Adding Sendgrid DNS entries to my domain, hosted by PN (Free-online)

[#1]

Having been unable to send to Gmail addresses for the last 16 days, it was suggested that I use the Sendgrid server.

I have created a Sendgrid (SG) account and I have been given 4 records to add.  However, the data I have from SG is very different from the data the "Create a new DNS record" screen wants.

SG have given me four records consisting of TYPE, HOST and VALUE, and the instruction 

"Add all of these records to your host's DNS section."

.  The PlusNet screen asks for:

Left field	Type	Pri	Right field"

The PlusNet support people had no idea what I was even talking about and told me to try here.  I am retired from a long IT career, but this is out of my former areas of expertise.

Martin

[#2]

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@martnal2923 wrote:

SG have given me four records consisting of TYPE, HOST and VALUE, and the instruction 

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And what 'TYPE' records are they? If any are TXT/text records then you're out of luck as the Plusnet DNS control system will not allow for the addition of TXT records, only MX, CNAME and A records.

If you can share some more detail of the original problem then folk might be able to offer some alternative solutions?

[#3]

Bob, (a name from my very distant PN past!)

Is it OK for me to provide the full details?  I will as long as there are no security implications.  Three are Cname, and one is TXT.

If one is TXT, am I then totally wasting my time?  I was astonished that none of three separate PN staff had any idea what I was talking about.

Is there an alternative way to re-enable me to send emails to Gmail addresses?  I've seen endless threads here from people with the same problem, but Sendgrid seems to be the solution of choice?

Martin

[#4]

@martnal2923  If one is TXT, am I then totally wasting my time?

Yes.

The requirements for sending to gmail addresses are that the sender must be authenticated either by SPF and/or DKIM. If you are sending using the Plusnet relay , then its not possible to implement DKIM for hosted domains. For some Plusnet hosted domains it is possible to get a 'standard' SPF record created. Have a read through the below...

Mitigating email delivery failures (notably Gmail)

Many users are reporting challenging issues in sending emails to some of the big email players. Some of those providers (notably Gmail, but only in respect of their free email accounts) have mandated the SPF & DKIM non-mandatory RFCs on other email providers, such as Plusnet. This can bring about significant difficulty when attempting to send emails using the various Plusnet and vISP legacy email services.

How you mitigate Google's behaviour very much depends on how you send your emails via Plusnet's SMTP servers and which Plusnet vISP email brands you use.

• A Plusnet email account or a legacy brand (for example MAAF) email account
• you@youraccount.plus.com (native Plusnet email address)
• you@yourdomain.co.uk which is registered and hosted by Plusnet (or MAAF)
• you@yourdomain.co.uk which is registered elsewhere and hosted by Plusnet
• you@yourdomain.co.uk which is hosted elsewhere which forwards  mail to your Plusnet (or MAAF) mailbox

The vISP email brands have different level of mitigation capability - for some, the only practical solution might be to migrate your email hosting elsewhere.

Native Plusnet email address

If a user sends email using a from address of you@youraccount.plus.com then DKIM signing will be applied to the email automatically (and pass Gmail's imposed restrictions) if the SMTP server is configured to require authentication. Somewhat unhelpfully, Plusnet's email setup guide suggests that such authentication is NOT required if connecting over a Plusnet connection. Whilst technically true, operational complications can occur and it is much tidier to just enable authentication with the "use the same account settings as the incoming server" option.

Your own domain

If you send from your own domain name, then DKIM signing is not available and you will need to configure SPF instead. How to do this depends on where your domain is hosted - by Plusnet or by third party.

Plusnet fully hosted and registered domain

For Plusnet brand registered and managed domains, SPF configuration is facilitated by the addition of a TXT record in the domain's DNS settings. Plusnet's DNS configuration tool for hosted domains does not permit the creation of TXT records. However, there is an unsupported "facilitation" which will create an SPF record for a hosted domain.

On the basis that your account ALREADY has a hosted domain:

• Log into the user portal
• Go to Manage Account
• Manage Your Domains (Manage your domains link)
• Configure domain name
• Create an "Additional DNS records (Advanced)" as follows...

For the avoidance of doubt leave the left side blank, exactly as shown.

If your email service is provided by one of the legacy vISP brands (for example MAAF) acquired over the years by Plusnet, similar options are not available to you.

Domain name registered and managed elsewhere (third party)

There are two scenarios here:

1. Plusnet hosts the email service for the domain
2. The domain forwards email to the native Plusnet email address

THESE ARE NOT THE SAME.  Ideally email forwarding should be avoided as it brings about numerous complications - you should use the DOMAIN's email servers to received and send your domain email, not Plusnet's.

To configure SPF on a domain name registered elsewhere, you must use your domain name provider's DNS configuration tools to set up the applicable SPF record:

v=spf1 a mx include:_spf-internal.plus.net include:_spf-internal2.plus.net ~all

or

v=spf1 include:_spf-internal.madasafish.com include:_spf-internal2.madasafish.com include:_spf-external.madasafish.com -all

[#5]

MisterW, thank you for the reply.  I think I read that previously somewhere, and tried to follow it.

To clarify my scenario.  I am a Free-Online (FOL) user of many many years.  My domain is hosted by FOL/PN.  In my DNS settings I already have the following:

MX

999999

please-add-spf-records

Your reply suggests to me that I should NOT be getting emails that I send to Gmail addresses rejected, but they are all being rejected.  I am using Thunderbird 128.8.1esr (32-bit).  If I send an email to a Gmail address via PN web mail it is NOT rejected.

I am aware that PN are discontinuing mail support, but from everything I read, in this forum and elsewhere, they seem to be alienating existing clients.  I have spoken to three support staff over the last 17 days, all of whom have promised to escalate this problem and get back to me.  Not one of them has ever called back, and I can no longer update or add anything to the support records.  The lady I spoke to yesterday assured me that she would arrange for her colleague who failed to call me last Friday, (9th May), to call me today, but again, not even a courtesy call.

In this forum alone there seem to be so many people with this same Gmail problem.

Martin

[#6]

To clarify my scenario.  I am a Free-Online (FOL) user of many many years.  My domain is hosted by FOL/PN.  In my DNS settings I already have the following:

I don't believe it will work for a Free-Online account. I'm assuming you are using the relay.free-online.net SMTP server. The standard SPF record (even if it is created on a free-online account?) will only include the relay.plus.net SMTP servers.

One thing you could try, is change your outgoing server to relay.plus.net, but what I'm not sure of, is whether you will be able to authenticate with your Free-online credentials ?

I am aware that PN are discontinuing mail support, but from everything I read, in this forum and elsewhere, they seem to be alienating existing clients. 

Plusnet are not discontinuing email, but instead are transferring it to an external specialist (Greenby) , see here https://www.plus.net/help/email-account-changes/. The main reason being, that as a legacy system, its become difficult for the 1st line CSC to offer support for email. This is being done in a phased approach, the smaller brands first. The transfer to an email/hosting specialist should aleviate that problem and provide a fully supportable system.

In this forum alone there seem to be so many people with this same Gmail problem.

Well, yes, gmail are insisting on mandating the use of what is a non-mandatory requirement in SPF & DKIM. In fact they are only mandating the use to their 'free' accounts, so often sending the mail to <mailbox>@googlemail.com instead of <mailbox>@gmail.com will get the mail accepted!