Questions about upcoming Google DMARC/DKIM requirement

[oddhack]

Regarding the recent "Important Notice About Your Email Service" noting that Google will be "requiring that all email senders which send over 5,000 messages a day must have a DMARC policy and ensure all email is properly aligned with DKIM and SPF." - I send email through Postfix on my machine, using sonic as the relayhost. AFAICT my mail as seen by receipients has Sonic-inserted DKIM headers. Should I expect to be unaffected by this latest move to make email into a walled Google garden?

Also, does "email senders which send over 5,000 messages a day" refer to Sonic itself, or to individual users?

[kgc]

Also, does "email senders which send over 5,000 messages a day" refer to Sonic itself, or to individual users?

A sender in this context was meant to be read as "domain" - meaning if the domain originates more than 5,000/day the policy will apply. So yes to "sonic.net", maybe to any customer owned domain.

viewtopic.php?t=17845

[chuckt99]

A sender in this context was meant to be read as "domain" - meaning if the domain originates more than 5,000/day the policy will apply. So yes to "sonic.net", maybe to any customer owned domain.

viewtopic.php?t=17845

So, I have my own domain, let's say xyz123.com. It's registered with a company that offers domain services, and there is a Sonic-based SPF record in my doman's email configuration at the domain Registrar. Sonic is my ISP and I am using Thunderbird as the email client on my Windows computer. I send perhaps 5-10 emails a day using my own domain, e.g.,"From: xxx@xyz123.com", and receive fewer than 50. Will this impending DKIM/DMARC change affect me if I don't make any configuration changes?

[kgc]

So, I have my own domain, let's say xyz123.com. It's registered with a company that offers domain services, and there is a Sonic-based SPF record in my doman's email configuration at the domain Registrar. Sonic is my ISP and I am using Thunderbird as the email client on my Windows computer. I send perhaps 5-10 emails a day using my own domain, e.g.,"From: xxx@xyz123.com", and receive fewer than 50. Will this impending DKIM/DMARC change affect me if I don't make any configuration changes?

Theoretically no, but I would recommend being compliant with these rules to ensure good deliverability moving forward.

If your registrar is providing POP/IMAP services I would assume they also have outbound SMTP servers and will have instructions on how to setup DKIM and SPF to use them. If they're forwarding mail to your @sonic.net addresses, I'd actually suggest that you have us become your MX server which would get your domain into our backend systems in a way that would allow it to be signed provided the proper DNS records were also added at your registrar. Alternately, you could transfer the domain to our registrar as well. We could setup something manually to sign mail for your domain but that kind of thing is usually best avoided.

[virtualmike]

I have a domain registered/hosted at Sonic. With help from Sonic's tech team, I configured SPF in my DNS zones at Sonic a while back.

I sent a test email from my domain email to my Gmail account. Reviewing the received email's headers, I see the SPF entries, but I don't see any DKIM signatures. Mail from Gmail to my Sonic-hosted mailbox has DKIM signatures.

Yesterday's email from Sonic states, "We are signing all outbound email with DKIM...." Am I missing or misunderstanding something? ...thanks!

[kgc]

I sent a test email from my domain email to my Gmail account. Reviewing the received email's headers, I see the SPF entries, but I don't see any DKIM signatures. Mail from Gmail to my Sonic-hosted mailbox has DKIM signatures.

Mike, we had to disable it for a while yesterday due to an apparent bug in opendkim's libdb support and turned it back on this morning using flat file configs instead. I see messages getting signed with your domain. If you send a test to gmail, and go to view original, it will show you the SPF, DKIM and DMARC status.

[virtualmike]

I see messages getting signed with your domain.

Thanks, Kelsey! Indeed, I see all the headers/sigs in my latest test message. Thanks for using the workaround to ensure that everything works. ...cheers!

[jonberger]

I use Sonic as my ISP, but I don't use Sonic's email at all. One of my email addresses is @sbcglobal.net (ok, fine, I'm living in the past, so sue me), and that's just an alias for my other email address, which is @gmail.com. I use Thunderbird on my computer, using Gmail's POP and SMTP servers. There's no mention of sonic.net in any of my emails -- well, maybe in the body sometimes, but you know what I mean. Am I correct in assuming that this change doesn't affect me at all?

[virtualmike]

I don't use Sonic's email at all.

Correct--if you're not using Sonic's servers to send email, you're not affected by this.

[betsydonnelly]

I use Thunderbird to send and receive emails. My emails go out with @sonic.net as the address. Will I be affected by this new DMARC requirement?