Creating a basic SPF Record in cPanel

SPF records are necessary in order to help prevent your email addresses from being spoofed. If you do not understand what spoofing or an SPF record is, please see our Guide to SPF Records. This article is part of that series where we demonstrate how to set up a basic SPF record from within your cPanel.

Creating a basic SPF Record within cPanel

  1. Log into your cPanel dashboard.

  2. From the main cPanel page, look for the Email category. From there, click on the Email Deliverability icon.

  3. SPF Record
    This brings you to the Email Deliverability screen. If you have more than one domain listed, then select the domain you wish to manage first.  You will then see the records for the domain that you have selected. Find the SPF subsection. cPanel will have a suggested SPF record for you if you do not an entry there already.  Make sure that the option “~all” is at the end of the suggested entry.

    This is important as it adds the ‘-all‘ to the end of the record so that all addresses that fail the other checks will be rejected.

  4. Click on INSTALL THE SUGGESTED RECORD in order to save the entry. This will enable the SPF record for that domain name.

The server will use the SPF record that you just set for the domain that you have selected.

6 thoughts on “Creating a basic SPF Record in cPanel

  1. Hi, My domain is hosted on res217 server. What are the hosts and domains, I must enlist in my spf record before making it STRICT all (-all). I believe my server uses multiple Ip addresses to relay emails, hence all those ip addresses must be enlisted within the record.

    Thanks

    1. You will need to look at your WHM for the list of sites and IP addresses under your account. You will only be able to see the information under your account. If you have any further questions or comments, please let us know .

  2. Hello Madness,

    Sorry for the problem with the settings not apparently working. The settings are correct. The main issue is that there are some servers who not use these systems. They will only be effective with those that do use SPK and DKIM. The warnings about the authoritative nameservers can be ignored. As long as those domain names are pointed to our servers, then these settings will be valid.

    You also have the option of using services like SpamCop or SpamAssassin that can help in fighting spam.

    If you have any further questions or comments, please let us know.

    Regards,
    Arnel C.

  3. The above did not work and I have this information in my Cpanel

    Email Authentication
    Email authentication helps to prevent spam. The options below attempt to equip email messages with verifiable information so that your server can automatically detect the nature of incoming and outgoing messages.

    Enable these features to reduce the number of failed delivery notifications you receive when spammers forge messages from your domain(s). These features also stop spammers who forge messages that claim to be from your domain(s).

    In order to ensure that SPF or DKIM takes effect, you must confirm that this server is an authoritative nameserver for “madnessphotography.com.au”. If you need help, contact your hosting provider.

    DKIM

    DKIM allows your server to verify incoming email and prevent incoming spam messages. This feature ensures that incoming messages are unmodified and are genuinely from the indicated sender.

    Status: Enabled WARNING: The system cannot verify that this server is an authoritative nameserver for “madnessphotography.com.au)”. [?]
    Disable
    Your current raw DKIM record is:
    default._domainkey 14400 IN TXT “v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=MIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEAyaDE/cK6qPFIH7/LdEjdyWovAOPJad4gxVfCKuK81jYvrE02HNrncvifAnYeX7i+ZRZgkYSfiyDsmPKchAa9VDkFitlFM2GvsF8jP5+T9Un1Ovhf1T27rYnHtlnMzefG+q6v33e7IEZ3crAergva2srDrHdpAdKruZgBD5nWhw4KZcNMeverOTv97kTdBMXVY” jeWlVsSQO/0JLTtEBqUBt75T24SEUcVD17zMhAhuG5/kxImgNWXkF9spn9APBJrsL4DSEuIt5PAwofnWxy4ix6KreTn7OnLyiO8zGiISqCvyQyDYKWm5tWRxqiXEW/bebgNqOlFwSbyfSNqQUssIwIDAQAB\;
    SPF

    The SPF system allows you to authorize servers and IP addresses to send mail from your domain(s). This feature prevents outgoing spam messages.

    Status: Enabled WARNING: The system cannot verify that this server is an authoritative nameserver for “madnessphotography.com.au”. [?] Disable
    Your current raw SPF record is: v=spf1 +a +mx +ip4:192.145.239.30 +ip4:23.235.208.205 -all

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