DMARC policy
The p= value in a DMARC record, none, quarantine or reject, stating how the domain owner wants receivers to treat mail that fails DMARC.
What it means
RFC 9989 calls it the Domain Owner Assessment Policy: a stated preference that receivers combine with their own signals when they decide what to do with failing mail.
p= sets the policy for the domain and, unless overridden, its subdomains. sp= sets it for existing subdomains and np= for subdomains that do not exist. The new t=y flag asks receivers to apply one level less than stated while the owner tests.
The usual path is p=none while reports reveal every legitimate source, then quarantine, then reject. A domain whose organizational domain and subdomains all sit above p=none is said to be at enforcement.
Example
v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@example.comRelated terms
On this site
Sources
What this definition rests on. The wording is ours; the facts are theirs.
- RFC 9989: Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC), section 3.2.8rfc-editor.org
- RFC 9989: Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC), section 4.7rfc-editor.org
- RFC 9989: Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC), section 5.4rfc-editor.org
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