I started my career in IT managing DNS on a linux server using only vi among other menial yet shockingly important tasks. I recently found a need for a refresher on this activity and cover a few gotch-yas below that could be easily overlooked when creating SPF records in plain-text file.

First, when making changes to your SPF record, always be sure to run it through a verifier. You can use our syntax verifier found on our Tools page.

Managing SPF Records using Bind and creating a TXT entry for the SPF record redirecting to your spfXio hosted domain is super simple. Start by opening your zone file in your favorite editor, or vi, and add an entry similar to the following.

The actual record value may be copy and pasted from the spfXio Policy Manager console. Be sure to wrap your record value in double quotes, otherwise your record value will be split across many lines, causing SPF syntax errors!

Don’t forget to increment your Zone File’s serial number before saving and exiting vi. Use named-checkconf or a similar tool to verify your new configuration before restarting your DNS service.

After publishing your record, verify using our SPF record verifier. If you receive a syntax error, double check your record using nslookup. Note in the following screenshot, the SPF record is broken across multiple lines. This syntax error can be corrected by wrapping your TXT record value in double quotes, as shown in the screenshot above.

Happy bashing!

:wq!