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.
BRedirect Chain1 redirect(s), 1382 ms totalREVIEW
https://essex.ac.uk
64 ms · HTTP/1.1
https://www.essex.ac.uk/
1319 ms · HTTP/1.1 FINAL
| # | URL | Status | Time | Protocol | Server |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | https://essex.ac.uk | 301 | 64 ms | HTTP/1.1 | Microsoft-IIS/10.0 |
| 2 | https://www.essex.ac.uk/ | 200 | 1319 ms | HTTP/1.1 | Microsoft-IIS/10.0 |
See the visual redirect chain in the HTTP Probe tab →
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
BURL Variantswww/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPSREVIEW
www / non-www
Inconsistent — duplicate content risk
HTTP → HTTPS
Consistent
BTLS Certificate Expiry & Recommendations107 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, 52 ms lookupPASS
| A | 20.90.134.18 |
| AAAA | — |
| CNAME | — |
| NS | ns2.essex.ac.uk, ns3.ja.net, ns0.essex.ac.uk |
| MX | 5 d213859.a.ess.uk.barracudanetworks.com 10 d213859.b.ess.uk.barracudanetworks.com |
| TXT | apple-domain-verification=grQkI6EIitbyfPOb 3f43c17c56385ddd55cd182bd4c10548 google-site-verification=5VBEX0RdMN7HQt1FlyzRoTDTx-GssfeYSCRblz8pfVM google-gws-recovery-domain-verification=62766578 N7LVK4TYUO9BDX6UFR4LLYL1HEY3OMU9FELYOXTDK bw=BBd56CueWLQQlR4lnWGZJGzmrpd2GZbp63dKG5PRATCK SPF v=spf1 include:spf.protection.essex.ac.uk include:spf.protection.outlook.com inc... google-site-verification=9LxYm65E_L9NzsurzFI_peQcT6gF-gdLnY7OWdrZdUw docusign=4361ff5f-057f-4488-a971-6aebd21bbccf facebook-domain-verification=6aurnkmv7vpguaflstxm090a4e0a4j docusign=319d6c1c-1dbc-4bf5-831b-aec024e941f1. atlassian-domain-verification=SZgqFK5cQ21WzOiy0EpCbniJWpuvya8BPkUN94xqFRij8knLM6... klaviyo-site-verification=RH3UKA google-site-verification=BVw3TAQdpEeNoEKwQsttTRAXGrCoEkCzb_nFDpc36sM |
| 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+Crawlabilityrobots.txt present, sitemap with 2 URLsPASS
Add a 'Sitemap:' directive to robots.txt so search engines can discover your sitemap.
robots.txt omits Sitemap: directive — crawlers must fetch /sitemap.xml by convention; reliable but missing the explicit hint.
Source: sitemaps.org
User-Agent: *
Disallow: /sitecore
Disallow: /api/sitecore/*
Disallow: /forms/*
Disallow: /assets/*
Allow: /assets/app/general/img/favicons/*
Disallow: /404
Disallow: /*utm_source*
Disallow: /*utm_medium*
Disallow: /*utm_term*
Disallow: /*utm_content*
Disallow: /*utm_campaign*
Disallow: /*gclid*
Disallow: /*.js$
Disallow: /*.css$
Disallow: /App_Browsers/
Disallow: /App_config/
Disallow: /App_Data/
Disallow: /temp/
Disallow: /upload/
Disallow: /xsl/
Disallow: /sitecore_files/
Disallow: /sitecore modules/
Disallow: /my-account/*
Disallow: /logout
Disallow: /articles
Disallow: /blog/staff/staff-search
Disallow: /blog/blog-search
Disallow: /blog/student/student-search
Disallow: /course-search
Disallow: /research-search
Disallow: /scholarship/search
Disallow: /search
Disallow: /scholarships/search
Disallow: /life/accommodation/search
Disallow: /staff/search
Disallow: /student/search
#Parameters:
Disallow: /*?*Period=
Disallow: /*?*Campus=
Disallow: /*?*SubjectArea=
Disallow: /*?*Department=
Disallow: /*?*Location=
Disallow: /*?*EventType=
Disallow: /*?*Organiser=
Disallow: /*?*themes=
Disallow: /*?*countrykey=
Disallow: /*?*mastercourseid=
Disallow: /*?*subgroupcode=
Disallow: /*?*courseyear=
Disallow: /*?*page=
Disallow: /*?*pagesize=
Disallow: /*?*studylevel=
Disallow: /*?*subjectareaid=
Disallow: /*?*startdate=
Disallow: /*?*studymode=
Disallow: /*?*coursecode=
Disallow: /*?*campus=
Disallow: /*?*allowregistration=
User-agent: facebookexternalhit
Disallow: /search
User-agent: Facebot
Disallow: /search
A+Domain Intelligenceessex.ac.uk — via No registrar listed. This domain is directly registered with Nominet., hosted on Microsoft AzurePASS
Unknown
107 days
Issued by DigiCert Inc
Unknown
Status unknown
Protects against DNS spoofing
Microsoft Azure
ASN AS8075
20.90.134.18
No registrar listed. This domain is directly registered with Nominet.
Expiry timeline
Recommended actions
- Enable registrar lock (clientTransferProhibited) to block unauthorized domain transfers
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