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https://sussex.ac.uk

Infrastructure

· 9 checks — DNS, redirects, IPv6, crawlability, URL variants, and domain intelligence rolled into one auditable list.
SCORE
74
GRADE
C
FIX
2
REVIEW
5
PASS
2
INFO
0
Probed from Santa Clara, United States
301 Moved Permanently
Checks
9
2 PASS 5 REVIEW 2 FIX
D
URL Variants
Action
www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS
FIX
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
Critical::
HTTP version does not redirect to HTTPS
Got: HTTP 301 Expected: 301 redirect to HTTPS

www / non-www

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

Inconsistent — duplicate content risk

HTTP → HTTPS

301http://sussex.ac.uk/ http://www.sussex.ac.uk/

HTTP version does not redirect to HTTPS

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), 1985 ms total
REVIEW
1 redirect(s), 1985 ms total
Info::
Single redirect
Got: https://sussex.ac.uk → https://www.sussex.ac.uk/ (301)
Info::
WWW normalization redirect
Warning::
Redirect overhead: 1985 ms total
Got: 1985 ms

https://sussex.ac.uk

1225 ms · HTTP/1.1

301

https://www.sussex.ac.uk/

760 ms · HTTP/1.1 FINAL

#URLStatusTimeProtocolServer
1https://sussex.ac.uk3011225 msHTTP/1.1Apache
2https://www.sussex.ac.uk/200760 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
Crawlability
robots.txt present, no sitemap
REVIEW
robots.txt present, no sitemap
Info::
robots.txt is present
Got: 5117 bytes
Info::
No sitemap.xml found
A sitemap helps search engines discover and index your pages more efficiently.
Info::
robots.txt does not reference a sitemap
Add a 'Sitemap:' directive to robots.txt so search engines can discover your sitemap.

A sitemap helps search engines discover and index your pages more efficiently.

Why this matters

No sitemap.xml — Google relies on crawl-graph discovery alone, slowing indexing of deep or fresh URLs.

Learn more

A sitemap accelerates Google's discovery of new and updated content. Most CMSes auto-generate one; static-site frameworks need a build-step plugin. Reference it from robots.txt and submit in Search Console to confirm Google can fetch it.

