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https://dur.ac.uk

Infrastructure

· 9 checks — DNS, redirects, IPv6, crawlability, URL variants, and domain intelligence rolled into one auditable list.
SCORE
85
GRADE
B
FIX
1
REVIEW
4
PASS
4
INFO
0
Probed from Madrid, Spain
200 OK
Checks
9
4 PASS 4 REVIEW 1 FIX
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.

C
IPv6 Readiness
Action
No IPv6 support
REVIEW
No IPv6 support
Info::
No IPv6 (AAAA) records found
IPv6 support is increasingly important for global accessibility. About 40% of internet users have IPv6 connectivity.
No IPv6 Support
About 40% of internet users have IPv6. Consider adding AAAA records.

IPv6 support is increasingly important for global accessibility. About 40% of internet users have IPv6 connectivity.

Why this matters

No AAAA records — same impact as 'no IPv6 (AAAA) records'; IPv6-preferring clients pay extra latency falling back to IPv4.

Source: Google IPv6 stats

B
Crawlability
robots.txt present, sitemap with 24281 URLs
REVIEW
robots.txt present, sitemap with 24281 URLs
Info::
robots.txt is present
Got: 1823 bytes
Info::
sitemap.xml is present
Warning::
sitemap.xml contains invalid XML
Search engines may not be able to parse the sitemap. Fix XML validation errors.
Info::
sitemap.xml contains 24281 entries
Info::
robots.txt references sitemap

Search engines may not be able to parse the sitemap. Fix XML validation errors.

Why this matters

An unparseable sitemap is silently ignored by Google — the URLs it advertises are never queued for crawl.

Learn more

Google's sitemap parser is strict about XML validity. A single unescaped `&` or unclosed tag invalidates the whole file. Run your sitemap through a validator (Search Console's Sitemaps report flags it) and fix the offending entry. Most generators escape correctly; mistakes usually come from manually-written entries.

Source: sitemaps.org / Google Search Central

robots.txt 200 OK
Size 1823 B Sitemaps referenced 1 User-agents terminalfour-nutch-spider, * Blocking No — crawling allowed
User-Agent: terminalfour-nutch-spider

Allow: /search


User-Agent: *

Disallow:


# Ad-hoc old or test pages


Disallow: /alumni/keep-making-history/

Disallow: /keep-making-history/ 

Disallow: /xmltest

Disallow: /test-sal-pxl

Disallow: /homepage-test

Disallow: /Content-Types-Examples

Disallow: /assets

Disallow: /Integration-Content

Disallow: /Funnelback

Disallow: */sidebar

Disallow: /menu

Disallow: */mega-menu/*

Disallow: /course-universal-content

Disallow: /carousel-1

Disallow: /carousel-2

Disallow: /slideshow

Disallow: /banner

Disallow: /undergraduate-courses-content

Disallow: /postgraduate-taught-courses-content

Disallow: /calendar-bottom-content

Disallow: /branch-colour

Disallow: /documents-and-pdfs

Disallow: /things-to-do/ttd-site-assets

Disallow: /things-to-do/page-build-examples

Disallow: /business/business-school-site-assets

Disallow: /dubs-course-improvements

Disallow: /durham-courses-improvements

Disallow: /change-request

Disallow: /phase2

Disallow: /things-to-do/page-build-examples

Disallow: /business/content-testing

Disallow: /dev-courses

Disallow: /search/v4/*


# CSS and javascripts


# Disallow: /*.css - Allowing CSS and JS files allows Google to validate the site works correctly

# Disallow: /*.js - Allowing CSS and JS files allows Google to validate the site works correctly

Disallow: /*.json

Disallow: /*.svg

Disallow: search.durham.ac.uk/s/resources-global/css/funnelback.autocompletion-2.6.0.css

Disallow: search.durham.ac.uk/s/resources-global/thirdparty/typeahead-0.11.1/typeahead.bundle.min.js

Disallow: search.durham.ac.uk/s/resources-global/thirdparty/handlebars-4.1/handlebars.min.js

Disallow: search.durham.ac.uk/s/resources-global/js/funnelback.autocompletion-2.6.0.js


# Sitemap

Sitemap: https://www.durham.ac.uk/sitemap-en.xml
B
URL Variants
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
Info::
HTTP correctly 301-redirects to HTTPS

www / non-www

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

Inconsistent — duplicate content risk

HTTP → HTTPS

301http://dur.ac.uk/ https://dur.ac.uk:443/

Consistent

B
TLS Certificate Expiry & Recommendations
252 days until leaf cert expires — 3 issues to address
REVIEW

Certificate validity

252
days left
0d 30d 60d 90d+

Recommended actions

  • 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
2 A records, 46 ms lookup
PASS
2 A records, 46 ms lookup
Info::
Resolves to 2 IPv4 address(es)
Got: 75.2.69.134, 99.83.253.255
Info::
No IPv6 (AAAA) records
Info::
3 nameserver(s) configured
Got: infoblox2.dur.ac.uk, infoblox1.dur.ac.uk, ns1.ja.net
Info::
1 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: 46 ms
Got: 46 ms
A75.2.69.134, 99.83.253.255
AAAA
CNAME
NSinfoblox2.dur.ac.uk, infoblox1.dur.ac.uk, ns1.ja.net
MX
10 dur-ac-uk.mail.protection.outlook.com
TXT
ZOOM_verify_P8ugvCVkQRCGlVj7kz7sLQ
MS=628D40B0D94AC3371A7564231303173B0011E13A
SPF v=spf1 include:spf.durham.ac.uk include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:amazo...
MS=ms14704709
have-i-been-pwned-verification=dweb_3vse3owq8lx8nlag53ijwzuw
QuoVadis=f69adfac-bf7d-45b0-9a52-f6356c47b88d
CAALookup not available with standard resolver
Resolved in 46 ms

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
No redirects — direct access
PASS
No redirects — direct access
Info::
No redirects — direct access
Got: https://dur.ac.uk

https://dur.ac.uk

243 ms · HTTP/1.1 FINAL

#URLStatusTimeProtocolServer
1https://dur.ac.uk200243 msHTTP/1.1Apache
A+
Domain Intelligence
dur.ac.uk — via No registrar listed. This domain is directly registered with Nominet., hosted on AWS
PASS
dur.ac.uk — via No registrar listed. This domain is directly registered with Nominet., hosted on AWS
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: AWS
Got: AS16509
Domain expiry

Unknown

SSL certificate

252 days

Issued by Amazon

Domain age

Unknown

DNSSEC

Status unknown

Protects against DNS spoofing

Hosting

AWS

ASN AS16509

75.2.69.134

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 75.2.69.134
ASN AS16509 (AMAZON-02 - Amazon.com, Inc., US)
Provider AWS
Data source: whois (0.8s)

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 322 ms — DNS, TCP, TLS, TTFB, content transfer breakdown
PASS
DNS Lookup DNS Lookup — time to resolve the domain name to an IP address.
40 ms
TCP Connect TCP Connect — time to establish a TCP connection to the server.
1 ms
TLS Handshake TLS Handshake — time to complete the HTTPS encryption handshake.
79 ms
Time to First Byte Time to First Byte — how long the server takes to respond with the first byte of data.
322 ms
Total Time Total request time from DNS lookup through full response.
322 ms

Connection waterfall

DNS Lookup 40 ms TCP Connect 1 ms TLS Handshake 79 ms Server Processing 201 ms Content Transfer 1 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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