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Infrastructure

· 9 checks — DNS, redirects, IPv6, crawlability, URL variants, and domain intelligence rolled into one auditable list.
SCORE
90
GRADE
A
FIX
0
REVIEW
3
PASS
6
INFO
0
Probed from Madrid, Spain
200 OK
Checks
9
6 PASS 3 REVIEW
B
DNS Records
2 A records, 24 ms lookup
REVIEW
2 A records, 24 ms lookup
Info::
Resolves to 2 IPv4 address(es)
Got: 199.232.194.114, 199.232.198.114
Info::
No IPv6 (AAAA) records
Warning::
CNAME record at zone apex
A CNAME at the zone apex can break MX and NS records. Use ALIAS/ANAME or A records instead.
Got: g.sni.us-eu.fastly.net
Info::
No NS records found
Info::
No MX records — email not configured via DNS
Info::
CAA records not checked
CAA record lookup requires a specialized DNS resolver. This check will be available in a future update.
Info::
No SPF record found in TXT records
SPF helps prevent email spoofing. Add a TXT record starting with 'v=spf1'.
Info::
DNS resolution time: 24 ms
Got: 24 ms
A199.232.194.114, 199.232.198.114
AAAA—
CNAMEg.sni.us-eu.fastly.net
NS—
MX—
TXT—
CAALookup not available with standard resolver
Resolved in 24 ms

A CNAME at the zone apex can break MX and NS records. Use ALIAS/ANAME or A records instead.

Why this matters

CNAME at the apex (example.com) breaks every other apex record (MX, TXT, NS) — DNS-protocol violation per RFC 1034.

Learn more ▾

RFC 1034 forbids CNAME alongside other records at the same name. Some DNS providers offer ALIAS / ANAME / flattened-CNAME records that work around this — use those instead. Otherwise apex-level CNAME breaks email (no MX), domain ownership verification (no TXT), and more.

Source: RFC 1034

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.

SPF helps prevent email spoofing. Add a TXT record starting with 'v=spf1'.

Why this matters

Without SPF, receiving servers can't validate sending IPs — your domain is easier to spoof in phishing.

Learn more ▾

SPF complements DMARC. Both should be published. SPF records list authorized sending IPs (e.g., `v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all` for Google Workspace). After publishing, verify in Google Postmaster Tools or mxtoolbox.

Source: RFC 7208 (SPF)

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

Certificate validity

43
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+
Redirect Chain
No redirects — direct access
PASS
No redirects — direct access
Info::
No redirects — direct access
Got: https://www.tomshardware.com

https://www.tomshardware.com

5 ms · HTTP/1.1 FINAL

#URLStatusTimeProtocolServer
1https://www.tomshardware.com2005 msHTTP/1.1
A+
Crawlability
robots.txt present, sitemap with 331 URLs
PASS
robots.txt present, sitemap with 331 URLs
Info::
robots.txt is present
Got: 1650 bytes
Info::
sitemap.xml is present
Info::
sitemap.xml is valid XML
Info::
sitemap.xml contains 331 entries
Info::
Sitemap index with 331 child sitemaps
Info::
robots.txt references sitemap
robots.txt 200 OK
Size 1650 B Sitemaps referenced 4 User-agents *, bytespider, mistralai, cohere, kangaroo, AmazonAdBot, ai2bot, img2dataset, meta-externalagent, youbot, diffbot, amazon-qbusiness, meta-webindexer, omgili, amazonbot Blocking No — crawling allowed
##################################################
# Vanilla-wide rules                             #
##################################################
User-agent: *

# Common path patterns (* prefix to handle localisation)
Disallow: */deals/compare
Disallow: */html/
Disallow: */p/*/embed/captioned
Disallow: */outlink*

# Common query string patterns
Disallow: *searchTerm=*
Disallow: *sortBy=*
Disallow: *productBrand=*
Disallow: *%7B*%7D*
Disallow: *seenMatchId=*

# Infinite scroll paths
Disallow: /infinite-scroll-article/*
Disallow: /infinite-scroll-review/*
Disallow: /infinite-scroll-recipe/*

# Amazon AdBot
User-agent: AmazonAdBot
Disallow:

# AI crawlers
User-agent: bytespider
User-agent: mistralai
User-agent: cohere
User-agent: ai2bot
User-agent: youbot
User-agent: omgili
User-agent: diffbot
User-agent: kangaroo
User-agent: img2dataset
User-agent: amazonbot
User-agent: amazon-qbusiness
User-Agent: meta-externalagent
User-Agent: meta-webindexer
Disallow: /

