Hello there! This is Ashley, a technical writer with the documentation team at
cPanel, the hosting platform of choice. I'm going to show you how to use our
Email Deliverability interface. This was previously our Authentication interface,
but we renamed this to more clearly describe its purpose and functionality.
We've also made some changes that make it much easier to manage your domains'
DKIM, SPF, and reverse DNS records. But what are these records and what purpose do
they serve a domain? DKIM, or Domain Keys Identified Mail, verifies the
sender and the integrity of a message. SPF, or Sender Policy Framework, verifies
that the message your domain sends originated from a listed server. Reverse
DNS, or PTR records, are DNS records that resolve an IP address to a domain or
hostname. The system uses PTR records to perform a reverse DNS lookup to retrieve
the associated domain or host name. When you properly configure your records,
it improves the chances that your email is not treated as spam by other servers.
Why don't we check out that new Email Deliverability interface? First, let's
login to our cPanel account. The cPanel interface will appear. On our cPanel
interface, let's select Email Deliverability from the Email section.
The Email Deliverability interface will appear. Here we can view the current
status of our domains DKIM, SPF, and Reverse DNS records. The Domain column
lists all of our domains. The Main Domain label here identifies that this was the
domain that our hosting provider used to create our account. The Email
Deliverability status column displays the status of each domains DKIM, SPF and
Reverse DNS records, whether valid or invalid. When our records are properly
configured, the system displays a valid status message. When there is a problem
with the record, the system will display it here. For example, our main domain
currently has some record issues that require our attention.
The final column here provides the repair and manage options for our
domains. Let's click Repair. The system displays
the Repair interface. This feature lets us quickly address any problems with our
domain's records. It allows the system to repair a domain's invalid records with
its recommended changes. Note that this option is unavailable if the system does
not control the domain's DNS records. In that case you'll have to contact the
person responsible for that domain's nameservers and ask them to update the
records for you. We can review the system's
recommendations for any invalid records, copy information, customize the suggested
SPF record, or download our private key before approving any changes. Once we
click Repair, the system proceeds with checking the repaired records to ensure
that the changes are valid. For now, let's click Cancel. The Manage feature lets us
manage a domain's records. Why don't we check it out? Let's click Manage for our
main domain. The system directs us to the Manage the Domain interface. This
interface displays the status of a domain's DKIM, SPF, and Reverse DNS records.
Each section provides the Copy feature, which allows us to copy the provided
information to our computer's clipboard. If you use this functionality, don't
forget to paste that copied information somewhere. The system only stores the
most recent information copied. In the DKIM section we can view the DKIM
record's Name and Value information. This section also provides the Download the
Private Key link. When we click this, the system directs us to the Download the
Private Key interface. Note the interface warning here: If others obtain your
private DKIM key, they could sign emails and impersonate you as a sender. This is
a potential security risk, so always be sure that you provide your private DKIM
key to a trusted user. For now, let's click Go Back and return to the Manage a
Domain interface. Let's click Install the Suggested Record.
A confirmation window will appear. Note the warning here:
If you send email from another server, you must use the new DKIM record on
that server. So if you modify your DKIM record here, make sure that you update
your remote server's records, too. Let's click Cancel. Next we have the SPF
section. The Suggested SPF (TXT) Record section here displays the system's
recommendation for a valid SPF record. We can copy the record's Name or the SPF
record from the Value text boxes, If we want to modify our SPF record, we can
click Customize under the Value text box. Let's click Customize. The Customize an
SPF Record interface will appear. On this interface, the system displays our
current record, if one exists, and the system's record recommendations.
Currently, we don't have an SPF record. In the Domain Settings section here we can
modify our record's Additional Hosts and Additional MX Servers. Additional Hosts
allow the server to approve any other hosts we define. By default, the system
automatically includes the primary mail exchanger, or MX, and any servers you've
created an MX record for. We won't have to include those in our record, but for
this tutorial, why don't we add another host? Click Add a New Host (+a) Item.
A new text box will appear. Let's enter mail dot example dot com in the text box.
Next, we have Additional MX servers. This allows the server to approve all MX
entries for each domain we've specified to send mail. Click Add A New "+mx"
Item. A new text box will appear. For this tutorial, let's enter example dot com. The IP
Address Settings section allows us to define a range of IPv4 or IPv6 address
blocks. You can provide this information in either IP address or Classless
Inter-Domain Routing, or CIDR, format. For this tutorial, let's enter another IPv4
address. Click Add A New "IP4" Item. A new text
box will appear. Let's enter 10 dot 0 dot 0 dot 1 in the text box. Finally, we have the
Additional Settings section. The Include List lets us define any hosts that we
want to include in our record. So if we use a service such as comcast dot com,
mailchimp dot com, or google dot com, we would want to include
that here. For this tutorial, let's add Google services to our suggested record.
Click Add A New +include Item. A new text box will appear. Enter Google dot com in
the text box. The Exclude All Other Hosts section defines whether we want to
prevent a host from sending our domain's mail. Note that if you enable this
setting, the SPF record will automatically fail any undefined hosts.
This means that the SPF record only respects the host defined in your record.
So if you're experiencing forgery with a domain, this might be the option for
you. Forgery, or email spoofing, can result in a lot of emails bouncing back and
getting redirected. This option can help to decrease the volume of bounce-back
emails you receive. Too many bounced emails can overwhelm a mail server and
reduce its performance. By default, the system generally recommends the ~a
authorization. This authorization means that mail from a server that isn't
defined in our +a and +include settings is marked as suspicious or spam.
For now, let's stick with the system's recommendation. We will leave this
unchecked. Now that we have modified our record, we can view our changes here in
the Preview of the Updated Record section. Let's go ahead and save our
modified SPF record. Click Install A Customized SPF Record. The system confirms
that it has saved our record. Click Go Back.
The Reverse DNS (PTR) section displays our domain's current PTR Name and Value
entries. When a problem exists, depending on the record's configuration, this
section will advise how best to fix the problem. This includes issues such as a
misconfigured record or if the system is sending mail from a private IP
address. This section may require the assistance of your hosting provider if
you cannot resolve a problem with your PTR record. Follow the provided
instructions on the interface. Also, this section may be unavailable if your
hosting provider has enabled smarthosting. But that's ok!
Smarthosts are email servers that allow external parties' emails to be forwarded
to the email server of the email recipient. With this enabled you don't
need to worry about your domain's PTR records.
Let's click Go Back to return to the Email Deliverability interface.
Thank you for watching! I've included a link to our interface documentation in the video
description below. Be sure to like and subscribe to our channel so that you're
up to date with our tutorial and video releases. If you'd like more information
about cPanel, visit us at cpanel dot com or follow at cpanel on Twitter. And while
you're there, let us know what tutorials you'd like to see. Thank you for watching
and have a wonderful day!