More answers about DomainKeys & authentication
Posted by Mathew Patterson on January 2, 2008
Midway through 2007 we introduced email authentication to Campaign Monitor, as an optional change you can make to increase the deliverability and security of your email campaigns.
We've seen a huge amount of people setting up Sender ID and DomainKeys records for their 'from' domains. We introduced an email authentication FAQ for some common questions, but since then a few more common questions have cropped up.
Can I still use Campaign Monitor without DomainKeys and Sender ID?
Absolutely. If your host does not support TXT records, you can still use your Campaign Monitor account. It just means your campaigns may go through additional filters, and you miss out on the other benefits of authentication.
Your campaigns will still be sent out as normal, and you will still see all the reporting.
Do I have to change web hosts if my host does not support DomainKeys?
No, you don't have to necessarily. Instead, you can just switch DNS providers. Often your DNS records are hosted by the same people who host your site, but it does not have to be that way.
Services like DNS Made Easy, ZoneEdit, easyDNS let you host just the DNS records with them, and keep all your sites elsewhere.
This can be both faster and safer than hosting DNS and website together - it makes changing web hosts easier and also gives you more flexibility, so it is worth looking into.
My DomainKeys are not verifying — what should I do?
There are two main reasons this could happen. Either the DNS records have not yet propagated, or the records have not been correctly added.
You can check how the records are appearing (or not) by using a service like DNSStuff. Go to the 'tools' section, and you can do a free DNS Lookup under 'Hostname Tools'.
Enter the domain name you are trying to verify (as in abcwidgets.com) and change the drop down menu to 'TXT'. Hit 'Lookup' and you will be able to see if the records are showing up or not.
If they are not there, then you need to talk to your DNS or web host and ask them to help you out. From our side, we can only see what is there, not make any changes. If it looks like the record is there and correct, then contact support. It will help if you mention the domain name you are trying to add records for.
Email authentication can be a tricky area, but it is worth exploring as it is likely to become more important in the future. If you have any more questions, leave them as comments below.
1 comments so far
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Andy Brice
wrote on January 24, 2008 4:44 AM
I contact my ISP (1&1) to find out about the above. This is their reponse:
While we do have plans to implement spf records for domain names and
provide tools to allow customers to selectivley use these tools, etc,
this is still in the works. So unfortunately at this time this is not
possible.
Got anything to add?