In DMARCER, every domain you manage shows up as a row in the Domain Management grid, and that row is your way in to everything about the domain. Reading across the row, you get a simple status indicator for each part of its email security, plus its overall security score. Click any indicator to open the detail for that one area, so the row doubles as the domain's detail page: a quick read of where the domain stands, with one click through to fix or look into each item.
What the row shows
Reading the row from left to right, the columns give you the whole picture of a single domain at a glance:
- Domain Name, with a small chain icon when the domain is linked to one of your DNS providers, and a person icon when a customer added it themselves through the client portal.
- Customer (or Unit on Enterprise accounts), Region and DNS Provider, showing who the domain belongs to and where it is hosted.
- Ownership, confirming whether DMARCER has verified that you control the domain, using the verification TXT record.
- Score, the Domain Security Score from 0 to 100 with a letter grade (A to F), refreshed every hour.
- The protection indicators: SPF, DMARC, RUF (forensic reporting), Lock (registrar transfer lock), DNSSEC, MTA-STS and TLS-RPT.
- Expiration, the date the domain registration is due to expire.
Each indicator is colour-coded, and hovering over it shows a tooltip describing its exact state. A green tick means that area is healthy; a muted or red icon means there is something to set up or fix. Every column header can be sorted, so you can click Score, for example, to bring the weakest domains to the top.
Opening the detail for one check
The status indicators are more than just lights: each one is a link that opens the detail and settings for that area. Click the icon directly, or use the actions menu (the three-dots button at the end of the row) to reach the same panels by name:
- SPF record opens the SPF panel, where you can review the published record, see the lookup count, and reach SPF flattening if the record is getting close to the ten-lookup limit.
- DMARC and forensic (RUF) opens the DMARC panel, where you can view the policy and set up forensic (RUF) reporting pointed at DMARCER.
- DNSSEC opens the DNSSEC panel, where you can review and, where supported, manage signing for the domain.
- MTA-STS and TLS-RPT opens a single panel covering both: the policy status, the underlying DNS records, a check against your mail servers (MX), certificate expiry, and the TLS-RPT reporting state.
- Security score breakdown opens the score detail described below.
Each detail panel shows the current state, the underlying DNS records where relevant, and an RFC Issues section listing any standards problems found for that area, so you can see not just whether the record exists but whether it is set up correctly.
The security score and its breakdown
The Score badge is a single number that sums up the whole domain. Click it (or choose Security score breakdown from the actions menu) to open the breakdown, which lists every part of the score with the points it earned out of the maximum. This is where you can see exactly why a domain scored what it did, rather than guessing from the indicators alone.
The breakdown also shows a deductions line for any open standards problems: each one that is still unresolved takes off some points, depending on how serious it is. Fixing those (by sorting out the underlying DNS) and rechecking is the quickest way to lift a score. The score is refreshed every hour, so the badge may not show a recent fix straight away, until the next refresh or until you recheck.
Rechecking after a change
DMARCER scans every domain regularly, but you do not have to wait for it. When you have just published or edited a DNS record, use Recheck now from the actions menu to run the checks again right away. Recheck now looks up your DNS live and runs all the checks for the domain, so the indicators, the issues and the score all reflect your change within seconds. Several of the detail panels also have their own Recheck Now button for the same effect within that one panel.
For ownership in particular, once you have published the verification TXT record, use Recheck Now in the ownership panel. The lookup is done live with no caching delay, so a correctly published record verifies straight away. If the domain is linked to a DNS provider that DMARCER can write to, the panel offers Publish now to create the verification record for you automatically; this does not affect your mail flow.
Other row actions
The three-dots actions menu also lets you change how a domain is treated and remove it when you need to:
- Convert to Parked marks a domain that should not send mail; Convert to Standard turns it back into a normal sending domain. A live DNS check runs before the change is accepted, so an unsuitable conversion is turned down with a clear reason.
- Remove domain takes the domain out of DMARCER (available only if your role allows it).
Common pitfalls
- Expecting an instant change without rechecking. The regular scan runs on a cycle; if you want the row to reflect a record you have just published, use Recheck now.
- Treating TLS-RPT as part of MTA-STS. They are separate: a domain can have MTA-STS fully enforced and still show no TLS-RPT activity simply because no receivers are sending reports yet. Check the TLS-RPT indicator on its own.
- Reading an indicator but skipping the RFC Issues panel. A record can be present (a tick on the indicator) and yet still have a problem that is costing score points; open the detail to see it.
- Forgetting the SPF ten-lookup limit. If the SPF column flags too many lookups, open the SPF panel and use flattening rather than adding more includes.
- Assuming the score is wrong after a fix. The score is refreshed every hour; recheck the domain to update it sooner instead of waiting.