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Infrastructure

· 9 checks — DNS, redirects, IPv6, crawlability, URL variants, and domain intelligence rolled into one auditable list.
SCORE
93
GRADE
A
FIX
1
REVIEW
2
PASS
6
INFO
0
Probed from Amsterdam, Netherlands
301 Moved Permanently
Checks
9
6 PASS 2 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.

B
URL Variants
www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS
REVIEW
www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS
Critical::
HTTP version does not redirect to HTTPS
Got: HTTP 0 Expected: 301 redirect to HTTPS

www / non-www

https://www.gnu.org/
200https://gnu.org/

HTTP → HTTPS

http://gnu.org/

HTTP version does not redirect to HTTPS

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

Certificate validity

53
days left
0d 30d 60d 90d+

Recommended actions

  • Submit your domain to hstspreload.org to be added to the Chrome preload list
  • 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, 16 ms lookup
PASS
1 A records, 16 ms lookup
Info::
Resolves to 1 IPv4 address(es)
Got: 209.51.188.116
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: 2001:470:142:5::116
Info::
3 nameserver(s) configured
Got: ns1.gnu.org, ns2.gnu.org, ns4.gnu.org
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: 16 ms
Got: 16 ms
A209.51.188.116
AAAA2001:470:142:5::116
CNAME
NSns1.gnu.org, ns2.gnu.org, ns4.gnu.org
MX
10 eggs.gnu.org
TXT
SPF v=spf1 ip4:209.51.188.0/24 ip4:74.94.156.208/28 ip6:2001:470:142::/48 ip6:2603:3...
CAALookup not available with standard resolver
Resolved in 16 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), 577 ms total
PASS
1 redirect(s), 577 ms total
Info::
Single redirect
Got: https://gnu.org → https://www.gnu.org/ (301)
Info::
WWW normalization redirect
Info::
Redirect overhead: 577 ms total
Got: 577 ms

https://gnu.org

280 ms · HTTP/1.1

301

https://www.gnu.org/

297 ms · HTTP/1.1 FINAL

#URLStatusTimeProtocolServer
1https://gnu.org301280 msHTTP/1.1Apache
2https://www.gnu.org/200297 msHTTP/1.1Apache

See the visual redirect chain in the HTTP Probe tab →

A+
IPv6 Readiness
IPv6 reachable (80 ms)
PASS
IPv6 reachable (80 ms)
Info::
IPv6 is configured and reachable at 2001:470:142:5::116
Got: 80 ms connect
IPv6 Ready
AAAA Records 2001:470:142:5::116 Connection Reachable (80 ms)
A+
Crawlability
robots.txt present, sitemap with 1 URLs
PASS
robots.txt present, sitemap with 1 URLs
Info::
robots.txt is present
Got: 2862 bytes
Info::
sitemap.xml is present
Info::
sitemap.xml is valid XML
Info::
sitemap.xml contains 1 entries
Info::
Sitemap index with 1 child sitemaps
Info::
robots.txt references sitemap
robots.txt 200 OK
Size 2862 B Sitemaps referenced 1 User-agents JamesBOT, serpstatbot, netEstate NE Crawler, MJ12bot, AhrefsBot, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, ZoomBot, DotBot, SemrushBot, SemrushBot-SI, SemrushBot-OCOB, magpie-crawler, SiteAuditBot, AwarioRssBot, AwarioSmartBot, AcademicBotRTU, *, BLEXBot, barkrowler, rogerbot, SplitSignalBot, Oncrawl, AwarioBot, panscient.com, DataForSeoBot, SemrushBot-BA, SemrushBot-SWA Blocking No — crawling allowed
# robots.txt for http://www.gnu.org/

