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https://bristol.ac.uk

Infrastructure

· 9 checks — DNS, redirects, IPv6, crawlability, URL variants, and domain intelligence rolled into one auditable list.
SCORE
81
GRADE
B
FIX
1
REVIEW
4
PASS
4
INFO
0
Probed from Amsterdam, Netherlands
301 Moved Permanently
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.

B
Redirect Chain
1 redirect(s), 1726 ms total
REVIEW
1 redirect(s), 1726 ms total
Info::
Single redirect
Got: https://bristol.ac.uk → https://www.bristol.ac.uk/ (301)
Info::
WWW normalization redirect
Warning::
Redirect overhead: 1726 ms total
Got: 1726 ms

https://bristol.ac.uk

95 ms · HTTP/1.0

301

https://www.bristol.ac.uk/

1631 ms · HTTP/1.1 FINAL

#URLStatusTimeProtocolServer
1https://bristol.ac.uk30195 msHTTP/1.0BigIP
2https://www.bristol.ac.uk/2001631 msHTTP/1.1Apache

See the visual redirect chain in the HTTP Probe tab →

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

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.bristol.ac.uk/
200https://bristol.ac.uk/

Inconsistent — duplicate content risk

HTTP → HTTPS

302http://bristol.ac.uk/ → https://bristol.ac.uk/

Use 301 (permanent) instead of 302 (temporary)

B
TLS Certificate Expiry & Recommendations
176 days until leaf cert expires — 4 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
  • 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 Records
2 A records, 88 ms lookup
PASS
2 A records, 88 ms lookup
Info::
Resolves to 2 IPv4 address(es)
Got: 137.222.125.160, 137.222.180.160
Info::
No IPv6 (AAAA) records
Info::
3 nameserver(s) configured
Got: ncs.bris.ac.uk, irix.bris.ac.uk, ns3.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: 88 ms
Got: 88 ms
A137.222.125.160, 137.222.180.160
AAAA—
CNAME—
NSncs.bris.ac.uk, irix.bris.ac.uk, ns3.ja.net
MX
0 bristol-ac-uk.mail.protection.outlook.com
TXT
access-domain-verification=0120f910b46cf31e561099004d7ecaf3bd0f9ff852d989492bec4...
vmware-cloud-verification-c77286b2-681b-4ba9-8572-e90b8e3552a1
miro-verification=0f7d07a6003bc87a6792cef1c3ac2d135651476d
IKVOWJEBKXPPJJGWB9Z0N7XUQSFAZXN7WGMIMQJLU
d365mktkey=UCZVh5ufOSsg2C7JktpFH0vJTvOo3bbc6MkN1hNQEkcx
apple-domain-verification=kT4QDUuviV97WZEh
onetrust-domain-verification=af5b9aa272b8428aa14d71530ccca896
onetrust-domain-verification=6e07e108aa7e4b4f8ad5f141e9e72810
graphpad.com:domain-verification=ummDOp44PLBrp8-J_j-6tQ
brevo-code:b1414e0a234265a2faa294058248ae06
SPF v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:_spf.google.com exists:%{ir}.s...
google-site-verification=jKfq25rMyR3Z7aM2RNHfsJcoCm0LANqAxIS59rQlyro
A9922BFA-3D3E-4834-A4D7-B185DF8ED146
QuoVadis=6f9343f9-3d02-4ba2-8193-43a92c35bb57
adobe-idp-site-verification=206237f6c740f0d2ca9689f4ca6321794db6e874f42f33d77fa4...
QuoVadis=3ef1eede-9303-43d0-994c-47eb873db310
access-domain-verification=d3cddef64aaf41f13db6da308ba3964b24b846ddc3902df1be00d...
ZOOM_verify_WrGbO-1QRZ26Z8m3hp_NJg
CAALookup not available with standard resolver
Resolved in 88 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+
Crawlability
robots.txt present, sitemap with 4 URLs
PASS
robots.txt present, sitemap with 4 URLs
Info::
robots.txt is present
Got: 1916 bytes
Info::
sitemap.xml is present
Info::
sitemap.xml is valid XML
Info::
sitemap.xml contains 4 entries
Info::
Sitemap index with 4 child sitemaps
Info::
robots.txt does not reference a sitemap
Add a 'Sitemap:' directive to robots.txt so search engines can discover your sitemap.

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 1916 B Sitemaps referenced 0 User-agents ClaudeBot, Amazonbot, DataForSeoBot, * Blocking No — crawling allowed
User-agent: *
Disallow: /cgi-bin/
Disallow: /comment
Disallow: /contact/
Disallow: /dev/
Disallow: /esu/unitprogcat/
Disallow: /unit-programme-catalogue
Disallow: /eopro/
Disallow: /feedback/
Disallow: /fluff/
Disallow: /imagelib/
Disallow: /logs/
Disallow: /news/news-results.html
Disallow: /news/news-search.html?
Disallow: /news/2001/clearing.html
Disallow: /oenology
Disallow: /prospectus/postgraduate/2013/
Disallow: /prospectus/postgraduate/2014/
Disallow: /prospectus/undergraduate/2014/
Disallow: /slink/
Disallow: /sso/login
Disallow: /test/
Disallow: /webcam/sport/archive/
Disallow: /biology/people/person/
Disallow: /composites/media/ICCM17/
Disallow: /composites/media/icons/
Disallow: /composites/media/icshm/
Disallow: /Control_Panel/
Disallow: /Depts/CAS/
Disallow: /depts/CAS/
Disallow: /geography/people/person/
Disallow: /history/customs/resources/
Disallow: /history/customs/datasets/
Disallow: /is/cgi-bin/
Disallow: /is/comment
Disallow: /research/funding/salary_costing/
Disallow: /study/postgraduate/search/research_interests
Disallow: /study/postgraduate/search/search_results
Disallow: /study/undergraduate/search/search_results
Disallow: /media-library/sites/alspac/migrated/documents/
Disallow: /it-services/advice/operatingsystems/mac/archive
Disallow: /it-services/applications/collaboration/office/outlook/
Disallow: /it-sysdev/out-of-service/
Disallow: /it-sysdev/maintenance/
# AFAIK only Googlebot understands these
Disallow: /*/comment$
Disallow: /*/comment?url
Disallow: /*/feedback$
Disallow: /*/news-results.html
Disallow: /*/news-search.html?
Disallow: /*/safe/
# Added by Dave, 2024-05-20 [Master Incident: 216543, DSI-2731: DDOS type traffic to UPC]
User-agent: ClaudeBot
Disallow: /unit-programme-catalogue
#UPC P2 incident 47754 - block Amazonbot agent
User-agent: Amazonbot
Disallow: /unit-programme-catalogue
User-agent: DataForSeoBot
Disallow: /unit-programme-catalogue
sitemap.xml 200 OK
Type Sitemap Index URLs 4 entries Valid XML Yes
Child Sitemaps:
A+
Domain Intelligence
bristol.ac.uk — via No registrar listed. This domain is directly registered with Nominet., hosted on JANET Jisc Services Limited, GB
PASS
bristol.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

137.222.180.160

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 137.222.180.160
ASN AS786 (JANET Jisc Services Limited, GB)
Provider JANET Jisc Services Limited, GB
Data source: whois (0.7s)

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

Connection waterfall

DNS Lookup 55 ms TCP Connect 14 ms TLS Handshake 34 ms Server Processing 15 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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