Setting up email

Email is an important and integral part of the operation of any modern company. Today, it is not only a means of exchanging information, but also an essential tool for business, marketing, and customer service. Therefore, knowing the basic tools for working with email is essential, but its specific settings for effective operation are even more important, which we will focus on in our article today.

Since email users are quite diverse, they can be divided into two main groups: beginners and professionals. Some of them are just starting their journey with it, while others are experienced users. However, both have ways to improve their email proficiency. That’s why we have prepared basic tips on this issue separately for each user from these two groups. So let’s get started, and we will start with beginners.

Tips for Beginners

If you are those who know only the basic tools of using email, now we suggest you learn a little more about its settings. At this stage, you should focus your attention and understand a few key indicators: NS, DNS, and PTR records.

1. Understanding NS and DNS Records. Learn to set up your mail using HC records for proper routing and DNS records for specifying the delivery location of letters.

Here we want to add that everything on the Internet can only work thanks to the mentioned DNS servers, which constantly translate names understandable to everyone, for example – google.com, into server-understandable IP addresses (152.127.77.14). Of course, each of them must have its own NS record, which is divided into several types:

  • NS (Name Server) – directly list the DNS servers for the domain;
  • A (Address) – converts domain names into IP addresses;
  • MX (Mail Exchange) – servers responsible for mail service for the domain and manage the routing of letters;
  • TXT (TEXT) – textual information that helps other servers manage data, such as SPF keys.

2. Setting Up a PTR Record. Set up a PTR record to increase the trust in your email, which is important to avoid it being marked as spam.

A PTR record is essentially the same as an NS record, but only the owner of the IP address, whether it be an internet provider, hosting provider, or even a cloud provider, can create and manage it. In short, when setting it up, you should contact where the domain/IP address/server was taken directly. Usually, hosting or cloud providers have instructions on how to make this record in automatic mode.

At first glance, these are complex concepts, but we assure you, if you study each of them more closely, you will already be real specialists in these issues.

Having dealt with beginners, now let’s move on to professionals.

Tips for Professionals

If you belong to the group of users who are more experienced in setting up email and know quite a lot of their characteristics, we still have some useful tips for you, which we want to share today. Among them:

1. Setting up SPF/DKIM/DMARC Records. Setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records is not mandatory, but they will help ensure a high level of security for your mail, thus preventing fraud attempts and other cybercrimes.

For example, today many servers already send the second-third letter without at least an SPF record to «soft» spam, and all subsequent ones to spam without notifying the recipient. Therefore, all major mail servers carry out mandatory checks of these records.

In essence, an SPF record informs others which addresses are allowed to send mail on behalf of the domain and what to do if the mail comes from an address different from the established list of such addresses.

In turn, a DKIM record is used to confirm the sender of the letter you received using so-called hash signatures that are added to each message. The signatures are unique and cannot be faked. The hash signature in the letter is compared with the “key” recorded in a special field in NS records. Note that for this record, in addition to adding a certain field to NS records, additional settings of the mail program are also required.

And DMARC records are a way of email security policy that allows the domain owner to specify how email should be checked for compliance with SPF and DKIM records, and what to do if it does not meet them. These records help prevent fraud and ensure that emails from a certain domain are actually sent from authorized servers. They are entered into the DNS records of the domain and allow recipients to verify the authenticity of incoming emails using defined domain standards.

2. Individualization of Settings. We also advise you to use the specifics of your business to adapt mail settings, setting up filtering rules, forwarding, and integration with other services.

So, as we see, effective email setup can significantly increase productivity and security in your company. In this process, beginners should first pay attention to the basics, while professionals need to use more complex settings to maximize their efficiency. And although at first glance it seems complicated, gradually mastering these skills, you will easily not only improve communication with clients or colleagues but also ensure the proper level of security and privacy in your company.