SPF Record Introduction

SPF full name is Sender Policy Framework, SPF is a DNS record which allows administrators to specify which hosts are allowed to send e-mail from a given domain. So in a word, SPF record is set to reduce spam and spoof email on DNS level.

Where to configure SPF record?

SPF record is not set by yourself although you may have full control over your domain dns records. The spf record has to be configured by your ISP, if you're hosting your domain under a service provider, they should help with the configurations.

The standard format for most SPF records will look like this, unless you have special MX modifications or other arrangements for outgoing mail:

"v=spf1 a mx ~all"

Best SPF Record Web Hosting

Not all hosting providers be able to support SPF records on their dns server, especially when you're dealing with a reseller hosting (more and more hosting providers are actually reseller based). In order to configure proper spf record, you must have full access to your domain dns records and you can easily add/delete it. the most important is the hosting server is not spam friendly and not in spam list or else the next work will not be functional. SPF record support is a sign of effort about how the hosting company is trying to reduce email spam.

The best way to configure SPF record is to setup your own DNS server. In this way you have full control of DNS settings. You can do this by VPS or dedicated server easily. For high qualify SPF record web hosting provider, we highly recommend Arvixe based our 5+ years working experience and their professional spf record management. Learn more about arvixe hosting on www.arvixe.com.

Besides SPF record, arvixe team setup lots of hardware/software configurations to stop spoof email and ensure the cleanness for your email box. At low cost hosting plan, you get more than expected service!

How Does SPF Reduce Email Spam?

Email spam is a headache to many people in the world and the number is increasing everyday. what worse is some day you find your email address is being abused by other people. For example you receive an error message saying that a message sent by you could not be delivered to the recipient, but you never sent a message to that address. it definitely generated much worries to us and make us afraid of the email security and reliability. Yes you're right, your email address is being abused!

You may curious about how spammers managed to do this, here I'll share some basic email technical documents. For example if you want to send an email to someone, instead by logging to your web interface email account, you can use a simple "Telnet" command to do so, sample as below:

telnet mail.domain.ext 25
Trying …
Connected to mail.domain.ext.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 mail.domain.ext ESMTP Sendmail ?version-number?; ?date+time+gmtoffset?

You will then need to delcare where you are sending the email from:

HELO domain.ext
This should give you:
250 mail.domain.ext Hello local.domain.name [loc.al.i.p], pleased to meet you

Now give your email address:

MAIL FROM: mail@domain.ext
Should yeild:
250 2.1.0 mail@domain.ext… Sender ok

Now give the recipients address:

RCPT TO: mail@otherdomain.ext
250 2.1.0 mail@otherdomain.ext… Recipient ok

To start composing the message issue the command

DATA

If you want a subject for your email type Subject:type your subject here then press enter twice

You may now proceed to type the body of your message (e.g. hello mail@otherdomain.ext from mail@domain.ext)

To tell the mail server that you have completed the message enter a single "." on a line on it's own.
The mail server should reply with: 250 2.0.0 Message accepted for delivery

You can close the connection by issuing the QUIT command.

The mailserver should reply with something like

221 2.0.0 mail.domain.ext closing connection
Connection closed by foreign host.

The above steps are some basic email knowledges and not doable anymore to most email providers for security leak, but it's also available to some providers who do not have very strong protection.

Beside the telnet commands, the typical method a spammer used is known as "script email" where local SMTP is enabled on hosting server, the spammer just use a simple email script or some third party applications to send a big amount of spam.

How to solve the problem? SPF is the solution. The Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an open standard specifying a technical method to prevent sender address forgery. SPF protects the envelope sender address, which is used for the delivery of messages, it also allows the owner of a domain to specify their mail sending policy, e.g. which mail servers they use to send mail from their domain.

About how  spf record works, you can refer to this official site for further details.

Cloud Web Hosting Review

Cloud hosting is a form of cloud computing which means a server system is powered by lots of hardware units in one or even multiple networks. a web site with cloud hosting is actually hosted on multiple servers and share all resources among those servers. If there's single server failure, it will pick up contents from other servers and make sure the website is always up.

Cloud hosting has been top choice for heavy traffic sites with extremely high online requirement. The "pay by usage" feature makes cloud service worry free for low cost start. With those leading hosting provider, we can even stop the service temporarily in case we do not need to use for some time, but all data is kept there and accessible. In this article we'll discuss what's required to become a qualified cloud web hosting and the best cloud hosting provider.

Cloud Hosting Advantages

Uptime: Since the website is hosted on multiple hosting servers but not a single server, if there's single point failure, another server will take over the work and make sure the service is up. Because of this, there's no "server down" issue for a high quality cloud hosting service. Because of this, customer complaint is greatly reduced, the hosting management team will get more time to improve their services.

Price: Is cloud hosting really expensive? Not really, because the true cloud hosting is charged by usage not a monthly or yearly contract. You can always stop the service temporarily in case you don't need it and no extra cost will appear.

Scalability: In logical, the resources of cloud hosting is unlimited because it can be setup on multiple networks on multi points on the planet. you don't have to worry about usage because the system will automatically allocate more in case your usage grows up. Manual operation is excluded.

