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8e6 Web Filter Administration
Updated Administration Guide (version 1.19 in PDF)
Table of
Contents
Logging In
Change the Login
Pasword
Create a Filtering
Profile
Blocking or
Allowing Specific URLs
Library Lookup
Override Accounts
Block Instant Messaging
Block Peer to Peer File Sharing Services
Miscellaneous Filtering Options
Advanced Group Management
Logging In
Login in to the Administrative Graphical
User Interface (Admin-GUI) with your web browser. The URL is
http://webfilter.project42.k12.ne.us:88
You will get a Java-based pop-up window where you can log in. The login
username and password credentials should have been given to the
LAN-manager at each school.
*Disabling Pop-up Blockers
You may need to disable your pop- up blocker before logging in, because
the admin-GUI pops up as a java applet.
*Java Must be
Installed
You must have a recent version of the
Java Runtime
Environment installed. Macintosh OS X has Java installed by default.
Microsoft Windows users may have to download and install the Java
Runtime Environment. The Java download page is located at http://java.sun.com/
*Browser Compatibility
Mozilla
Firefox on Macintosh OS X does
not work. Safari seems to be the reliable choice on Macs. Just be
patient as the Java Applet pop-up box can take a minute or two to load.
Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer seem to work fine on Microsoft
Windows. Make sure popup windows aren't being blocked in your browser
settings.
[Back]
Change the Login
Password We
encourage you to set a secure password for logging in to the
Admin-GUI.
Changing Password
1. Click on the Group tab at the top
2.
Click on IP to expand it
3. Click on your District
Name
4. Click on Group
Details
5. Highlight the password and confirm
password fields and erase them
6. Type your new
password in twice
[Back]
Creating a Filtering
Profile (Setting up Filtering
Categories)
A filtering profile defines a set of rules that will be enforced for an
IP group at a school. The profile is based on filtering categories,
such as the Crimes, Drugs, and Weapons categories.
Edit the filtering profile for an IP group:
1. Click on the Group
tab at the top
2. Click on IP to expand it
3. Click on your District Name to expand it
4. Click on the specific school you want to make changes for
(I.E. High School, Lab, etc.)
5. Click "Sub Group Profile"
6. Click on the category that you want to move and the arrow
to
move it over. Catagories can be moved so that they are blocked or
passed (not blocked).
7. Click "Apply" when finished.
Minimum Filtering Level
ESU 10 must maintain a minimum
level of
filtering in order to comply with CIPA requirements for E-Rate
eligibility. The minimum filtering level includes the pornography,
child pornography, and public proxies categories. The minimum filtering
level cannot be overwridden by schools.
Recommended Filtered Categories
For best filtering results, we
recommend that schools also block the following categories:
Criminal Skills, Drugs, Explicit Art, Hate Groups, Obscene/Tasteless,
Malicious Code/Spyware/Virus
Uncategorized Sites
The "Uncategorized Sites" option can be
set to "Pass" or "Block." If set to pass, any sites that aren't
categorized in the 8e6 supplied categories will not be filtered. If set
to block, any sites that aren't categorized in the 8e6 supplied
categories will be blocked.
[Back]
Blocking or Allowing Specific URLs At times it may be necessary to
allow
or block specific URLs that aren't categorized correctly within a
school's filtering profile. For instance, take the example where
students find an inappropriate weapon site that isn't being blocked by
the "Weapons" category. In this case the inappropriate site must be
added to the Exception URL Block list in 8e6.
Manually Adding URLs to be
Blocked or Allowed
1. Click on the Group tab at the top 2.
Click on IP to expand it 3. Click on your District
Name 4. Click on the specific school you want to
make changes for (I.E. High School, Library, etc.)
5. Click "Exception URL"
6. Choose "Block URL" if the URL should be blocked, choose
"Pass URL" if the URL should be allowed. 7.
Type the URL that you want to add and click the Add button (make sure
that the URL begins with http://) For example, if you want to block
www.example.com, make sure you add the URL in the format of
http://www.example.com&;;lt;;br>
8. Make sure you click the "Apply" button when you are
finished.