Source: sitemaps.org / Google Search Central

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 5117 B Sitemaps referenced 0 User-agents * Blocking No — crawling allowed
User-agent: *
Disallow: /annualcoursereview/
Disallow: /barlow/search.php
Disallow: /bin/
Disallow: /cgi-bin/
Disallow: /developmentandalumni/
Disallow: /its/internal/
Disallow: /its/newsletter/archive/
Disallow: /library/electronic/redirect.php
Disallow: /library/includes/
Disallow: /library/intranet/web/
Disallow: /library/speccoll/cgjs/archive/
Disallow: /manual/
Disallow: /oldgooglestuff/
Disallow: /periodicreview/
Disallow: /sapp/booking/
Disallow: /search/
Disallow: /study/discover/
Disallow: /study/visitus/applicantvisitdays/
Disallow: /study/visitus/applicantvisitdaysonline/
Disallow: /study2/
Disallow: /Units/physics/
Disallow: /Units/russian/
Disallow: /Units/socpsy/
Disallow: /Units/spru/events/ocs/
Disallow: /Units/sso/roompics/
Disallow: /us/
Disallow: /utils/
Disallow: /wcm/
Disallow: /webteam/gateway/form.php
Disallow: /bmec/internal/departments/bam/modules/
Disallow: /bmec/internal/departments/bam/pgcourses/
Disallow: /bmec/internal/departments/bam/ugcourses/
Disallow: /bmec/internal/departments/economics/modules/
Disallow: /bmec/internal/departments/economics/pgcourses/
Disallow: /bmec/internal/departments/economics/ugcourses/
Disallow: /bmec/internal/departments/spru/modules/
Disallow: /bmec/internal/departments/spru/pgcourses/
Disallow: /ei/internal/coursesandmodules/engineeringdesign/modules/
Disallow: /ei/internal/coursesandmodules/engineeringdesign/pgcourses/
Disallow: /ei/internal/coursesandmodules/engineeringdesign/ugcourses/
Disallow: /ei/internal/coursesandmodules/informatics/modules/
Disallow: /ei/internal/coursesandmodules/informatics/pgcourses/
Disallow: /ei/internal/coursesandmodules/informatics/ugcourses/
Disallow: /english/internal/coursesandmodules/
Disallow: /esw/internal/departments/education/modules/
Disallow: /esw/internal/departments/education/pgcourses/
Disallow: /esw/internal/departments/education/ugcourses/
Disallow: /esw/internal/departments/socialwork/modules/
Disallow: /esw/internal/departments/socialwork/pgcourses/
Disallow: /esw/internal/departments/socialwork/ugcourses/
Disallow: /global/internal/departments/anthropology/modules/
Disallow: /global/internal/departments/anthropology/pgcourses/
Disallow: /global/internal/departments/anthropology/ugcourses/
Disallow: /global/internal/departments/development/modules/
Disallow: /global/internal/departments/development/pgcourses/
Disallow: /global/internal/departments/development/ugcourses/
Disallow: /global/internal/departments/geography/modules/
Disallow: /global/internal/departments/geography/pgcourses/
Disallow: /global/internal/departments/geography/ugcourses/
Disallow: /global/internal/departments/ir/modules/
Disallow: /global/internal/departments/ir/pgcourses/
Disallow: /global/internal/departments/ir/ugcourses/
Disallow: /hahp/internal/americanstudies/modules/
Disallow: /hahp/internal/americanstudies/pgcourses/
Disallow: /hahp/internal/americanstudies/ugcourses/
Disallow: /hahp/internal/arthistory/modules/
Disallow: /hahp/internal/arthistory/pgcourses/
Disallow: /hahp/internal/arthistory/ugcourses/
Disallow: /hahp/internal/history/modules/
Disallow: /hahp/internal/history/pgcourses/
Disallow: /hahp/internal/history/ugcourses/
Disallow: /hahp/internal/philosophy/modules/
Disallow: /hahp/internal/philosophy/pgcourses/
Disallow: /hahp/internal/philosophy/ugcourses/
Disallow: /iss/modules/directory/
Disallow: /iss/modules/subjects/
Disallow: /lifesci/internal/courses/modules/
Disallow: /lifesci/internal/courses/pgcourses/
Disallow: /lifesci/internal/courses/ugcourses/
Disallow: /lps/internal/departments/law/modules/
Disallow: /lps/internal/departments/law/pgcourses/
Disallow: /lps/internal/departments/law/ugcourses/
Disallow: /lps/internal/departments/politics/modules/
Disallow: /lps/internal/departments/politics/pgcourses/
Disallow: /lps/internal/departments/politics/ugcourses/
Disallow: /lps/internal/departments/sociology/modules/
Disallow: /lps/internal/departments/sociology/pgcourses/
Disallow: /lps/internal/departments/sociology/ugcourses/
Disallow: /mfm/internal/subjects/mediafilm/modules/
Disallow: /mfm/internal/subjects/mediafilm/pgcourses/
Disallow: /mfm/internal/subjects/mediafilm/ugcourses/
Disallow: /mfm/internal/subjects/music/modules/
Disallow: /mfm/internal/subjects/music/pgcourses/
Disallow: /mfm/internal/subjects/music/ugcourses/
Disallow: /mfm/internal/subjects/ugcourses/
Disallow: /mps/internal/departments/mathematics/modules/
Disallow: /mps/internal/departments/mathematics/pg/pgcourses/
Disallow: /mps/internal/departments/mathematics/ug/ugcourses/
Disallow: /mps/internal/departments/physicsandastronomy/modules/
Disallow: /mps/internal/departments/physicsandastronomy/pg/pgcourses/
Disallow: /mps/internal/departments/physicsandastronomy/ug/ugcourses/
Disallow: /psychology/internal/coursesandmodules/modules/
Disallow: /psychology/internal/coursesandmodules/pgcourses/
Disallow: /psychology/internal/coursesandmodules/ugcourses/
Disallow: /lifesci/kostakislab/picd/query
Disallow: /study/international-students/visiting-exchange-erasmus-students/modules/modules
Allow: /wcm/assets/media/
Allow: /wcm/assets/assetbank/

sitemap.xml No sitemap found

No sitemap found

Adding a sitemap helps search engines discover your pages.

