Hi guys,
Looking to work out what (if anything) is wrong with my SPF setup.
When I send to hotmail addresses - which makes up a large percentage of our audience - the email disappears with no NDR, and never makes it to the users' inbox or even junk mail folder.
When testing here: http://www.openspf.org/Why
I get the response:
An SPF-enabled mail server rejected a message that claimed an envelope sender address of info@petrescue.com.au.
An SPF-enabled mail server received a message from ajax.alternativeit.com (74.200.211.242) that claimed an envelope sender address of info@petrescue.com.au.
The domain petrescue.com.au has authorized ajax.alternativeit.com (74.200.211.242) to send mail on its behalf, so the message should have been accepted.
What should I do?
Wait a while, then try sending the message again. It should go through then.
...
Which doesn't help very much.
I'm sending emails from mailer@petrescue.com.au to a list of around 20,000 email addresses monthly. I recently moved the site to a box on IP 74.200.211.242 - this is the machine sending the emails. As far as I can see, my SPF record (which is: v=spf1 a mx ip4:74.200.211.242 include:iinet.net.au -all) should be OK; I've allowed A records, and even specifically specified the IP of the server that will be doing the sending.
Any suggestions would be very welcome! Got another newsletter to send out tomorrow, and I'd love to get this fixed by then.
Thanks!
jb // PetRescue
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Thanks grblades; that all seems in line with my thinking. Hotmail are a pain aren't they! And even as a non-profit (which get reduced rates for the SenderScoreCertified program) we aren't really in the position to pay $400 to *maybe* not have our email blocked by Hotmail.
However - all that aside, I still cannot explain this result from the SPF test tool:
http://www.openspf.org/Why
Any ideas what may be the problem here?
Thanks!
There is no problem. That is not really a test tool but a page that a mail server can refer to when it rejects a mail due to a spf failure. Some SPF parameters require additional DNS lookups and if these timeout the mail server can reject the mail. Therefore this is the reason why this page sais that there is nothing wrong and to try resending the mail since by then the DNS lookup should have worked.
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by: grbladesPosted on 2007-09-03 at 00:51:31ID: 19819555
Your SPF record is correct and your IP address is not in any RBLs.
Hotmail are notorious for blocking legitimate email however. If you contact them you can pay to be put on a particular service they make use of but even then they cannot guarantee that your mail wont get blocked.
Have a look at http://www.dnswl.org/ and request that your IP address be listed. That list is used by default in spamassassin so getting yourself added will help when sending to a lot of destinations.
Also DKIM (http://www.dkim.org/) works in a similar way to SPF but rather specify which servers are permitted to send mail you digitally sign each mail and public information in the DNS which is used to verify the key. You can either publish your own key or pay to have a trusted body authorise it.