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https://york.ac.uk

Infrastructure

· 9 checks — DNS, redirects, IPv6, crawlability, URL variants, and domain intelligence rolled into one auditable list.
SCORE
76
GRADE
C
FIX
2
REVIEW
3
PASS
4
INFO
0
Probed from Santa Clara, United States
302 Found
Checks
9
4 PASS 3 REVIEW 2 FIX
F
IPv6 Readiness
Action
IPv6 records exist but unreachable
FIX
IPv6 records exist but unreachable
Warning::
IPv6 DNS records exist but server is not reachable
Having AAAA records but an unreachable server is worse than no AAAA — clients may experience delays before falling back to IPv4.
Got: 2001:630:61:180::1:73
Info::
IPv6 connection error
Got: dial tcp6 [2001:630:61:180::1:73]:443: connect: network is unreachable
IPv6 Misconfigured
AAAA Records 2001:630:61:180::1:73 Connection UNREACHABLE

Having AAAA records but an unreachable server is worse than no AAAA — clients may experience delays before falling back to IPv4.

Why this matters

Advertising IPv6 (AAAA records) without a reachable server means IPv6-preferring clients silently fail every connection.

Learn more ▾

Modern browsers prefer IPv6 if AAAA exists (Happy Eyeballs algorithm). If the IPv6 server isn't reachable, browsers fall back to IPv4 — but with seconds of added latency per request. Either fix IPv6 reachability or remove the AAAA records.

Source: RFC 8305 (Happy Eyeballs)

D
CDN & Delivery
Action
No CDN detected
FIX
No CDN detected
Warning::
No CDN detected
A CDN can significantly improve load times for users around the world by caching content at edge nodes closer to them.
No CDN detected

Consider using a CDN to improve global delivery speed and reduce origin load.

B
Crawlability
robots.txt present, no sitemap
REVIEW
robots.txt present, no sitemap
Info::
robots.txt is present
Got: 10240 bytes
Info::
No sitemap.xml found
A sitemap helps search engines discover and index your pages more efficiently.
Info::
robots.txt does not reference a sitemap
Add a 'Sitemap:' directive to robots.txt so search engines can discover your sitemap.

A sitemap helps search engines discover and index your pages more efficiently.

Why this matters

No sitemap.xml — Google relies on crawl-graph discovery alone, slowing indexing of deep or fresh URLs.

Learn more ▾

A sitemap accelerates Google's discovery of new and updated content. Most CMSes auto-generate one; static-site frameworks need a build-step plugin. Reference it from robots.txt and submit in Search Console to confirm Google can fetch it.

Source: sitemaps.org / Google Search Central

Add a 'Sitemap:' directive to robots.txt so search engines can discover your sitemap.

Why this matters

robots.txt omits Sitemap: directive — crawlers must fetch /sitemap.xml by convention; reliable but missing the explicit hint.

Source: sitemaps.org

robots.txt 200 OK
Size 10240 B Sitemaps referenced 0 User-agents linecker/*, * Blocking No — crawling allowed
# robots.txt for http://www.york.ac.uk/
# see <http://info.webcrawler.com/mak/projects/robots/norobots.html> for info.

User-agent: linecker/*
Disallow: /cgi-bin-auth/
Disallow: /cgi-bin-csrv/
Disallow: /test/

