No Xavier that is not what I said about a smtp relay, to use it to relay "microsoft.com" emails. That will not work at all.
I was giving options on how to bypass sending thru MSFT servers completely for bulk email only; where you can control the rate limit. But, why would you think that using your own SMTP server to send from a domain that you own would be an issue????
With regards to IPV6, yes that is a known issue but it is NOT "technically" on the Microsoft side. Microsoft is doing it correctly.
Its Gmail's implementation of SPF checking that does not correctly identify the IPv6 address that Microsoft is sending from as being allowed.
MSFT DOES THOUGH have their include statement correct. And since gmail publishes IPv6 records to their MX servers, and MSFT gives preference to ipv6 routing. MSFT logically in turn sends from an server from their IPv6 network and hence an IPv6 address.
For example, here is what gmail saw when I send normally without a connector:
Received: from NAM11-DM6-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com (mail-dm6nam11on2061a.outbound.protection.outlook.com. [2a01:111:f400:7eaa::61a] <---- notice the sending server was an ipv6 one
Now look at these IPv6 addresses in the MSFT include record:
ip6:2a01:111:f400::/48 ip6:2a01:111:f403::/49 ip6:2a01:111:f403:8000::/50 ip6:2a01:111:f403:c000::/51 ip6:2a01:111:f403:f000::/52
The sending address of 2a01:111:f400:7eaa::61a is well within that ipv6 subnet. So there should not be an issue, right? But there is, and it is broken on the gmail side, not the msft side.
Why does the connector work? Because by using the connector, you are forcing the MSFT servers to not resolve ipv6 and only use ipv4. In turn they send to an ipv4 IP rather than the gmail ipv6 addresses.
(I usually don't include my alphabet soup, but since it was questioned about why use an smtp relay....)
Michael B. Morell, CISSP #431307 CCSK CCNP RHCE MCSE+I (he/him/his/sir)
DirectionWeb Inc.
Owner and Information Security Professional
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MX records of gmail
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> set type=mx
> gmail.com
Server: dns.google
Address: 8.8.8.8
Non-authoritative answer:
gmail.com MX preference = 40, mail exchanger = alt4.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com
gmail.com MX preference = 20, mail exchanger = alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com
gmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com
gmail.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com
gmail.com MX preference = 30, mail exchanger = alt3.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com
alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com internet address = 172.217.197.27
alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com AAAA IPv6 address = 2607:f8b0:400d:c0f::1a
alt3.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com internet address = 172.253.62.26
alt3.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com AAAA IPv6 address = 2607:f8b0:4004:c07::1b
alt4.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com internet address = 64.233.186.27
alt4.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com AAAA IPv6 address = 2800:3f0:4003:c00::1b
alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com internet address = 108.177.12.27
alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com AAAA IPv6 address = 2607:f8b0:400c:c08::1a
gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com internet address = 74.125.138.27
gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com AAAA IPv6 address = 2607:f8b0:4002:c00::1b