Below you can find a list of **recommended DNS records**. While some are mandatory for a mail server (A, MX), others are recommended to build a good reputation score (TXT/SPF) or used for auto-configuration of mail clients (SRV).
["How to eliminate spam and protect your name with DMARC"](https://www.skelleton.net/2015/03/21/how-to-eliminate-spam-and-protect-your-name-with-dmarc/)
Make sure that the PTR record of your IP address matches the FQDN of your mailcow host: `${MAILCOW_HOSTNAME}` [^1]. This record is usually set at the provider you leased the IP address (server) from.
This example shows you a set of records for one domain managed by mailcow. Each domain that is added to mailcow needs at least this set of records to function correctly.
In the example DNS zone file snippet below, a simple **SPF** TXT record is used to only allow THIS server (the MX) to send mail for your domain. Every other server is disallowed but able to ("`~all`"). Please refer to [SPF Project](http://www.open-spf.org/) for further reading.
It is highly recommended to create a **DKIM** TXT record in your mailcow UI and set the corresponding TXT record in your DNS records. Please refer to [OpenDKIM](http://www.opendkim.org) for further reading.
The last step in protecting yourself and others is the implementation of a **DMARC** TXT record, for example by using the [DMARC Assistant](http://www.kitterman.com/dmarc/assistant.html) ([check](https://dmarcian.com/dmarc-inspector/google.com)).
**SRV** records specify the server(s) for a specific protocol on your domain. If you want to explicitly announce a service as not provided, give "." as the target address (instead of "mail.example.org."). Please refer to [RFC 2782](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2782).
**NOTE:** It is worth considering that if you request DMARC statistic reports to your mailcow server, if there are issues with that domain you may not get accurate results. You can consider using an alternative email domain for recieving DMARC reports.
It is worth mentioning, that the following suggestions are not a comprehensive list of all services and tools avaialble, but only a small few of the many choices.
**NOTE:** The services may provide you with a TXT record, which you would insert into your DNS records as the provider specifies. This record will give you details about spam-classified mails by your domain. However, please ensure to read the providers documentation from the service you choose, as this process may vary and not all providers may use a TXT record.
The full report will contain more technical details this is just the first section, we found this to be quite usful for testing both outgoing mail and spam scores.
[^1]: A **Fully Qualified Domain Name** (**FQDN**) is the complete (absolute) domain name for a specific computer or host, on the Internet. The FQDN consists of at least three parts divided by a dot: the hostname (myhost), the domain name (mydomain) and the top level domain in short **tld** (com). In the example of `mx.mailcow.email` the hostname would be `mx`, the domain name `mailcow` and the tld `email`.
