy Framework website at http://www.openspf.org/.

Parent topic: Configuring