When adding new domain names to DMARCwise, it’s important to understand which names should be added, for example whether to add the “apex” domain or a subdomain.

Here are some tips to make sure you add the correct domain:

  • If your website is, say, https://dmarcwise.io you will likely want to add the dmarcwise.io domain (“apex” domain).
  • Your website may be accessible with the www subdomain (e.g. https://www.dmarcwise.io): make sure you don’t use that prefix when adding the domain in DMARCwise.
  • You’ll be requested to change DNS records on the domain name you add, so make so make sure you are able to manage the DNS zone for them.

When it comes to subdomains, keep in mind that:

  • Even if you add the apex domain, you will still be able to see DMARC reports for subdomains, e.g. mail.dmarcwise.io, within the same domain in DMARCwise.

    • DMARC allows to specify a different policy for subdomains (sp tag), so you will be able to have different behaviors depending on whether an email was sent from the apex domain or from a subdomain. If you don’t specify the sp tag, the standard policy (p) tag applies.
    • You can also monitor subdomains separately. If you add the subdomains separately in the dashboard you’ll be able to browser reports separately and manage the DMARC settings for each subdomain independently.
    • You can also mix these two approaches, for example by using a default policy with p or sp on the main domain and then override the settings on a specific subdomain.

  • On the other hand, SMTP TLS reporting works strictly with the domain where your TLSRPT record is, so you’ll need to add subdomains separately to monitor inbound email security. However, if you don’t receive emails on subdomains you don’t have to do this.