enabling DKIM & SPF for email

[ihearvoices]

i'm looking at these DKIM/SPF tutorials ...

https://help.directadmin.com/item.php?id=569

Setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC Records - KnownHost

In this guide we will teach you how to set up and manage SPF, DKIM and DMARC records on premium KnownHost servers.

www.knownhost.com

...and i'm a little confused - it says...

> If external DNS is used, the DKIM TXT records must be copied over to the remote DNS ...

what does "external" mean? i use Dynadot to set the nameservers and they point to my webserver IP:

ns1.mydomain.tld <my server ip>

is that considered an external DNS?

on another note, i just noticed that my second nameserver (ns2) points to the default apache page "Apache is functioning normally" - that needs to be changed, no? or should i just remove ns2 at Dynadot?

 

[KH-JonathanKW]

External would be remote nameservers that are not managed by your server -- so Dynadot would be considered a remote/external nameserver.

The second nameserver -- that's default behavior for DirectAdmin.

 

[ihearvoices]

hi Jonathan - so i want to get DKIM enabled, but i want to make sure i do this right

the Dynadot tutorial says "You can use DKIM by adding a TXT record to a subdomain." - the mail server in my case (installed with DirectAdmin i assume) isn't on a subdomain

here's what it says...

• Check the box next to your domain name(s) and click on the "Name Servers" icon.
• Click on the "DNS" tab.
• Look for the "Subdomain Records (optional)" section.
• Enter your subdomain in the box provided.
• Under the "Domain Record" section, select "TXT" from the drop-down menu.
• Enter the value given by your email host in the "IP Address or Target Host" box.
• Click on the "Use Dynadot DNS" button at the bottom of the page to save your changes.

does a subdomain have to be setup for the mail server?

 

[ihearvoices]

actually, cancel that last request - i'm going to open a ticket for this because i'm not comfortable in setting this up and i need it to be correct