User-agent: *
Disallow: /res/thomas/
Disallow: /univ/mis/cfm/gradhunt/
Disallow: /ServerSupport/LinkChecker/
Disallow: /ServerSupport/LinkChecker.TEST/
Disallow: /ServerSupport/UsageStats/
Disallow: /ServerSupport/UsageStats.TEST/
Disallow: /cgi-bin/
Disallow: /cgi-bin-auth/
Disallow: /cgi-bin-csrv/
Disallow: /ftparchive/
Disallow: /test/
Disallow: /~
Disallow: /%7E
Disallow: /%7e
Disallow: /usagestats/
Disallow: /admin/aso/
Disallow: /admin/sro/
Disallow: /admin/uao/ugrad/courses/cupid/?
Disallow: /archaeology/intranet/
Disallow: /commercialservices/catering_and_bars/
Disallow: /newstudent/
Disallow: /study-new/
Disallow: /study/undergraduate/courses-2017/
Disallow: /univ/coll/
Disallow: /univ/mis/cfm/
Disallow: /univ/mis/fm/
Disallow: /univ/mis/fmport/
Disallow: /univ/mis/fmstudent/
Disallow: /admin/yimshelp/
Disallow: /search/
Disallow: /preview/
# Disallow shortcut URLs from PG prospectus
Disallow: /phd-adapting-to-the-challenges-of-a-changing-environment
Disallow: /phd-applied-linguistics
Disallow: /phd-applied-linguistics
Disallow: /phd-archaeology
Disallow: /phd-archaeology-distance-learning
Disallow: /phd-biological-chemistry
Disallow: /phd-biology
Disallow: /phd-biology-acce
Disallow: /phd-biomedical-science
Disallow: /phd-chemistry
Disallow: /phd-cognitive-neuroscience-and-neuroimaging
Disallow: /phd-computer-science-distance-learning
Disallow: /phd-conservation-studies
Disallow: /phd-economics
Disallow: /phd-education
Disallow: /phd-education-distance-learning
Disallow: /phd-electronic-engineering
Disallow: /phd-english
Disallow: /phd-english-distance-learning
Disallow: /phd-english-with-creative-writing
Disallow: /phd-english-with-creative-writing-distance-learning
Disallow: /phd-environment-and-politics
Disallow: /phd-environment-and-politics
Disallow: /phd-environmental-economics-and-environmental-management
Disallow: /phd-environmental-geography
Disallow: /phd-environmental-science
Disallow: /phd-global-development
Disallow: /phd-health-economics
Disallow: /phd-health-economics
Disallow: /phd-health-sciences
Disallow: /phd-history
Disallow: /phd-history-of-art
Disallow: /phd-history-of-art-distance-learning
Disallow: /phd-human-geography-and-environment
Disallow: /phd-language-and-communication
Disallow: /phd-law
Disallow: /phd-linguistics
Disallow: /phd-management
Disallow: /phd-mathematics
Disallow: /phd-mathematics-with-foundation-phase
Disallow: /phd-mechanistic-biology
Disallow: /phd-medieval-studies
Disallow: /phd-music
Disallow: /phd-music-technology
Disallow: /phd-philosophy
Disallow: /phd-physics
Disallow: /phd-plasma-science-and-fusion-energy
Disallow: /phd-politics
Disallow: /phd-postwar-recovery-studies
Disallow: /phd-ppe
Disallow: /phd-psycholinguistics
Disallow: /phd-psychology
Disallow: /phd-social-policy-and-social-work
Disallow: /phd-sociology
Disallow: /phd-teaching-english-to-speakers-of-other-language
Disallow: /phd-tfti
Disallow: /phd-womens-studies
Disallow: /phd-computer-science
Disallow: /phd-tfti-creative-practice
Disallow: /mphil-archaeology
Disallow: /mphil-biology
Disallow: /mphil-chemistry
Disallow: /mphil-cognitive-neuroscience-and-neuroimaging
Disallow: /mphil-conservation-studies
Disallow: /mphil-economics
Disallow: /mphil-electronic-engineering
Disallow: /mphil-english
Disallow: /mphil-environment-and-politics
Disallow: /mphil-environmental-economics-and-environmental-management
Disallow: /mphil-environmental-geography
Disallow: /mphil-environmental-science
Disallow: /mphil-health-sciences
Disallow: /mphil-history
Disallow: /mphil-history-of-art
Disallow: /mphil-human-geography-and-environment
Disallow: /mphil-language-and-communication
Disallow: /mphil-law
Disallow: /mphil-mathematics
Disallow: /mphil-music
Disallow: /mphil-music-technology
Disallow: /mphil-philosophy
Disallow: /mphil-ppe
Disallow: /mphil-psychology
Disallow: /mphil-social-policy-and-social-work
Disallow: /mphil-sociology
Disallow: /mphil-womens-studies
Disallow: /mres-social-policy
Disallow: /mres-social-work
Disallow: /ma-analytic-theology
Disallow: /ma-applied-human-rights
Disallow: /ma-applied-linguistics-english-teaching
Disallow: /ma-applied-linguistics-language-teaching
Disallow: /ma-archaeological-studies-by-research
Disallow: /ma-community-music
Disallow: /ma-comparative-international-social-policy
Disallow: /ma-comparative-international-social-work
Disallow: /ma-comparative-syntax-semantics
Disallow: /ma-conflict-governance-development
Disallow: /ma-conservation-studies
Disallow: /ma-conservation-studies-by-research
Disallow: /ma-conservation-studies-historic-buildings
Disallow: /ma-contemporary-history-international-politics
Disallow: /ma-criminology-social-research
Disallow: /ma-cultural-heritage-management
Disallow: /ma-culture-society-globalisation
Disallow: /ma-culture-thought
Disallow: /ma-early-modern-history
Disallow: /ma-early-prehistory-human-origins
Disallow: /ma-education
Disallow: /ma-educational-practice
Disallow: /ma-eighteenth-century-studies
Disallow: /ma-english-building-history
