SchoolFront uses Mandrill as an email delivery service. The goal is to provide more reliable and scalable email delivery.
In order to use Mandrill, each customer will be required to validate their email domain and make modifications to their DNS settings. The modifications will specify that Mandrill is allowed to send email on behalf of your email domain. Without this setting, emails sent on your behalf could incorrectly be considered SPAM by the receiving email domain. The modifications that are required are listed below. In addition to the DNS changes described, we need the email address of an IT contact. The email address must also be from the email domain you are configuring.
DKIM
DKIM is a DNS-based email authentication mechanism that helps Mandrill more effectively send mail on your behalf by allowing receivers to verify that we have permission to send your email. To enable DKIM, create two CNAME records: one with the name mte1._domainkey.yourdomain.com
with the value dkim1.mandrillapp.com
, and another with the name mte2._domainkey.yourdomain.com
with the value dkim2.mandrillapp.com
SPF
SPF is another DNS-based email authentication mechanism. If you don't yet have an SPF record, you'll want to add one for your domain. At a minimum, the value should be the following if you're only sending mail through Mandrill for that domain: v=spf1 include:spf.mandrillapp.com ?all
If you already have a TXT record with SPF information, you'll need to add Mandrill's servers to that record by adding include:spf.mandrillapp.com
in the record (before the last operator, which is usually ?all
, ~all
, or -all
). You can read more about SPF and these qualifiers here.
DMARC
DMARC is another DNS-based email authentication mechanism which is becoming more common and is now required by Mandrill and other top email sending providers. You may already have a DMARC record for your domain. If so, you may skip this step. If your domain does not already have a DMARC record, create and save a TXT record in your DNS with a name of _dmarc.yourdomain.com
and a value of v=DMARC1; p=none
. This is the minimum value for DMARC in order to be authenticated for use of Mandrill and you may wish to enhance your domain security against impersonation by having a more restrictive policy. You can read more about DMARC and additional DMARC record tags here.
* Replace yourdomain.com
with your domain name. Some domain hosts automatically add yourdomain.com
after the initial value. Contact your domain provider for specifics.
Once the modifications to DNS have been completed, please have the IT contact send an email to support@schoolfront.com to finalize the process on our end.
NOTE: FrontEdge is not responsible for any impacts to your infrastructure by incorrectly modifying your DNS settings. Employ best practices when making changes which includes backing up your settings. Please submit a ticket if you have any questions or concerns and one of our support engineers will contact you.