##################################################
# Site-specific rules                            #
##################################################
User-Agent: *
Disallow: /r/
Disallow: /?*
Disallow: /us/s/
Disallow: /de/*
Disallow: */primary-style
Disallow: /coupons/coupons/visit/*

##################################################
# Sitemaps                                       #
##################################################
User-agent: *
Sitemap: https://www.tomshardware.com/sitemap.xml
Sitemap: https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/sitemap.xml
Sitemap: https://www.tomshardware.com/sitemap-news.xml
Sitemap: https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/sitemap-news.xml
sitemap.xml 200 OK
Type Sitemap Index URLs 331 entries Valid XML Yes
Child Sitemaps:
A+
URL Variants
www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS
PASS
www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS
Info::
www/non-www redirect configured correctly (preferred: www)
Info::
HTTP correctly 301-redirects to HTTPS

www / non-www

200https://www.tomshardware.com/
301https://tomshardware.com/

Preferred variant: www

HTTP → HTTPS

301http://www.tomshardware.com/ → https://www.tomshardware.com/

Consistent

A+
Domain Intelligence
tomshardware.com — via Lexsynergy Limited, 28 years, 11 months old, hosted on Fastly
PASS
tomshardware.com — via Lexsynergy Limited, 28 years, 11 months old, hosted on Fastly
Info::
Domain registered until Sep 10, 2026 (5 months remaining)
Info::
DNSSEC is not enabled
DNSSEC protects against DNS spoofing attacks. While not required, enabling DNSSEC adds an additional layer of security. Contact your DNS provider to enable it.
Info::
Registrar: Lexsynergy Limited
Info::
Hosting: Fastly
Got: AS54113
Domain expiry

85 days

September 10, 2026

SSL certificate

43 days

Issued by Let's Encrypt

Domain age

28 years, 11 months

Registered September 11, 1997

DNSSEC

Not enabled

Protects against DNS spoofing

Hosting

Fastly

ASN AS54113

199.232.194.114

Registrar

Lexsynergy Limited

Lock status unknown 4 NS records
Expiry timeline
Today
+1 year
Domain expiry SSL expiry Danger zone (≤30 days)
Recommended actions
  • Renew the domain or enable auto-renewal to prevent accidental expiry
  • Enable DNSSEC to protect visitors from DNS spoofing
Registrar Lexsynergy Limited
Created September 11, 1997 (28 years, 11 months ago)
Expires September 10, 2026 (5 months)
Last Updated August 11, 2025
Name Servers ns-1533.awsdns-63.org, ns-1591.awsdns-06.co.uk, ns-185.awsdns-23.com, ns-840.awsdns-41.net
DNSSEC Not enabled
Hosting
IP Address 199.232.194.114
ASN AS54113 (FASTLY - Fastly, Inc., US)
Provider Fastly
Data source: rdap (0.3s)

DNSSEC protects against DNS spoofing attacks. While not required, enabling DNSSEC adds an additional layer of security. Contact your DNS provider to enable it.

Why this matters

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

A+
HTTP Probe Timing
Total 80 ms — DNS, TCP, TLS, TTFB, content transfer breakdown
PASS
DNS Lookup DNS Lookup — time to resolve the domain name to an IP address.
47 ms
TCP Connect TCP Connect — time to establish a TCP connection to the server.
0 ms
TLS Handshake TLS Handshake — time to complete the HTTPS encryption handshake.
2 ms
Time to First Byte Time to First Byte — how long the server takes to respond with the first byte of data.
74 ms
Total Time Total request time from DNS lookup through full response.
80 ms

Connection waterfall

DNS Lookup 47 ms TCP Connect 0 ms TLS Handshake 2 ms Server Processing 25 ms Content Transfer 6 ms
A
CDN & Delivery
Fastly (MISS-CLUSTER)
PASS
Fastly (MISS-CLUSTER)
Info::
Site is served via Fastly CDN
Got: x-served-by: cache-lon420122-LON, cache-toj-leto2350042-TOJ
Info::
CDN cache status: MISS-CLUSTER
CDN Detected: Fastly
Provider Fastly Cache Status MISS-CLUSTER Evidence x-served-by: cache-lon420122-LON, cache-toj-leto2350042-TOJ
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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