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I manage a VPS on Linode accessed through subdomain.example.com and I need to send email from this subdomain. I can't set any TXT records in Linode DNS manager because the name servers for example.com are something else, not ns1.linode.com, etc. So I need to ask someone who has access to example.com to add some records for me. How are TXT records for SPF and DKIM different if they are set in the domain dashboard for a subdomain?

Andrew Schulman
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hiirulainen
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1 Answers1

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SPF and DKIM records for a subdomain would only apply to emails with a from address of that subdomain, i.e. emails from user@subdomain.example.com. They'd be ignored entirely for email from user@example.com.

ceejayoz
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    but that's exactly what I need. I need to send mail from user@subdomain.example.com and I don't care about user@example.com. I just can't figure out how I should modify TXT records if they are set for domain.com (in domain.com dashboard, by people who have control over domain.com) but have to work for user@subdomain.domain.com (and private key for DKIM is stored on subdomain server). Should it just be, for example, x._domainkey.subdomain instead of x._domainkey? Or something else? – hiirulainen Mar 05 '14 at 18:55
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    Your record would need to be for `x._domainkey.subdomain.example.com`. How that's input depends on the UI they're using. – ceejayoz Mar 05 '14 at 18:59
  • thank you! what about SPF? Now it's Name: empty Value: v=spf1 a mx ~all – hiirulainen Mar 05 '14 at 19:07
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    You'd set the SPF as a `TXT` record on `subdomain.example.com`. – ceejayoz Mar 05 '14 at 19:11