Authorizing FlexNet Operations to Send Email on Behalf of the Your Email Server
To authorize FlexNet Operations to send email on behalf of your email server, you must set up an SPF (Send Policy Framework) record.
About the SPF Record
The SPF record is a public record that anyone can access. It lists the authorized IP address of each email server belonging to your domain. It also identifies the domain of the FlexNet Operations email server so that it can send email as a third party on behalf of the listed IP addresses. Once the SPF record is created, it is published as a DNS record in the DNS registry.
Then, whenever FlexNet Operations sends an email on your behalf, SPF authenticates the IP address of the "sending" email server (belonging to you) to an authorized IP address in your DNS record. SPF also verifies the originating sender's domain (that is, flexnetoperations.com) against the DNS record to verify that FlexNet Operations is indeed authorized as third-party email sender on your behalf. Once all checks clear, the email can reach the recipient.
Setting Up the SPF Record
The following procedure describes how to set up the necessary SPF record.
The record authorizes the FlexNet Operations email server to be a third-party server that can send emails on the behalf the email servers in your domain.
To set up the SPF record
| 1. | Obtain the IP address for each email server on whose behalf FlexNet Operations will send emails to your end users. These email servers must belong to the same domain. |
| 2. | Contact your IT department to set up an SPF record for your domain. Once the contents are created (see the next steps), the IT department will publish the record to the DNS registry. |
| 3. | To create the file contents, enter the v=spf1 tag followed by the IP address for an email server: |
v=spf1 ip4:1.2.3.4
To list more than one email server belonging to the same domain, leave a space between each address:
v=spf1 ip4:1.2.3.4 ip4:5.6.7.8
| 4. | Add an include statement (in the format include:<domain>) to identify the FlexNet Operations domain. This statement identifies the FlexNet Operations email server as a third party that can send emails on behalf of any of the listed IP addresses. |
v=spf1 ip4:1.2.3.4 include:flexnetoperations.com
| 5. | End the record with an -all tag: |
v=spf1 ip4:1.2.3.4 include:flexnetoperations.com -all
SPF records cannot be over 255 characters in length (and cannot have more than ten include statements).