Surprisingly, for email, DNS errors are not rare.   I have been collecting
data from three sources:

- The incoming messages to my server
- The Aggregate Report data about messages that came from me or appear to
come from me, and
- The Authentication Results header fields on incoming messages, which is
evaluated by unrelated servers about other unrelated domains.

In each case, my TempError rate is 1 in 350 messages or higher.   I
expected something on the order of 1 in a million or 1 in a billion.

I don't understand why the error rates are so high.   I may undertake a
study to determine what percentage of TempErrors are transient events and
what percentage are highly repeatable events, but I have not done so yet..
 Perhaps Google or someone else can contribute some insight.

Doug Foster




On Sun, Nov 3, 2024 at 1:29 PM Alessandro Vesely <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Sun 03/Nov/2024 13:56:42 +0100 Douglas Foster wrote:
> > The other problem is that the Tree Walk makes the entire document
> > experimental.      Tree Walk is a great tool for batch-mode detection of
> > PSL errors, but it has multiple problems as a real-time tool.
> >
> >     - It disables best-guess DMARC based on default policy.   Instead of
> >     disabling best-guess DMARC, this document should be embracing it.
>
>
> Best-guess DMARC can be a local filtering method, but it's not being
> standardized.  Using the Tree Walk doesn't preclude to use the PSL for any
> local intent.
>
>
> >     - It is prone to inconsistent results and indeterminate results
> caused
> >     by DNS errors.
>
>
> On a well supplied server, DNS errors are quite rare.  An error retrieving
> DMARC records, which can happen also when the org domain is discovered by
> PSL,
> deserves a 4xx temporary error.
>
>
> >     - Multiple DNS lookups are reasonably expected to have lower
> performance
> >     than one database lookup, especially since high-throughput
> environments can
> >     use memory-resident databases for the PSL lookup.
>
>
> All the involved domains can be queried in one shot.  That way the time
> required is about the same as querying a single record.
>
>
> >     -  Inconsistent results can be mitigated by using long-term caching
> >     outside of DNS, but that adds complexity and overhead.
>
>
> Agreed.  It is much better to deploy a dedicated DNS server.
>
>
> > [...]
> >
> > In aggregate, I see no justification for DMARCbis to be given Standards
> > Track status, unless the Tree Walk is separated out as an experimental
> > option, either in an appendix or in a separate document.
>
>
> Using the PSL was the experiment.  Standardization provides a
> better-defined
> method by which a domain owner can decide which domains are
> "organizational"
> without having to seek help from a vaguely defined group that maintains a
> list
> designed for a different purpose.
>
> I don't think experimental status is required for that.  Anyway, that is
> to be
> decided by the IESG or the RFC-Editor, methinks.  Our charter says:
>
>      The task of defining a standard mechanism for identifying
> organizational
>      domain is out of scope for this working group. However the working
> group
>      can consider extending the base DMARC specification to accommodate
> such a
>      standard, should it be developed during the life of this working
> group.
>
>
> Best
> Ale
> --
>
>
>
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