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Setting Up SPF & DKIM for Your Institution’s Emails

Set up SPF and DKIM to authorize VZ servers to send emails from your institution’s domain. VZ provides SPF IP values and generates a DKIM key pair once your institution selects a domain or subdomain. Your institution’s IT team adds the SPF values and publishes the DKIM public key in DNS, then tests delivery with both a university and personal email account.

Why This Matters

When VZO (the software) sends emails on behalf of your institution, email providers (like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo) want proof the messages are authentic. Without this, your emails may land in spam.

Two tools make this possible:

  • SPF (Sender Policy Framework): A list of servers that are allowed to send email for your institution’s domain.

  • DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): A digital signature that proves the email wasn’t tampered with and really comes from your institution’s domain.

Who Does What

VZ

  • Provide the IP values that authorize VZ servers to send email.

  • Generate the DKIM key pair after your institution decides on the sending domain or subdomain.

  • Store the private key securely on VZ servers (used to sign outgoing emails).

  • Send your institution the public key to publish as a DNS TXT record.

Your Institution

  • Decide on the sending domain or subdomain (e.g., mail.institution.edu or noreply.institution.edu).

  • Update DNS by:

    • Adding the SPF IP values provided by VZ.

    • Publishing the DKIM public key provided by VZ as a TXT record.

  • Test the setup by creating a record in VZO and sending emails to both a university email and a personal email address.

  • Review your DMARC policy (if in use) to make sure test emails aren’t blocked.

How to Test SPF & DKIM

  1. Create a record in VZO and assign it two email addresses:

    • An institutional (university) email address

    • A personal email address (e.g., Gmail or Outlook)

  2. Trigger an email from VZO to both addresses.

  3. Have the recipients check the message headers to confirm:

    • SPF: Pass

    • DKIM: Pass

    • DMARC: Pass (if applicable)

This ensures authentication is working correctly both within your institution’s system and with external providers.

Quick Checklist

Here’s a quick breakdown of what VZ provides and what your institution needs to do:

VZ:

  • Provides SPF IP values

  • Generates a DKIM key pair (after you choose your sending domain or subdomain)

  • Keeps the private key on VZ servers

  • Sends your institution the public key to publish

Your Institution:

  • Chooses the sending domain or subdomain (e.g., mail.institution.edu)

  • Adds the SPF IP values to DNS as a TXT record

  • Publishes the DKIM public key in DNS as a TXT record

  • Creates a test record in VZO with both a university email and a personal email address

  • Triggers a test email and confirms SPF, DKIM, and DMARC all show “Pass”