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https://ebi.ac.uk

Infrastructure

· 9 checks — DNS, redirects, IPv6, crawlability, URL variants, and domain intelligence rolled into one auditable list.
SCORE
82
GRADE
B
FIX
1
REVIEW
4
PASS
4
INFO
0
Probed from Madrid, Spain
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), 1949 ms total
REVIEW
1 redirect(s), 1949 ms total
Info::
Single redirect
Got: https://ebi.ac.uk → https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ (301)
Info::
WWW normalization redirect
Warning::
Redirect overhead: 1949 ms total
Got: 1949 ms

https://ebi.ac.uk

110 ms · HTTP/1.1

301

https://www.ebi.ac.uk/

1840 ms · HTTP/1.1 FINAL

#URLStatusTimeProtocolServer
1https://ebi.ac.uk301110 msHTTP/1.1
2https://www.ebi.ac.uk/2001840 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

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 301 Expected: 301 redirect to HTTPS

www / non-www

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

HTTP → HTTPS

301http://ebi.ac.uk/ → http://www.ebi.ac.uk/

HTTP version does not redirect to HTTPS

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

Certificate validity

169
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
1 A records, 39 ms lookup
PASS
1 A records, 39 ms lookup
Info::
Resolves to 1 IPv4 address(es)
Got: 193.62.192.80
Info::
Single A record — no DNS redundancy
Multiple A records provide failover if one server goes down.
Info::
No IPv6 (AAAA) records
Info::
4 nameserver(s) configured
Got: hl2-ns02.ebi.ac.uk, dns1.embl-heidelberg.de, hl1-ns01.ebi.ac.uk, dns2.embl-heidelberg.de
Info::
2 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: 39 ms
Got: 39 ms
A193.62.192.80
AAAA—
CNAME—
NShl2-ns02.ebi.ac.uk, dns1.embl-heidelberg.de, hl1-ns01.ebi.ac.uk, dns2.embl-heidelberg.de
MX
10 ironport2.embl.de
10 ironport1.embl.de
TXT
atlassian-domain-verification=zVvKlSvR7d6lNxJo25rRtfDSswXHEAvdq7nhAwxDG/7SVLDDad...
asv_domain=f48da3284a3086bc65c67b7900b8dcf6
SPF v=spf1 include:_spf.ebi.ac.uk include:_spf.google.com include:spf.recruitmail.co...
apple-domain-verification=mnLWKrgBd7Y0uea0
4200F94E-384D-4C85-B52A-34447C96ADC8
QuoVadis=48564826-255e-4916-a52c-cda0b7a0bca2
MS=ms93169537
jamf-site-verification=6aEry2tryeZdJ0rnuO5Paw
1password-site-verification=YW6Y4C32MFCFVH3IXFJDA56ZOE
openai-domain-verification=dv-YC7nQY8ChufLs5hSPMR7sDJd
asv_domain=4b2e8c358670dcc475c7b3de643b4666
CAALookup not available with standard resolver
Resolved in 39 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+
Crawlability
robots.txt present, sitemap with 122 URLs
PASS
robots.txt present, sitemap with 122 URLs
Info::
robots.txt is present
Got: 5301 bytes
Info::
sitemap.xml is present
Info::
sitemap.xml is valid XML
Info::
sitemap.xml contains 122 entries
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 5301 B Sitemaps referenced 0 User-agents SemrushBot-SA, EBISearch, *, sogou spider, Twiceler, discobot, Googlebot, Baiduspider, MJ12bot, naverbot, SemrushBot Blocking No — crawling allowed
# Robots exclusion file for http://www.ebi.ac.uk/
# See https://gitlab.ebi.ac.uk/ebiwd/ebi.ac.uk-root-assets
# Any questions/comments to www-dev@ebi.ac.uk

