Sentora Email Setup - EMAIL DOESN'T GO TO SPAM

[james30263]

I've seen tons of post about "Why are my Sentora emails always going to the SPAM folders". (I think I even have one! )

Ok, Lets get started. So you see that I've successfully setup my Sentora email where it doesn't go to the spam folder anymore when sending emails to sites like gmail. I've always had an issue with this but never had the need to figure it out until now. Most of the time I tend to overthink things and that's what I've done with this. Now that I've fixed it I hope this will help others.

Here's what I did...

Make sure your dedicated server has a propagated hostname.

• EX: server.mydomain.com (This will point to your server IP / xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx)
  
• Make sure your server ISP sets up a rDNS record. This way server.mydomain.com points to your IP. (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx)
  

So if your domain is server.mydomain.com and points to IP 111.222.333.444 when you look up the IP it should point to the same domain. (server.mydomain.com)

Only your server ISP can set up a Reverse DNS for the server.

Your can check your reverse DNS HERE.

In simple terms this should always work.... (This is what rDNS is)
When you search for "mydomain.com" it should point to your IP "111.222.333.444"
When you search for "111.222.333.444" it should point to your domain "mydomain.com".

Simple enough right? 

In your Sentora panel make sure you add a CNAME entry for the main domain name (server hostname) as "Server" that points to the server IP.

You should have something like this....
Hostname: Server
TTL: 3600 (Use what you want, this is an example)
Target: @

Once you have this set you can check your email server HERE. (Continue to use this tool until it's corrected, remember it needs to finish propagating first.)

Once thats completed add a TXT record to your dns as the following....

Code:

mydomain.com.  IN TXT v=spf1 mx a ip4:255.255.255.0/111.222.333.444/28 ~all

Change the data to follow yours. The 255.255.255.0 is your subnet. Make sure it matches your assigned subnet.

You should have something like this....
Hostname: @
TTL: 3600 (Use what you want, this is an example)
Target: "The code I posted above with your info inserted"

Once all of these changes are made and they are propagated / panel refreshed. You should now have email that you can send to clients like Google and not go to spam.

Keep in mind this will only work if you have a Sentora panel that can already send & receive email. Make sure you can properly send & receive email before you make these changes.

Hope this helps you guys!