Skip to content
https://core.ac.uk

Infrastructure

· 9 checks — DNS, redirects, IPv6, crawlability, URL variants, and domain intelligence rolled into one auditable list.
SCORE
95
GRADE
A
FIX
0
REVIEW
2
PASS
7
INFO
0
Probed from New York, United Stated
200 OK
Checks
9
7 PASS 2 REVIEW
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.core.ac.uk/
200https://core.ac.uk/

Inconsistent — duplicate content risk

HTTP → HTTPS

301http://core.ac.uk/ https://core.ac.uk/

Consistent

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

Certificate validity

64
days left
0d 30d 60d 90d+

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 Records
2 A records, 7 ms lookup
PASS
2 A records, 7 ms lookup
Info::
Resolves to 2 IPv4 address(es)
Got: 172.67.191.205, 104.21.20.56
Info::
Has 2 IPv6 (AAAA) record(s)
Got: 2606:4700:3030::6815:1438, 2606:4700:3037::ac43:bfcd
Info::
2 nameserver(s) configured
Got: john.ns.cloudflare.com, romina.ns.cloudflare.com
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: 7 ms
Got: 7 ms
A172.67.191.205, 104.21.20.56
AAAA2606:4700:3030::6815:1438, 2606:4700:3037::ac43:bfcd
CNAME
NSjohn.ns.cloudflare.com, romina.ns.cloudflare.com
MX
0 core-ac-uk.mail.protection.outlook.com
TXT
CC013172-C797-4C59-8252-135EE277A6C7
atlassian-domain-verification=ME7l7TGCJ9xfQDWdKMs9sm68zGdtOmB6VYBw/R969AtLbajdxC...
google-site-verification=N1l1LngrCrqAZIsIhHlh1UtPsMmM-Bt3PtfK4yM_l58
ms-domain-verification=3529416e-6049-41a0-8889-84c4c8e49c25
SPF v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:spf.core.ac.uk include:_spf.m...
CAALookup not available with standard resolver
Resolved in 7 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://core.ac.uk

https://core.ac.uk

473 ms · HTTP/1.1 FINAL

#URLStatusTimeProtocolServer
1https://core.ac.uk200473 msHTTP/1.1cloudflare
A+
IPv6 Readiness
IPv6 reachable (2 ms)
PASS
IPv6 reachable (2 ms)
Info::
IPv6 is configured and reachable at 2606:4700:3030::6815:1438, 2606:4700:3037::ac43:bfcd
Got: 2 ms connect
IPv6 Ready
AAAA Records 2606:4700:3030::6815:1438, 2606:4700:3037::ac43:bfcd Connection Reachable (2 ms)
A+
Crawlability
robots.txt present, sitemap with 4884 URLs
PASS
robots.txt present, sitemap with 4884 URLs
Info::
robots.txt is present
Got: 1248 bytes
Info::
sitemap.xml is present
Info::
sitemap.xml is valid XML
Info::
sitemap.xml contains 4884 entries
Info::
Sitemap index with 4884 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 1248 B Sitemaps referenced 0 User-agents Blocking No — crawling allowed
# As a condition of accessing this website, you agree to abide by the following
# content signals:

# (a)  If a content-signal = yes, you may collect content for the corresponding
#      use.
# (b)  If a content-signal = no, you may not collect content for the
#      corresponding use.
# (c)  If the website operator does not include a content signal for a
#      corresponding use, the website operator neither grants nor restricts
#      permission via content signal with respect to the corresponding use.

# The content signals and their meanings are:

# search:   building a search index and providing search results (e.g., returning
#           hyperlinks and short excerpts from your website's contents). Search does not
#           include providing AI-generated search summaries.
# ai-input: inputting content into one or more AI models (e.g., retrieval
#           augmented generation, grounding, or other real-time taking of content for
#           generative AI search answers).
# ai-train: training or fine-tuning AI models.

# ANY RESTRICTIONS EXPRESSED VIA CONTENT SIGNALS ARE EXPRESS RESERVATIONS OF
# RIGHTS UNDER ARTICLE 4 OF THE EUROPEAN UNION DIRECTIVE 2019/790 ON COPYRIGHT
# AND RELATED RIGHTS IN THE DIGITAL SINGLE MARKET.

sitemap.xml 200 OK
Type Sitemap Index URLs 4884 entries Valid XML Yes
Child Sitemaps:
A+
Domain Intelligence
core.ac.uk — via No registrar listed. This domain is directly registered with Nominet.
PASS
core.ac.uk — via No registrar listed. This domain is directly registered with Nominet.
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.
Domain expiry

Unknown

SSL certificate

64 days

Issued by Google Trust Services

Domain age

Unknown

DNSSEC

Status unknown

Protects against DNS spoofing

Hosting

Unknown

2606:4700:3030::6815:1438

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 2606:4700:3030::6815:1438
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 438 ms — DNS, TCP, TLS, TTFB, content transfer breakdown
PASS
DNS Lookup DNS Lookup — time to resolve the domain name to an IP address.
3 ms
TCP Connect TCP Connect — time to establish a TCP connection to the server.
2 ms
TLS Handshake TLS Handshake — time to complete the HTTPS encryption handshake.
8 ms
Time to First Byte Time to First Byte — how long the server takes to respond with the first byte of data.
236 ms
Total Time Total request time from DNS lookup through full response.
438 ms

Connection waterfall

DNS Lookup 3 ms TCP Connect 2 ms TLS Handshake 8 ms Server Processing 221 ms Content Transfer 203 ms
A
CDN & Delivery
Cloudflare (DYNAMIC)
PASS
Cloudflare (DYNAMIC)
Info::
Site is served via Cloudflare CDN (edge: EWR)
Got: cf-ray: 9eff578c1f9883d0-EWR
Info::
CDN cache status: DYNAMIC
CDN Detected: Cloudflare
Provider Cloudflare Cache Status DYNAMIC Evidence cf-ray: 9eff578c1f9883d0-EWR
All checks on this page are automated. Results are estimates - run targeted manual reviews when the score affects a release decision.

Send Feedback