Infrastructure
· 9 checks — DNS, redirects, IPv6, crawlability, URL variants, and domain intelligence rolled into one auditable list.DCDN & DeliveryActionNo CDN detectedFIX
Consider using a CDN to improve global delivery speed and reduce origin load.
CIPv6 ReadinessActionNo IPv6 supportREVIEW
IPv6 support is increasingly important for global accessibility. About 40% of internet users have IPv6 connectivity.
No AAAA records — same impact as 'no IPv6 (AAAA) records'; IPv6-preferring clients pay extra latency falling back to IPv4.
Source: Google IPv6 stats
BTLS Certificate Expiry & Recommendations38 days until leaf cert expires — 3 issues to addressREVIEW
Certificate validity
Recommended actions
- Enable HSTS: Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
- Enable DNSSEC on your domain for DNS spoofing protection
- Enable OCSP stapling on your TLS server to remove a CA roundtrip and protect user privacy
A+DNS Records1 A records, 22 ms lookupPASS
| A | 173.203.36.104 |
| AAAA | — |
| CNAME | — |
| NS | ns.rackspace.com, ns2.rackspace.com |
| MX | 10 mail.allafrica.com 20 mx2.allafrica.com |
| TXT | SPF v=spf1 a mx ip4:198.101.131.131 ip4:155.229.230.18 ip4:173.203.36.107 ip4:173.20... facebook-domain-verification=fua6yl43sfbs20qzh7i85cgln9q3ci google-site-verification=by5dIIML0yjuuUZCHyYmce18T6l_GVn2fGWS8uaWVKs |
| CAA | Lookup not available with standard resolver |
Multiple A records provide failover if one server goes down.
Single A record means a single point of failure — if that IP goes down, your site is unreachable until DNS TTL expires.
Learn more ▾ ▴
Add multiple A records for round-robin failover, or use a managed DNS provider with health-checked failover (Route 53, Cloudflare, NS1). Short TTL (60-300s) lets clients recover faster on outages.
Source: SRE practice / DNS architecture
CAA record lookup requires a specialized DNS resolver. This check will be available in a future update.
Informational: CAA (Certification Authority Authorization) records weren't checked in this scan.
A+Redirect ChainNo redirects — direct accessPASS
https://allafrica.com
76 ms · HTTP/1.1 FINAL
| # | URL | Status | Time | Protocol | Server |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | https://allafrica.com | 200 | 76 ms | HTTP/1.1 | Apache |
A+Crawlabilityrobots.txt present, sitemap with 134 URLsPASS
User-agent: *
Disallow: /stories/printable/
Disallow: /misc/forms/
Disallow: /misc/error/
Disallow: /user/
Disallow: /newsletter/
Disallow: /commerce/
Disallow: /comments/new/
Disallow: /comments/abusive/
Disallow: /create/
Disallow: /report/
Disallow: /abusive/
Disallow: /search/advanced.html
Disallow: /search/adv_search.html
Disallow: /static/images/misc/s-trans.gif
Disallow: /tools/apache/
Disallow: /tools/mason/
Disallow: /tools/qmail/
Disallow: /thread/comment/
Disallow: /search/
Disallow: /_wb$
Disallow: /includes/
Disallow: *.json$
Crawl-delay: 1
User-agent: BLP_bbot/0.1
Disallow: /
User-agent: SemrushBot
Disallow: /
User-agent: Mediapartners-Google
Allow: /
User-Agent: bingbot
Disallow: /stories/printable/
Disallow: /misc/forms/
Disallow: /misc/error/
Disallow: /user/
Disallow: /newsletter/
Disallow: /commerce/
Disallow: /comments/new/
Disallow: /comments/abusive/
Disallow: /create/
Disallow: /report/
Disallow: /abusive/
Disallow: /search/advanced.html
Disallow: /search/adv_search.html
Disallow: /static/images/misc/s-trans.gif
Disallow: /tools/apache/
Disallow: /tools/mason/
Disallow: /tools/qmail/
Disallow: /thread/comment/
Disallow: /search/
Disallow: /_wb$
Disallow: /includes/
Disallow: *.json$
Crawl-delay: 1
Sitemap: https://allafrica.com/misc/sitemap/categories.xml
Sitemap: https://allafrica.com/misc/sitemap/aans-urls-en.xml
A+URL Variantswww/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPSPASS
www / non-www
Preferred variant: non-www
HTTP → HTTPS
Consistent
A+Domain Intelligenceallafrica.com — via Network Solutions, LLC, 26 years, 9 months old, hosted on RackspacePASS
117 days
November 11, 2026
38 days
Issued by Let's Encrypt
26 years, 9 months
Registered November 11, 1999
Not enabled
Protects against DNS spoofing
Rackspace
ASN AS19994
173.203.36.104
Network Solutions, LLC
Expiry timeline
Recommended actions
- Enable DNSSEC to protect visitors from DNS spoofing
- Enable registrar lock (clientTransferProhibited) to block unauthorized domain transfers
DNSSEC protects against DNS spoofing attacks. While not required, enabling DNSSEC adds an additional layer of security. Contact your DNS provider to enable it.
Without DNSSEC, an attacker who can poison your DNS can hijack your domain — and SSL certs alone don't stop them.
Learn more ▾ ▴
DNSSEC adds cryptographic signatures to DNS records, preventing forged responses from poisoning resolver caches. Without it, an attacker who controls the network path can redirect your domain to a malicious server before any HTTPS handshake happens. Most modern registrars (Cloudflare, Google Domains, Route 53) enable it with one toggle.
Source: ICANN / RFC 4033
The domain can be transferred without an unlock step. Enable registrar lock (clientTransferProhibited) in your registrar's control panel to protect against unauthorized or accidental transfers.
Without registrar lock, an attacker who phishes your registrar credentials can transfer the domain in minutes — total brand hijack.
Learn more ▾ ▴
Registrar lock (clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited, clientDeleteProhibited) requires extra verification before any transfer/update/delete. Every major registrar offers it free. Combined with 2FA on your registrar account, it's the strongest defense against domain hijacking.
Source: ICANN / domain-security best practice