So I'm setting up this server right now that'll host multiple websites / domains. What are the current best practices with regard to DNS records? I admit to 'just having done something' up to now, which is pretty bad. Mea culpa. And though it has worked for me in the past, I'd like to know what the best way of doing things is, so here's a couple of questions about it:
I think it probably makes the most sense to setup the main hostname like this
192.168.0.1 A example.com 192.168.0.1 A host.example.com www CNAME example.com
and then a single PTR record for 192.168.0.1 back to example.com. Should the www CNAME point to the example.com or to the host.example.com A records? What makes more sense and why?
Would it then make the most sense to create a CNAME for each Virtualhost on this server to the example.com A record (or the host.example.com A record), or to create individual A records for each Virtualhost to the main IP address?
The SMTP server on this host will identify itself as host.example.com. Is SPF uptake broad enough already that I can create an SPF record for each hosted domain and have that take care of other domains possibly rejecting mail from this host?