B
HTTP Probe Timing
Total 992 ms — DNS, TCP, TLS, TTFB, content transfer breakdown
REVIEW
DNS Lookup DNS Lookup — time to resolve the domain name to an IP address.
146 ms
TCP Connect TCP Connect — time to establish a TCP connection to the server.
140 ms
TLS Handshake TLS Handshake — time to complete the HTTPS encryption handshake.
566 ms
Time to First Byte Time to First Byte — how long the server takes to respond with the first byte of data.
992 ms
Total Time Total request time from DNS lookup through full response.
992 ms

Connection waterfall

DNS Lookup 146 ms TCP Connect 140 ms TLS Handshake 566 ms Server Processing 141 ms Content Transfer 0 ms
B
TLS Certificate Expiry & Recommendations
169 days until leaf cert expires — 4 issues to address
REVIEW

Certificate validity

169
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
1 A records, 851 ms lookup
PASS
1 A records, 851 ms lookup
Info::
Resolves to 1 IPv4 address(es)
Got: 139.184.14.208
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: ns2.susx.ac.uk, dns0.cs.bham.ac.uk, ns1.susx.ac.uk, ns3.susx.ac.uk
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
Warning::
DNS resolution is slow (851 ms)
Slow DNS adds latency to every page load. Consider a faster DNS provider.
Got: 851 ms
A139.184.14.208
AAAA
CNAME
NSns2.susx.ac.uk, dns0.cs.bham.ac.uk, ns1.susx.ac.uk, ns3.susx.ac.uk
MX
10 eu-smtp-inbound-1.mimecast.com
10 eu-smtp-inbound-2.mimecast.com
TXT
9b98af5c23ae169ef32bc5e24ee98a681334163e
OMYpbsJGpWzaX1MYK8shoiMDdA9taoj+rsie6QrzCqaF3gx5wFJnpDuxSUuF3gblvbmL5MA/dShAc41h...
SPF v=spf1 include:a3639jcm._spf._d.mim.ec ~all
google-site-verification=lD61dtzAoE-bSJqQt0JeK06Q-oitdp-obkzcaVL0bWw
bb2de3b057454882bca25a6bce3dd098
foo=bar
brevo-code:40a0b540530a14e13737ee73475db166
apple-domain-verification=UDDOzreRbDqhbNjQ
39HO5MO22K23917NVB2OQ8EFEAVQ5HN3IMAU3RK29
VCi1W4B3pDKSlcQjeqiaqh4AhxKqROPApEEopnKCSx0=
pardot295242=392887f309610c34c8844117f696abc3120b2b9d61fdc7be2cd4971c101ceeb6
ij0tx51gjzrtlhnfptyq868irv6hovivt4gdvo7f35i83dakk5zourlwj4fchwpmgytgxx1sm72rve17...
XVFlm1DjgMc51vS7tyQ4TdB32Feff/yJSipX+FAK3Pk91wseODQzXp8bN7HwCtYXNxIDnvTE+kiuqO9f...
CAALookup not available with standard resolver
Resolved in 851 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.

Slow DNS adds latency to every page load. Consider a faster DNS provider.

Why this matters

DNS resolution is slow — anycast DNS providers (Cloudflare, Route 53) typically resolve <50ms globally.

Source: DNS performance benchmarks

A+
Domain Intelligence
sussex.ac.uk — via No registrar listed. This domain is directly registered with Nominet., hosted on JANET Jisc Services Limited, GB
PASS
sussex.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

139.184.14.208

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 139.184.14.208
ASN AS786 (JANET Jisc Services Limited, GB)
Provider JANET Jisc Services Limited, GB
Data source: whois (1.3s)

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

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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