Disallow: /ma-english-by-research
Disallow: /ma-english-literary-studies
Disallow: /ma-field-archaeology
Disallow: /ma-film-literature
Disallow: /ma-film-television-production-cinematography
Disallow: /ma-film-television-production-directing
Disallow: /ma-film-television-production-producing
Disallow: /ma-film-television-production-sound
Disallow: /ma-film-television-production-visual-effects
Disallow: /ma-filmmaking-by-research
Disallow: /ma-funerary-archaeology
Disallow: /ma-global-crime-justice
Disallow: /ma-global-international-citizenship-education
Disallow: /ma-global-literature-culture
Disallow: /ma-global-social-policy
Disallow: /ma-historic-buildings
Disallow: /ma-historical-archaeology
Disallow: /ma-history-by-research
Disallow: /ma-history-of-art
Disallow: /ma-history-of-art-architectural
Disallow: /ma-history-of-art-british-art
Disallow: /ma-history-of-art-by-research
Disallow: /ma-history-of-art-medieval
Disallow: /ma-history-of-art-modern-contemporary
Disallow: /ma-interactive-media-by-research
Disallow: /ma-international-political-economy
Disallow: /ma-international-relations
Disallow: /ma-iron-age-celtic-archaeology
Disallow: /ma-law-by-research
Disallow: /ma-linguistics
Disallow: /ma-linguistics-by-research
Disallow: /ma-literature-romantic-period
Disallow: /ma-management-creative-cultural-industries
Disallow: /ma-material-culture-experimental-archaeology
Disallow: /ma-medical-history-humanities
Disallow: /ma-medieval-archaeology
Disallow: /ma-medieval-history
Disallow: /ma-medieval-literatures-languages
Disallow: /ma-medieval-studies
Disallow: /ma-mesolithic-archaeology
Disallow: /ma-modern-contemporary-literature-culture
Disallow: /ma-modern-history
Disallow: /ma-music-by-research
Disallow: /ma-music-education
Disallow: /ma-music-english-church-music
Disallow: /ma-music-music-psychology
Disallow: /ma-music-musicology
Disallow: /ma-music-performance-practice
Disallow: /ma-music-piano-studies
Disallow: /ma-music-production
Disallow: /ma-music-solo-voice-ensemble-singing
Disallow: /ma-music-technology-by-research
Disallow: /ma-music-vocal-studies
Disallow: /ma-peace-and-conflict-studies
Disallow: /ma-philosophy
Disallow: /ma-philosophy-artificial-intelligence
Disallow: /ma-philosophy-by-research
Disallow: /ma-phonetics-phonology
Disallow: /ma-playwriting
Disallow: /ma-poetry-poetics
Disallow: /ma-political-legal-philosophy
Disallow: /ma-political-theory
Disallow: /ma-psycholinguistics
Disallow: /ma-public-administration-policy
Disallow: /ma-public-history
Disallow: /ma-railway-studies
Disallow: /ma-renaissance-and-early-modern-studies
Disallow: /ma-renaissance-literature
Disallow: /ma-roman-archaeology
Disallow: /ma-screenwriting-by-research
Disallow: /ma-social-justice-education
Disallow: /ma-social-media-social-research
Disallow: /ma-social-policy
Disallow: /ma-social-research
Disallow: /ma-social-work
Disallow: /ma-sociolinguistics
Disallow: /ma-sociology-by-research
Disallow: /ma-stained-glass-conservation-heritage-management
Disallow: /ma-sustainability-studies
Disallow: /ma-tesol
Disallow: /ma-theatre-by-research
Disallow: /ma-theatre-making
Disallow: /ma-victorian-literature-culture
Disallow: /ma-women-violence-and-conflict
Disallow: /ma-womens-and-gender-studies-gemma
Disallow: /ma-womens-studies
Disallow: /ma-womens-studies-by-research
Disallow: /ma-womens-studies-humanities
Disallow: /msc-green-chemistry
Disallow: /msc-accounting-financial-management
Disallow: /msc-advanced-clinical-practice
Disallow: /msc-advanced-computer-science
Disallow: /msc-audio-music-technology
Disallow: /msc-bioarchaeology
Disallow: /msc-biology-by-research
Disallow: /msc-biomedical-sciences
Disallow: /msc-biomedical-sciences-by-research
Disallow: /msc-biotechnology
Disallow: /msc-chemistry-by-research
Disallow: /msc-communications-engineering
Disallow: /msc-corporate-sustainability-environment
Disallow: /msc-cyber-security
Disallow: /msc-development-economics-emerging-markets
Disallow: /msc-digital-archaeology
Disallow: /msc-digital-heritage
Disallow: /msc-digital-systems-engineering
Disallow: /msc-early-prehistory-human-origins
Disallow: /msc-econometrics-economics
Disallow: /msc-economic-evaluation-health-technology
Disallow: /msc-economics
Disallow: /msc-economics-finance
Disallow: /msc-economics-public-policy
Disallow: /msc-electronic-engineering-by-research
Disallow: /msc-embedded-wireless-systems
Disallow: /msc-engineering-management
Disallow: /msc-environment-by-research
Disallow: /msc-environmental-economics-management
Disallow: /msc-environmental-science-management
Disallow: /msc-film-television-production-sound
Disallow: /msc-film-television-production-visual-effects
Disallow: /msc-finance
Disallow: /msc-finance-econometrics
Disallow: /msc-financial-engineering
Disallow: /msc-financial-engineering
Disallow: /msc-funerary-archaeology
Disallow: /msc-fusion-energy
Disallow: /msc-global-marketing
Disallow: /msc-green-chemistry-sustainable-industrial-tech
Disallow: /msc-health-economics
Disallow: /msc-health-resea
sitemap.xml No sitemap found