User-agent: sogou spider
Disallow: /Tools/services

User-agent: Baiduspider
Disallow: /chebi

User-agent: MJ12bot
Disallow: /

User-agent: naverbot
Disallow: /

User-agent: SemrushBot
Disallow: /biomodels

User-agent: SemrushBot-SA
Disallow: /biomodels

User-agent: Twiceler
Disallow: /

User-agent: discobot
Disallow: /

#User-agent: msnbot
#Disallow: /

User-agent: EBISearch
Crawl-Delay: 0

User-agent: *
Crawl-Delay: 10
Disallow: /*private*
Disallow: /~
Disallow: /3D
Disallow: /abc
Disallow: /awstats
Disallow: /beta/
Disallow: /bioinformatics
Disallow: /biosamples/beta
Disallow: /biomodels/papers
Disallow: /cgi-bin/printable
Disallow: /cgi-bin/webservices
Disallow: /cgi-bin/*?
Disallow: /cgi_files
Disallow: /citexplore
Disallow: /Compass
Disallow: /contrib
Disallow: /cpg
Disallow: /Databases/Genome_MOT/
Disallow: /dbases
Disallow: /dbest
Disallow: /disease
Disallow: /downloads
Disallow: /dx.doi.org
Disallow: /ebibbs
Disallow: /ebi_docs
Disallow: /ega/dev
Disallow: /embnet.news
Disallow: /ena/data/warehouse
Disallow: /ena/data/view
Disallow: /ensembl/biomart
Disallow: /EnsMart
Disallow: /epo
Disallow: /epo-dev
Disallow: /errors
Disallow: /es/doku
Disallow: /euro2004
Disallow: /eurocarb
Disallow: /euprojects
Disallow: /fiv97
Disallow: /flybase
Disallow: /fssp
Disallow: /Genome_MOT
Disallow: /genomes/mot/
Disallow: /Groups/images
Disallow: /Groups/include
Disallow: /hinxton
Disallow: /images
Disallow: /include
Disallow: /industry/private
Disallow: /industry_SME
Disallow: /info
Disallow: /Information/images
Disallow: /Information/include
Disallow: /Information/local
Disallow: /Information/Seminars/EU1998/
Disallow: /intact/graph2MIF
Disallow: /intact/hierarchView
Disallow: /intact/mine/
Disallow: /intact/search
Disallow: /intact/statisticView
Disallow: /integr8
Disallow: /interpro/internal-tools
Disallow: /interpro/internal-tools/
Disallow: /interpro/ISpy
Disallow: /interpro/RI*
Disallow: /ismb97
Disallow: /local
Disallow: /login
Disallow: /metabolights/MTBLS*/files/*
Disallow: /metagenomics/beta
Disallow: /miamexpress/devhelp
Disallow: /microarray/ArrayExpress
Disallow: /microarray-as/atlas/qr
Disallow: /microarray/ExpressionProfiler
Disallow: /microarray/General/Internal
Disallow: /microarray/MIAMExpress
Disallow: /microarray/interfaces
Disallow: /_mm
Disallow: /msd.old/
Disallow: /msd-srv/ssm/cgi-bin/
Disallow: /newt
Disallow: /oib97
Disallow: /oib98
Disallow: /parasites
Disallow: /pdbe-srv/view/search
Disallow: /powerpoint
Disallow: /profiles
Disallow: /proteincol
Disallow: /protein_profiles
Disallow: /proteomeApplications
Disallow: /PSD
Disallow: /pub
Disallow: /research/cgg
Disallow: /RHdb
Disallow: /scripts
Disallow: /searches/netsearch.html
Disallow: /services.html
Disallow: /services/images
Disallow: /services/include
Disallow: /sift
Disallow: /site_indexer
Disallow: /sites/ebi.ac.uk/files/person/image/Emanuele_Alpi.jpeg
Disallow: /sites/ebi.ac.uk/files/styles/medium/public/person/image/Emanuele_Alpi.jpeg
Disallow: /soaplab
Disallow: /software
Disallow: /SSC
Disallow: /subs
Disallow: /sw
Disallow: /Systems
Disallow: /tc-test
Disallow: /Templates
Disallow: /test
Disallow: /text
Disallow: /textonly
Disallow: /thornton-srv/databases/enzymes
Disallow: /thornton-srv/databases/practicals
Disallow: /thornton-srv/databases/targets
Disallow: /tops
Disallow: /wc2002
Disallow: /webservices/documentation/
Disallow: /xs
#Drupal site
# Directories
Disallow: /includes/
Disallow: /misc/
Disallow: /modules/
Disallow: /profiles/
Disallow: /scripts/
Disallow: /themes/
# Files
Disallow: /CHANGELOG.txt
Disallow: /cron.php
Disallow: /INSTALL.mysql.txt
Disallow: /INSTALL.pgsql.txt
Disallow: /INSTALL.sqlite.txt
Disallow: /install.php
Disallow: /INSTALL.txt
Disallow: /LICENSE.txt
Disallow: /MAINTAINERS.txt
Disallow: /update.php
Disallow: /UPGRADE.txt
Disallow: /xmlrpc.php
# Paths (clean URLs)
Disallow: /admin
Disallow: /comment/reply
Disallow: /filter/tips
Disallow: /node/add
Disallow: /search
Disallow: /user/register
Disallow: /user/password
Disallow: /user/login
Disallow: /user/logout
Disallow: /ega/user/register
Disallow: /ega/user/password
Disallow: /ega/user/login
Disallow: /ega/user/logout
# Taxonomies
Disallow: /taxonomy
# Nodes
Disallow: /training/Studentships
Disallow: /training/studentships/howtoapply
Disallow: /training/studentships/phdprojects
Disallow: /training/online/print
Disallow: /training/online/printpdf
#Block robots for RDF services, RT#19945
#NB only Google and Yahoo understand wildcards
Disallow: /rdf/services/*/sparql
Disallow: /interpro/*export=fasta
Disallow: /interpro/*export=ids
Disallow: /interpro/*export=tsv
Disallow: /interpro/condensed
Disallow: /interpro/*/proteins-matched
Disallow: /panda/jira/

