OVHCloud SPF and DKIM configuration: Step By Step Guideline

This instructional article will demonstrate the OVHCloud configuration process of Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) Signatures to ensure OVHCloud passes the DMARC alignment check and eliminate spam from your domain and increase security.

The SPF record identifies the mail servers and domains that are allowed to send email on behalf of your domain. The DKIM record, on the other hand, is a specially formatted DNS TXT record that stores the public key the receiving mail server will use to verify a message’s signature. These email authentication methods will be used to prove to ISPs and mail services that senders are truly authorized to send email from a particular domain and are a way of verifying your email sending server is sending emails through your domain.

The process of configuring SPF:

OVH Cloud recommends including an include (include:mx.ovh.ca) that contains two PTR mechanisms in the SPF record, which we advise against. This is because it is not possible to validate the PTR mechanism during the SPF record check, as it is dynamic and depends on the sending IP. Therefore, we do not recommend using this approach.

The process of configuring DKIM

In order to authenticate OVHCloud on DKIM, you need to create a CNAME record. Please follow these steps:

1. Login to your OVHCloud Control Panel
2. Head to Web Cloud > Domain names
3. Select your domain
4. Login and head to your DNS Zone provider
5. Create a new CNAME record
6. Input the DNS name as ovhex123456-selector1._domainkey
7. Input the DNS value as ovhex123456-selector1._domainkey.1500.ab.dkim.mail.ovh.net
8. Save the record

Screenshot below will show you the example of the DKIM record. We’ll be using CloudFlare for this example.

Important Note: please make sure to disable the Proxy Status and let it remain on DNS Only.

Congratulations, you now successfully authenticated your outgoing mail stream from OVHCloud with SPF and DKIM.