Email Authentication in cPanel

Email authentication lets you choose which system will authenticate that the email messages being sent is actually coming from your server. Enabling this will help prevent the spread of spam.

Both of the methods below work to prevent forged mail from going in and out of your server. The great benefit of enabling these methods is to prevent mail from looking like it is coming from your domain(s).

When enabled, these methods should reduce the amount of bounce messages or unwanted emails received when spammers “spoof” one or more of your email addresses.

There are two types of authentication system, DomainKeys and SPF. Domainkeys, which is disabled by default, checks incoming mail of the server it came from. This allows tracking of abusive messages quite easily. SPF, which is enabled by default, on the other hand, specifies which machines are authorized to send email from your domain. This means that only mail sent through this server will appear as valid mail from your domain.

With SPF you can configure some of the settings as below:

Additional Hosts that send mail for your domains (A) – All the hosts you specify here will be approved for sending mail. You do not need to specify your primary mail exchanger or any server that an mx has been created for as they are already included automatically.

Additional MX servers for your domains (MX) – All the mx entries for every domain you specify here will be approved for sending mail.

Additional Ip blocks for your domains (IP4) – All the ip blocks you specify here will be approved for sending mail. Blocks should be specified in CIDR format (ie 127.0.0.1/32). The main server interface ip cannot be removed from this list if it is present. The following ip is the main server interface ip: 174.132.157.66

Include List (INCLUDE) – The SPF settings for all hosts your specify in this list will be included with your SPF settings. This is useful if you will be sending mail though another service (ex. mac.com, comcast.com, etc).

All Entry (ALL): If you are sure you have entered all hosts (your primary mail exchanger and any other mx entries are automatically included) that will send mail for your domain, check this box to exclude all other domains.

Overwrite Existing Entries – If you select this option all existing SPF records will be overwritten for all your domains with these selections.

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