SPF Practitioner

You will be able to

• Walk an evaluation term by term and name the result code it produces
• Read and write SPF macros, including exists-based per-IP authorisation
• Audit any record against both RFC 7208 limits and show your working
• Choose between flattening, delegation and dynamic SPF, and defend it
• Design SPF across subdomains, brands and parked domains
• Get a third-party sender aligned, or prove it cannot be
• Diagnose permerror, temperror and unexpected results in the wild

Syllabus

1. 1. How an Evaluation Runs

   The algorithm term by term, all seven result codes, and the explanation string almost nobody publishes.

   1. The algorithm, term by term11 min
   2. Seven results, and what receivers do with each10 min
   3. exp=, the modifier almost nobody publishes8 min

2. 2. Macros

   The expansion syntax, its transformers, and the per-IP authorisation it makes possible.

   1. Macro syntax12 min
   2. What macros are actually used for10 min

3. 3. The Lookup Budget

   Exact accounting, what mx really costs, finding void lookups, and a repeatable audit.

   1. Counting, with the working shown12 min
   2. What mx and a really cost9 min
   3. Finding the void lookups10 min

4. 4. Staying Under the Limit

   Flattening, delegation and dynamic SPF — what each costs and when each is wrong.

   1. Flattening, mechanically11 min
   2. Dynamic SPF11 min
   3. Moving senders off the apex11 min

5. 5. SPF Across an Estate

   Shared policy, multiple brands, and the domains that should send nothing at all.

   1. One policy, many domains10 min
   2. Brands, regions and acquisitions11 min
   3. Domains that should send nothing9 min

6. 6. Third-Party Senders

   Building the inventory, getting a vendor to align, and recognising one that never will.

   1. Building the inventory11 min
   2. Getting a vendor to align11 min
   3. When a vendor cannot align10 min

7. 7. Diagnosing in the Wild

   A method that names the failure: permerror, temperror, and results that look impossible.

   1. A method, not a checklist11 min
   2. Tracing a permerror to its term11 min
   3. temperror, and why it is not your record9 min
   4. Results that look impossible11 min

8. 8. Operating SPF

   Change control, monitoring, and the ways a correct record stops being correct.

   1. Changing a record safely10 min
   2. How a correct record stops being correct10 min

9. 9. Final assessment

   15 scenario questions · 80% to pass · unlimited retakes

   What the assessment covers