How to Check SPF Records for a Specific Domain on SMG

Products

• Messaging Gateway

Issue/Introduction

When working with Symantec Messaging Gateway (SMG), you may need to verify whether the system is correctly retrieving DNS records for a specific domain, particularly SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records. This guide will walk you through the steps to check SPF records on SMG using its command-line interface (CLI).

Resolution

Follow these steps to check SPF records for a domain on SMG:

1. Log in to the Host's CLI
   Access the CLI of the SMG host using SSH or a terminal session.

2. List Configured DNS Servers
   Use the following command to list the DNS servers configured within SMG:

   dns-control list

   This will display all DNS servers that SMG is currently using.

3. Query the TXT Records for the Domain
   Run the nslookup command to check the TXT records, which include the SPF records, for the desired domain:
   

   nslookup -type=txt domain.com DNS_IP

   Replace:

   • domain.com with the domain whose SPF record you want to verify.
   • DNS_IP with the IP address of the DNS server you want to query (as listed in the previous step).

   For example, if the domain is example.com and the DNS server is 8.8.8.8, the command would be:

   nslookup -type=txt example.com 8.8.8.8

4. Review the Output
   The command will return the TXT records for the domain. Look for the SPF record, which typically starts with v=spf1.