how can i setup an spf record for my hosted domain name?

Answer by: George Kaloyanov, Aplus.Net Knowledge Base Support

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an open standard specifying a technical method to prevent email address forgery a.k.a. domain email spoofing. These terms are used to describe email fraudulent activity when the sender address is fake and the actual sender of the message remains hidden. Email spoofing is used mainly by spammers and phishers who want to conceal their identity by forging the originating (sender) address of an email message.

The victims of email spoofing are domains which are used in fake sender email addresses. The mailboxes of such domains receive a lot of bounce back messages for emails that were never sent by the owner. When an email message gets to the receiving mail server, it checks the validity of the message, for example by IP address. If your domain has an SPF record, the receiving server will know whether or not the sending machine (the probable spammer) is allowed to send messages from your domain name. The probability that such messages will be rejected increases with SPF, and as a result spammers will look for other domains to spoof.

Please have in mind that an SPF record will not stop the bounce back messages to your inbox. On the contrary, they might increase which is a sign that the SPF is effective.

Nowadays, not all mail servers are configured to check for SPF records. However, the SPF is slowly becoming a worldwide standard, and its use and importance is gradually expanding. We can setup an SPF record on your domain name, if it is hosted on our servers.

• For additional information, please visit the official website of the SPF project at: http://openspf.org.
• The syntax of the SPF record is explained here: http://www.openspf.org/SPF_Record_Syntax.

If you decide to setup an SPF record on your domain, please use the wizard available here: http://old.openspf.org/wizard.html. Once you have generated the SPF for your domain, send it by email with subject "SPF Record" to . Please include your registration number and hosted domain name.

Note: If you are only using Aplus.Net's outgoing (SMTP) mail server to send emails, we can set a generic SPF record on your domain. In this case, send your request by email to with subject "Generic SPF Record". Please include your registration number and hosted domain name.