Maintenance and bugfix release of Internet.nl

News | April 4, 2022

As of today, you can use a new, improved version of Internet.nl. In this new version, the underlying, reused software has been upgraded. Improvements have also been made to the documentation and software code.

More stablility, speed and accuracy

The improvements make Internet.nl more stable and faster. In addition, other developers can more easily install the Internet.nl software themselves or contribute code to the project. Finally, a small number of content changes and bug fixes have been implemented making the tests and accompanying texts more accurate.

About Internet.nl

The test tool Internet.nl is an initiative of the Dutch Internet Standards Platform which is a collaboration of partners from the internet community and the Dutch government. The aim of the platform is to jointly increase the use of modern Internet standards to make the Internet more accessible, safer and more reliable for everyone. The software code of Internet.nl is available under an open source license.

Release notes 1.4.0

Software update and development & documentation release.

New

  • Mention LinkedIn next to Twitter in footer [(#496)]
  • Add security.txt based on https://securitytxt.org/ [(#493)]

Changes

  • Improve description of the ipv4-ipv6 comparison results and what may be a reason for the differences [(#540)]
  • Refer to https://dutchcloudcommunity.nl/ on https://internet.nl/about/ [(#589)]
  • Check for max of 10 DNS lookups in SPF test [(#286)]
  • System administrators can disable/enable categories of tests (for example, only run IPv6 tests)
  • Files from the /static/ directory are now cached by the client for one day by default (instead of none)

Bugfixes

  • Fix some minor typos and broken link [(#574)] [(#575)]
  • Add a missing ' in the frame-ancestors explanation [(#578)]
  • An empty part of Content Security Policy gives an error [(#583)]
  • Recursion error when stripping nonces in IPv4 and IPv6 comparison [(#587)]
  • Remove certificate from the certificate chain in the shipped cert chain file [(#614)]

Dependencies

  • Update Django version to latest LTS version, together with dependencies [(#486)]
  • Update version of Celery to the latest LTS version, together with dependencies [(#586)]
  • Updated jQuery (also stops support for very old browsers) [(#565)]
  • Pinned all dependencies on specific versions with pip-tools.

Settings

  • Moved Django settings to an environment file, so it can be more easily configured in automated environments (containers)
  • Made a clear distinction between user confgured settings and 'standard app settings'
  • Add DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD to default config file [(#599)]
  • Increased the test duration 50%-100% for all tests on single mode, to deal with slow servers or servers that have a lot of MX records.
  • Made the rate limiting feature of starting new scans configurable in the settings (not via environment)

Migrations

  • Administrative movements of models to a new subproject (checks).

Development & documentation

  • Added installation steps to makefile for easier installation of the virtual environment and custom python dependencies
  • Added Github action that checks for code linting and runs tests. More QA tools to come.
  • Added various tests and moved the existing tests to be run in pytest. Coverage today: 32%
  • Added a partial admin web interface that is available during development, to more easily inspect the contents of the database
  • Added an ERD diagram image of the database to the documentation
  • Removed infinite wait on Unbound pipe, to reduce complexity in the connection leakage issue (see ahead)
  • Added example and usable configuration examples for Redis, workers, services, Apache etc
  • Added a logger with dictconfig, this allows run time logging of the application
  • Added (debug) log statements for further code inspection, especially on expiring tasks
  • Separate scanning code from UI code via a new django app "checks"
  • Added workaround / configs for Redis-backend-connection leak [(#676)] on single scan mode. Cron settings and some bash scripts that restart the scan services every 6 hours. This allows tens of thousands of scans per recycle.
  • Spread out tasks over more dedicated workers to be able to inspect and manage bottlenecks
  • Fixed Django-app bootstrapping, which prevented the app from loading correctly
  • Building and testing for Python 3.7 and 3.10 to transit to the new version
  • Added caching of static files in the apache config
  • Simplified and deduplicated the apache config

Other news

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Frequently asked questions

How can I improve the score of a test?

In the test results, you will find an explanation of our findings for all the (sub)tests. Based on this, you could (let someone) make changes to your web or mailserver or connection.

Additional information can be found in our Knowledge base or our Toolbox Wiki.

Why do other test tools show different results?

Internet.nl attempts to always test against the most recent norms and standards. Additionally, we test as thoroughly as we can realise. This is why our results can differ from other (commonly-used) testing tools.

Some of the norms used in Internet.nl are set by the Dutch government. These can be implemented world-wide (and we recommend it!), but be aware that local regulations may differ from the norms used in Internet.nl.

How can I keep up to date of new developments?

News about Internet.nl is always shared on our website and social media. New versions are announced in a news post with the most important changes. You can also follow our work on the source code, new ideas and contributions are very welcome as well!

Users of our API and dashboard are automatically signed up to a mailing list in which we share updates and organise virtual meetings.

How can I (regularly) test multiple domain names?

This is supported by our dashboard and API. You can request an account here if your organisation fits in the target audience. The dashboard is also open source, so you could host this yourself as well.

In the dashboard, it is possible to enter lists of domain names, which then can be automatically tested on a specified interval. You can opt-in to receive an e-mail for every test result.

Can I join the Dutch Internet Standards Platform?

Where our Platform is focused on Dutch organisations, we are facilitating the Global Internet Standards Testing Community (GISTC) to connect international users of the test tool. You can register yourself for the community via international@internet.nl.

Find more answers