No sitemap found

Adding a sitemap helps search engines discover your pages.

C
URL Variants
Action
www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS
REVIEW
www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS
Critical::
Both www and non-www versions serve content
Got: Both variants return 200 Expected: One variant 301-redirects to the other
Warning::
HTTP→HTTPS redirect uses 302 instead of 301
Got: 302 temporary redirect Expected: 301 permanent redirect

www / non-www

200https://www.york.ac.uk/
200https://york.ac.uk/

Inconsistent — duplicate content risk

HTTP → HTTPS

302http://york.ac.uk/ → https://www.york.ac.uk/

Use 301 (permanent) instead of 302 (temporary)

B
TLS Certificate Expiry & Recommendations
176 days until leaf cert expires — 5 issues to address
REVIEW

Certificate validity

176
days left
0d 30d 60d 90d+

Recommended actions

  • Prefer TLS 1.3 — TLS 1.2 is acceptable but TLS 1.3 removes RSA key exchange and improves latency
  • Add includeSubDomains to the HSTS directive
  • Add the preload directive and submit to hstspreload.org once max-age + includeSubDomains are in place
  • 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 Records
1 A records, 152 ms lookup
PASS
1 A records, 152 ms lookup
Info::
Resolves to 1 IPv4 address(es)
Got: 144.32.128.115
Info::
Single A record — no DNS redundancy
Multiple A records provide failover if one server goes down.
Info::
Has 1 IPv6 (AAAA) record(s)
Got: 2001:630:61:180::1:73
Info::
4 nameserver(s) configured
Got: ns0.york.ac.uk, auth1.dns.cam.ac.uk, ns2.york.ac.uk, ns1.york.ac.uk
Info::
5 mail exchanger(s) configured
Info::
CAA records not checked
CAA record lookup requires a specialized DNS resolver. This check will be available in a future update.
Info::
SPF record present in TXT
Info::
DNS resolution time: 152 ms
Got: 152 ms
A144.32.128.115
AAAA2001:630:61:180::1:73
CNAME—
NSns0.york.ac.uk, auth1.dns.cam.ac.uk, ns2.york.ac.uk, ns1.york.ac.uk
MX
1 aspmx.l.google.com
5 alt2.aspmx.l.google.com
5 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com
10 alt4.aspmx.l.google.com
10 alt3.aspmx.l.google.com
TXT
formstack-domain-verification=8f07a12621b9628970ca76f97743e294
twilio-domain-verification=1395e7d15ae1fac1a10b8a7b0ad5e66e
docusign=15f9236f-fcc7-43a8-b92d-a7f61feaf46b
mandrill_verify.3Ru1mvZzZJy5d2dGlzkKaQ
atlassian-domain-verification=Yhq9OnKNxMwugKi1gcSWjAn1xqUW9Ig4EjWsmd0f/xoTFwDaWm...
9j7dn62br4c9bj3rc1ug6mal1q
SPF v=spf1 include:_spf.york.ac.uk include:_spf.google.com -all
CAALookup not available with standard resolver
Resolved in 152 ms

Multiple A records provide failover if one server goes down.