Best Cloud Web Hosting

Bluehost is awarded the best cloud web hosting provider with side by side support to your business. Either from hosting feature, server performance, price or customer support, bluehost provides unbeatable advantages comparing to any existing shared cloud service provider.

• Networking – Networking is one of the most important parts of cloud hosting. Bluehost network backbones and simply the best of the best in United States including Level3, ATT. In order to make sure max network availability, their people constructed 3 data centers with extremly optimization. Any connection problem will be alerted and sent to engineers for urgent fix.
• Security – Bluehost professionals constructed both hardware and software protection via top lorch procuction such as juniper,cisco,checkpoint etc. Their developers also programmed their own security products on server core level. Their ceo Matt Heaton is server core developer himself with great contribution to the industry. Their people joined multiple projects for leading security solutions.
• Pricing – Bluehost shared hosting price starts at $3.49/mo as promotional offer. Because the entire system is cloud based, customer accounts will be instantly setup upon order verification. For cloud vps/dedicated server plans, bluehost is offering 50% discount for initial term. Absolutely unbeatable offer.
• Support – A qualified cloud hosting provider always comes with outstanding customer support in the industry. The bluehost support team is knowledgeable for cloud computing with 24*7 instant support.

More about Bluehost Cloud Hosting Plan

Bluehost cloud plans is different from any existing service. Let's take a quick look of hosting features

• Unlimited space and bandwidth
• Host Unlimited domains
• 99.99% uptime guarantee
• Free domain name registration
• Free sitebuilder wizard
• Cloud cpanel with scripts installer
• Green hosting server & data centers

Besides leading server/network structures, bluehost also provides advanced management system. There're two panels for cloud hosting service – revised cpanel and cloud panel. cPanel is deeply revised to simplify the common tasks with more friendly category layouts. What really matter is their cloud panel, users be able to view/manage server resources and usage via GUI indicator. The most important feature is you can access this panel via any mobile device for anywhere access! Even your server is cracked down, you still get another tunnel for data access and make sure there's no data loss.

View bluehost cloud hosting plans at www.Bluehost.com

Why Free Domain Name?

More and more web hosting providers are offerring free domain registration as long as you sign up their hosting service. Free domain is spotlight hosting feature to get customers, it will also save clients money for web hosting investment, you just reserve the domain the same way by registering through a dedicated domain provider. At the meanwhile, if you manage both domain registration and domain hosting under the same provider it will be quite convenient to have everything under control.

Best Free Domain Web Hosting Providers

Choosing a reliable free domain hosting is essential task if you're looking for such feature. Here I'd like to introduce 2 of the industry top rated free domain hosting providers – Arvixe and Ixwebhosting.

Arvixe is The best choice for free domain web hosting, arvixe offers reliable and affordable hosting services plus a free domain name for life. You have choice over both asp.net hosting and linux hosting plans and every plan has a free domain included. Price starts as cheap as $4/mon! With this price you get free domain and unlimited file storage and unlimited database support. Moreover, if you dislike their service you have 60 days priority to request full refund!

Read arvixe reviews

Bluehost – best free domain name hosting provider with multi class server platforms. While we register by very affordable price for shared hosting, we get cloud server performance! Bluehost is powered by completely new data center facilities with cloud setup. Each class plan provides a free domain for instant setup.

Unlike any other hosting, bluehost people are server developers who provides optimization and server core development. They have multiple projects on hand that're approved by commercial deployment.

Advantages of Free Domain Name Hosting

With free domain name hosting service you are able to manage both domain registration and hosting together so you don't have to deal with different companies. Normally, hosting provider will auto renew thoese domain names for you as long as you keep hosting service with them so you don't have to worry about domain expiration and cause website failure. In a word, free domain name offer simplified your website management especially when there's need of DNS change.

Is free domain name really free?

Generally speaking, no. Free domain name is more like a marketing advertisement and you have to pay more in future. Let's check the free domain service in following sections.

• Most hosting companies are not qualify for domain registration, when you see free domain service on their hosting plan, mostly they have some partnership between a senior domain provider and doing reseller business. Most of the time you have to manage the domain separately outside your hosting control panel.
• Domain transfer. As long as you're dealing with a domain reseller hosting service, it will cost you more money to transfer out the domain and quite time consuming. The hosting company will charge a high transfer fee if you want to keep the domain and always wait for each steps from the actual domain provider.
• For some hosting companies who offer monthly services, the free domain name is not included, you have to pay full year domain registration fee and setup fee will be charged.

More about Free Domain Web Hosting

Personally, if you like to keep a long term partnership with the hosting company and they do offer domain registration service, then it's suggested to get the free domain, it will save your time to deal with domain issues.

If you're going to lunch a quite important website such as ecommerce website, free domain is not suggested, it's better to register the domain separately from a top level domain registrar since it's 100% guranteed ownership as well as security, especially when your website name is for potential famous brand in that industry.

Conclusion. Free domain is highly recommended if you don't have any domain registered yet. it's suggested to use for test website purpose or personal website. If you are going to lunch ecommerce website or brand site, it's better to register with a famous domain registrar.