Problem Description
After sending or receiving an email, either the message ends up in Junk or SPAM folders, or the sender receives a bounce with an error about SPF or DomainKeys. If there's a bounce, the bounce message will say one of the following:
- SPF unauthorized mail is prohibited
- 550 5.7.23 SPF validation failed
- 550 5.7.1 Command rejected (Note: this is a more generic error. While it can mean SPF failure, it can also mean other types of failure.)
- Youremailwasrejectedbecauseyouarenotusingaserverthatisauthorizedtosendmailfromyourdomain.Thisisaproblemwithyouremailconfiguration.Pleasecontactyouremailprovidertolearnhowtofixthisproblem
- You're mail was rejected because you are not using a server that is authorized to send mail from your domain. This is a problem with your email configuration. Please contact your email provider to learn how to fix this problem.
SPF, DomainKeys, and DKIM are mail server software that help prevent forged emails from being received. You can read more about how this works with SPF here. DomainKeys, DKIM, and DMARC are similar and you can read more about them on Wikipedia here.
Problem Resolution
INCOMING EMAILS
Someone sent an email to your Websavers hosted email account which never arrived and the sender received an SPF bounce message. This means that the person is sending from a server that is not part of their domain's allowed mail servers. In most cases this means that one of two things has occurred:
- She's using a server to send emails that is authorized by her domain admin, but they forgot to add it to their SPF record, in which case they should reach out to their mail admins to have them adjust their SPF record to fix that up (don't forget to send them the full bounce to know how to fix it), or
- She's not using an authorized mail/SMTP server, in which case she should switch to one that is authorized by her mail administrator.
Please note: when you tell the sender that it's a problem on their end, they may indicate that others can receive their emails without a problem and ask why, if it's a problem on their end, are you the only one unable to receive messages from her. This occurs because some mail servers choose to obey the SPF record explicitly and deny messages that are not allowed (we do this), while others interpret it more loosely and will filter them to spam or allow them through with a warning. Because of these differing interpretations, some people will receive the messages, and others will not. If the sender continues without fixing the problem, more servers will either stop receiving her messages over time or they'll begin filtering her messages to spam; this is particularly true when sending to new recipients.
OUTGOING EMAILS
SPF or DKIM bounce message occurs when trying to send an email from your Websavers hosted email. Alternatively your messages might be automatically filtered to Junk or SPAM folders at the destination.
To solve this problem:
- Ensure that you are using the correct server to send emails. By using the right server to send your emails, the recipient's mail server will do their DomainKeys and SPF checks and result in a successful validation, and pass your message on as normal. If your mail is hosted and configured with us using Plesk, click here to see our mail config reference guide to learn the correct SMTP server configuration
- Ensure you have DomainKeys / DKIM enabled in your mail settings in Plesk.
- Ensure you have a valid SPF record in your DNS settings in Plesk (or wherever your DNS is hosted).
