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 Wiki]

Setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC Records SPF, DKIM, and DMARC techniques are intended to fight SPAM and email spoofing. These mechanisms don't analyse content of the message in search of malicious code, spam-like content, or content that would be used in a phishing attempt. Other dedicated...

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