User-agent: *
Crawl-delay: 4
Disallow: */CVS/
Disallow: */po/
Disallow: */workshop/
Disallow: /cgi-bin/
Disallow: /copyleft/
Disallow: /gnu.css
Disallow: /gnusearch/
Disallow: /norobotsnorhumansshouldevervisithispage/
Disallow: /prep/gnumaint/
Disallow: /prep/wrappers-and-scripts/
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /rss/
Disallow: /savannah-checkouts/
Disallow: /screenshots/
Disallow: /server/banners/
Disallow: /server/body-include*
Disallow: /server/bottom-notes*
Disallow: /server/footer*
Disallow: /server/fs-gang*
Disallow: /server/generic*
Disallow: /server/gnun/
Disallow: /server/head-include*
Disallow: /server/header*
Disallow: /server/html5-head-include*
Disallow: /server/html5-header*
Disallow: /server/include-file-list*
Disallow: /server/outdated*
Disallow: /server/select-language.html
Disallow: /server/source/
Disallow: /server/staging/
Disallow: /server/top-addendum*
Disallow: /server/trans-map.html
Disallow: /server/whatsnew_translations.xml
Disallow: /software/gnun/linc/
Disallow: /software/gnun/proofread/
Disallow: /software/gnun/reports/
Disallow: /software/gnun/test/
Disallow: /usenet/
Sitemap: http://www.gnu.org/sitemap.xml

# Majestic - SEO
User-agent: MJ12bot
Disallow: /

# DataForSeo - SEO
User-agent: DataForSeoBot
Disallow: /

# webmeup - SEO
User-agent: BLEXBot
Disallow: /

# Ahrefs - SEO
User-agent: AhrefsBot
Disallow: /

# babbar - SEO
User-agent: barkrowler
Disallow: /

# Screamingfrog - SEO
User-agent: Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Disallow: /

# Seozoom - SEO
User-Agent: ZoomBot
Disallow: /

# Brandwatch - SEO
User-agent: magpie-crawler
Disallow: /

# Begin Moz - SEO
# Not to be confused with Mozilla.
User-agent: DotBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: rogerbot
Disallow: /
# End Moz - SEO

# Begin Semrush - SEO
User-agent: SemrushBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: SiteAuditBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: SemrushBot-BA
Disallow: /

User-agent: SemrushBot-SI
Disallow: /

User-agent: SemrushBot-SWA
Disallow: /

User-agent: SplitSignalBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: SemrushBot-OCOB
Disallow: /
# End Semrush - SEO

# cognitiveSEO - SEO
User-agent: JamesBOT
Disallow: /

# oncrawl - SEO
User-agent: Oncrawl
Disallow: /

# BEGIN Awario - Marketing
User-agent: AwarioRssBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: AwarioSmartBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: AwarioBot
Disallow: /
# END Awario - Marketing

# SERPSTAT - SEO
User-agent: serpstatbot
Disallow: /

# website-datenbank.de - Search engine?
User-agent: netEstate NE Crawler
Disallow: /

# Ignores crawl-delay and does not help us.
User-Agent: panscient.com
Disallow: /

# Aggressive Latvian Academic Integrity bot that does not help us.
User-agent: AcademicBotRTU
Disallow: /

# See RT #1298215 about internationalization and localization abuse.
# See RT #1638325 about localization, Savannah, and more.
# See RT #2171216 about redirections and unused files.

sitemap.xml 200 OK
Type Sitemap Index URLs 1 entries Valid XML Yes
A+
Domain Intelligence
gnu.org — via Gandi SAS, 30 years, 10 months old
PASS
gnu.org — via Gandi SAS, 30 years, 10 months old
Info::
Domain registered until Nov 23, 2026 (7 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: Gandi SAS
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.
Domain expiry

98 days

November 23, 2026

SSL certificate

53 days

Issued by Let's Encrypt

Domain age

30 years, 10 months

Registered November 24, 1995

DNSSEC

Not enabled

Protects against DNS spoofing

Hosting

Unknown

2001:470:142:5::116

Registrar

Gandi SAS

Unlocked 3 NS records
Expiry timeline
Today
+1 year
Domain expiry SSL expiry Danger zone (≤30 days)
Recommended actions
  • Enable DNSSEC to protect visitors from DNS spoofing
  • Enable registrar lock (clientTransferProhibited) to block unauthorized domain transfers
Registrar Gandi SAS
Created November 24, 1995 (30 years, 10 months ago)
Expires November 23, 2026 (7 months)
Last Updated September 29, 2025
Name Servers ns4.gnu.org, ns1.gnu.org, ns2.gnu.org
DNSSEC Not enabled
Hosting
IP Address 2001:470:142:5::116
Data source: rdap (0.5s)

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

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

Connection waterfall

DNS Lookup 90 ms TCP Connect 84 ms TLS Handshake 99 ms Server Processing 86 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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