Resolved Outgoing administrator mail not authorized [missing SPF record in sender domain]

[carlsson]

Server operating system version

Ubuntu 20.04

Plesk version and microupdate number

Plesk Obsidian v18.0.58_build1800240123.15

When I set up my Plesk server a month ago I used a Gmail account. Now when the server is trying to mail me stuff I get rejected emails that's telling me they are not delivered; "This mail has been blocked because the sender is unauthenticated"

My guess is that I get this error, because I have never set up the Gmail account credentials, and Plesk uses the Gmail account to send the email…

I think it's good measure to have an external email account to send the emails, cause if something happens with the Plesk Mail server no emails will be sent.
But where do set up the email account credentials for the admin account?

This is the mail system at host mail.myserver.se.

I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not
be delivered to one or more recipients. It's attached below.

For further assistance, please send mail to postmaster.

If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
delete your own text from the attached returned message.

The mail system

<[email protected]>: host gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[142.251.1.26]
said: 550-5.7.26 This mail has been blocked because the sender is
unauthenticated. 550-5.7.26 Gmail requires all senders to authenticate with
either SPF or DKIM. 550-5.7.26 550-5.7.26 Authentication results:
550-5.7.26 DKIM = did not pass 550-5.7.26 SPF [gmail.com] with ip:
[my_server_ip] = did not pass 550-5.7.26 550-5.7.26 For instructions on
setting up authentication, go to 550 5.7.26
Email sender guidelines - Google Workspace Admin Help
z11-20020a2ebe0b000000b002cf05717c11si411158ljq.160 - gsmtp (in reply to
end of DATA command)
Reporting-MTA: dns; mail.myserver.se
X-Postfix-Queue-ID: 11FDB813CF
X-Postfix-Sender: rfc822; [email protected]
Arrival-Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2024 11:41:39 +0100 (CET)

Final-Recipient: rfc822; [email protected]
Original-Recipient: rfc822;[email protected]
Action: failed
Status: 5.7.26
Remote-MTA: dns; gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com
Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 550-5.7.26 This mail has been blocked because the sender
is unauthenticated. 550-5.7.26 Gmail requires all senders to authenticate
with either SPF or DKIM. 550-5.7.26 550-5.7.26 Authentication results:
550-5.7.26 DKIM = did not pass 550-5.7.26 SPF [gmail.com] with ip:
[my_server_ip] = did not pass 550-5.7.26 550-5.7.26 For instructions on
setting up authentication, go to 550 5.7.26
Email sender guidelines - Google Workspace Admin Help
z11-20020a2ebe0b000000b002cf05717c11si411158ljq.160 - gsmtp

From: admin <[email protected]>
Subject: <mail.myserver.se> The website "acme.se" files were copied.
Date: 2 februari 2024 11:41:38 CET
To: [email protected]
Answer to: admin <[email protected]>


The website "acme.se" files were copied to "anotheracme.se".

 

[Peter Debik]

Gmail requires all senders to authenticate with either SPF or DKIM.

--> The sender domain is missing an SPF entry. This needs to be added as a TXT record to the host domain name.

 

[carlsson]

--> The sender domain is missing an SPF entry. This needs to be added as a TXT record to the host domain name.

Thanks for the input Peter. However, I don't think it's that.
Firstly the mail server domain have both SPF, DKIM and DMARC set up.
Secondly, if you look at the mail it is Gmail that have sent a mail to itself with the same Gmail account. (Both To and From is the same) "This mail has been blocked because the sender is unauthenticated" suggests that I have not authenticated the Plesk admin email account (ie the Gmail account). And I can't find where I do that.

Basically; (I think) I need to set up an admin email account on my Plesk server. Ie, an email account that can send out emails. I can't find the settings for that in the Tools and Settings.

 

[Peter Debik]

I don't think it's that.

OK, but then I am afraid you won't be able to solve it.

 

[carlsson]

I'll try to explan this further:
When the Plesk server send out notifications, what email settings is it using?

Example:
I do a manual backup (Tools & Settings > Backup Manager > Backup), and the following dialogue shows up. At the bottom I can check that it should send a notification email, this is to my default account email that I have specified in Profile and Preferences.

But how does the server send its emails? I can't remember that I have specified any settings for outgoing mails…

 

[Kaspar]

The email address of the Plesk administrator account is used as the sender for Plesk notifications by default. If the email address of your administrator account is a gmail.com address, then that causes an issue. Because your server is not authorized to send email for the gmail domain. The solution is either use a different email address for your Plesk administrator account (which is recommended) or specify a different email address as a sender in the panel.ini file (for which the server is authorized to send email of course).

 

[carlsson]

Exactly this Kaspar. Thanks for the clarification!
I tried to set my account to an email that Plesk is running, and the report emails went through without a hitch.

Do you guys recommend to have an external account, if something effs up with the Plesk email server? Or wouldn’t that matter anyways?

 

[Kaspar]

Do you guys recommend to have an external account, if something effs up with the Plesk email server? Or wouldn’t that matter anyways?

It doesn't matter. If the mail server is effed up, for whatever reason, your not getting notifications anyway.

 

[JuanCar]

I've the same problem: SPF and DKIM are set.
I can send mail from my server mail to a gmail account using a mail client
But server notifications are rejected by Gmail because of not SPF.
I've set an email in my server as senderAddress in panel.ini
Which is the fic for this bug of Plesk?

 

[Equilibrium]

Hmm, I am having the same issue as well, is there any fixed for this?

 

[Peter Debik]

I think you are talking about this:

Implement support of SPF, DMARC and DKIM anti-spam methods for Plesk email notifications

Plesk email notifications to the administrator's email address get into Spam folder at public email providers because they are not protected by SPF, DMARC or DKIM anti-spam methods. It is required to enhance the Plesk notification system so that Plesk email notifications are treated as...

plesk.uservoice.com

 

[rkbonatto]

I managed to solve this problem, I was using the deny mode when SPF resolves to Fail, I changed it to reject if it is not Pass, then all emails from the servers started to be refused in the administrator.

I simply added the SPF TXT record to the external DNS server where I allocate my nameservers.

In general, the server sends the notification via email: [email protected]

I added the TXT record in the domain's DNS server like:

v=spf1 +a +mx +a:server.domain.com -all