What happens if the Valimail SPF macro is removed from my SPF record?
In case the proprietary Valimail Macro syntax is removed from the SPF record, receiving MTAs will no longer query into the Valimail system in order to validate if a sending IP address is authorized in your SPF configuration.
include:%{i}._ip.%{h}._ehlo.%{d}._spf.vali.email
What problems can arise if the SPF macro is removed from the SPF record?
The removal of the Valimail SPF Macro can potentially cause the following issues:
Recipient MTAs will no longer query into the Valimail system. Meaning that all of the sending services and netblocks configured in Valimail will no longer help authenticate emails.
Without Valimail's instant SPF solution, your SPF record could potentially break the 10 DNS lookup limit.
In case your SPF record does not contain any other directives or mechanisms besides the Valimail SPF macro, SPF authentication will fail. DMARC authentication will pass only with DKIM authentication.
What needs to be done in this case?
In order to reinstate the Valimail instant SPF solution you will need to replace your SPF record with the Valimail SPF record below.
v=spf1 include:%{i}._ip.%{h}._ehlo.%{d}._spf.vali.email ~all