Why this matters

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.

Why this matters

Informational: CAA (Certification Authority Authorization) records weren't checked in this scan.

A
Redirect Chain
1 redirect(s), 933 ms total
PASS
1 redirect(s), 933 ms total
Info::
Single redirect
Got: https://york.ac.uk → https://www.york.ac.uk/ (302)
Info::
WWW normalization redirect
Info::
Uses 302 (temporary) redirect
If permanent, use 301 instead.
Got: https://york.ac.uk
Info::
Redirect overhead: 933 ms total
Got: 933 ms

https://york.ac.uk

731 ms · HTTP/1.0

302

https://www.york.ac.uk/

202 ms · HTTP/1.1 FINAL

#URLStatusTimeProtocolServer
1https://york.ac.uk302731 msHTTP/1.0BigIP
2https://www.york.ac.uk/200202 msHTTP/1.1cloudflare

See the visual redirect chain in the HTTP Probe tab →

If permanent, use 301 instead.

Why this matters

302 (Found) is for genuinely temporary redirects — if this redirect is permanent, switch to 301 to preserve SEO equity.

Learn more ▾

Search engines treat 302 as temporary, keeping the original URL indexed and not transferring full link equity to the destination. Use 301 (Moved Permanently) for permanent redirects (HTTP→HTTPS, www-vs-non-www, URL restructures).

Source: Google Search Central

A+
Domain Intelligence
york.ac.uk — via No registrar listed. This domain is directly registered with Nominet., hosted on JANET Jisc Services Limited, GB
PASS
york.ac.uk — via No registrar listed. This domain is directly registered with Nominet., hosted on JANET Jisc Services Limited, GB
Info::
Registrar: No registrar listed. This domain is directly registered with Nominet.
Warning::
Registrar lock is NOT enabled
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.
Info::
Hosting: JANET Jisc Services Limited, GB
Got: AS786
Domain expiry

Unknown

SSL certificate

176 days

Issued by Sectigo Limited

Domain age

Unknown

DNSSEC

Status unknown

Protects against DNS spoofing

Hosting

JANET Jisc Services Limited, GB

ASN AS786

144.32.128.115

Registrar

No registrar listed. This domain is directly registered with Nominet.

Unlocked 7 NS records
Expiry timeline
Today
+1 year
SSL expiry Danger zone (≤30 days)
Recommended actions
  • Enable registrar lock (clientTransferProhibited) to block unauthorized domain transfers
Registrar No registrar listed. This domain is directly registered with Nominet.
Name Servers ns0.ja.net, ns2.ja.net, ns3.ja.net, ns4.ja.net, auth03.ns.uu.net, ns1.surfnet.nl, dns-3.dfn.de
Registrant The JNT Association
Hosting
IP Address 144.32.128.115
ASN AS786 (JANET Jisc Services Limited, GB)
Provider JANET Jisc Services Limited, GB
Data source: whois (1.4s)

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.

Why this matters

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

A
HTTP Probe Timing
Total 734 ms — DNS, TCP, TLS, TTFB, content transfer breakdown
PASS
DNS Lookup DNS Lookup — time to resolve the domain name to an IP address.
150 ms
TCP Connect TCP Connect — time to establish a TCP connection to the server.
144 ms
TLS Handshake TLS Handshake — time to complete the HTTPS encryption handshake.
296 ms
Time to First Byte Time to First Byte — how long the server takes to respond with the first byte of data.
735 ms
Total Time Total request time from DNS lookup through full response.
735 ms

Connection waterfall

DNS Lookup 150 ms TCP Connect 144 ms TLS Handshake 296 ms Server Processing 144 ms Content Transfer 0 ms
All checks on this page are automated. Results are estimates - run targeted manual reviews when the score affects a release decision.

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