# Block robots for EBI internal seminars & internal events
Disallow: /about/events/seminars/
Disallow: /about/events/events/internal-seminar/
Disallow: /about/events/internal-events/
Disallow: /about/events/events/internal-event/

# INC0060214 - Block EMDB search
Disallow: /emdb/search

User-agent: Googlebot
Disallow: /ebisearch/summary/api/identificationsearchboxs4/*

# Disable confluence/jira
Disallow: /seqdb/confluence
Disallow: /panda/jira
sitemap.xml 200 OK
Type URL Set URLs 122 entries Valid XML Yes
Sample URLs:
A+
Domain Intelligence
ebi.ac.uk — via No registrar listed. This domain is directly registered with Nominet., hosted on JANET Jisc Services Limited, GB
PASS
ebi.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

169 days

Issued by Sectigo Limited

Domain age

Unknown

DNSSEC

Status unknown

Protects against DNS spoofing

Hosting

JANET Jisc Services Limited, GB

ASN AS786

193.62.192.80

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 193.62.192.80
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 150 ms — DNS, TCP, TLS, TTFB, content transfer breakdown
PASS
DNS Lookup DNS Lookup — time to resolve the domain name to an IP address.
41 ms
TCP Connect TCP Connect — time to establish a TCP connection to the server.
26 ms
TLS Handshake TLS Handshake — time to complete the HTTPS encryption handshake.
56 ms
Time to First Byte Time to First Byte — how long the server takes to respond with the first byte of data.
150 ms
Total Time Total request time from DNS lookup through full response.
150 ms

Connection waterfall

DNS Lookup 41 ms TCP Connect 26 ms TLS Handshake 56 ms Server Processing 27 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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