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Library Lookup
The Library Lookup feature can be used
to determine
if a specific URL is categorized into one of the 8e6 predefined
categories. If the URL is categorized, it will tell you which category
the URL falls in to. This is useful in determining why a site isn't
being filtered properly, or to determine if a URL you are adding to the
"block list" is already being blocked in a predefined
category.
Using Library Lookup
1. Click on the Library tab at the top 2.
Click on "Library Lookup" in the left column 3.
Type in the URL that you want to check in the URL field (make sure that
you start it with http://) 4. Click on the Lookup
button 5. Click OK when the pop- up box shows up
{The
acronyms listed will be changed by 8e6, so that they are easier to
identify. We may provide a list of acronyms and the category
that
they match up with as well.)
Override Accounts Override accounts allow web surfers the ability to
"bypass" the filtering up to the minimum filtering level. The minimum
filtering categories (porn and public proxies) will still be filtered.
Override accounts are useful for teachers who may need broader web
surfing abilities. Override accounts can easily be removed.
Managing Override Accounts
1. Click on the Group tab at the top
2.
Click on IP to expand it
3. Click on your District
Name
4. Select "Override Account"
At this screen, current override accounts may be removed, or new
accounts may be created. When creating an override account, you must
also enter a password.
Override accounts only apply to the group they were created in.
It will be important to ensure that override account privileges
aren't abused. Override accounts only have the minimum filtering level
enforced.
[Back]
Block Instant Messaging
With the 8e6 filter, each school has the option
of allowing or blocking instant messaging services like MS Messenger.
[Back]
Block Peer to Peer File Sharing Services
With the 8e6 filter, each school has the option of
allowing or blocking peer to peer file sharing services such as Kazaa,
Limewire, or Gnutella.
Block Peer to Peer Services
[Back]
Miscellaneous Filtering Options
There are several miscellaneous filtering options schools may find useful.
Managing Miscellaneous Filtering Options
1. Click on the Group
tab at the top
2. Click on IP to expand it
3. Click on your District Name to expand it
4. Click on the specific school you want to make changes for
(I.E. High School, Lab, etc.)
5. Click "Sub Group Profile"
6. Click the "Filter Options" tab
Explanation of Options
X Strikes Blocking
- This feature can dynamically block (lock out) an IP address from
accessing web content if that IP address has attempted to access
pornographic-related web sites five times within a five minute
span. It remains locked for 5 minutes. You probably should NOT
enable this if your school uses NAT.
Google Safe Search - This feature enforces Google's SafeSearch "Strict Filtering" option. Follow the link for details. (This feature is recommended.)
Search Engine Keyword Filter Control
- Filter search engine queries based on search keywords. The keywords
are predefined in the 8e6 content categories configured in a
school/group's filtering profile. (This feature is recommended.)
URL Keyword Filter Control
- This feature filters web pages based on keywords found in the URL of
the web page. The keywords are predefined in the 8e6 content categories
configured in
a school/group's filtering profile. (This feature is recommended.)
[Back]
Advanced Group Management
By default, ESU 10 has created only one
IP group per
school. For most schools one group is enough. For other schools there
is the option of creating more than one IP group. One advantage of
having more than one IP group for a school is that different filtering
policies can be applied to different IP groups. For example a school
may choose enforce strict web filtering rules in a student computer
lab, while allowing teachers more open access. This is possible as long
as the IP groups are divided into "natural" binary blocks of addresses.
In other words, an IP subgroup must be a subnet.
IP Subnetting and 8e6 IP Group Example
This example assumes a single class C network of 192.168.16.0 broken
down into 4 sub-networks.
Network/IP Subgroup
| Network Hosts/Subnet Mask
|
Filtering Policy
|
Server
Network
| 192.168.16.1 -
192.168.16.62
255.255.192.0
| Lax filtering
policy
| Teacher
Network
| 192.168.16.65 -
192.168.16.126
255.255.192.0
| Slightly restrictive
policy
| Student
Computer Labs
| 192.168.16.125 -
192.168.16.190
255.255.192.0
| Very strict
policy
| Office
Network
| 192.168.16.193 -
192.168.16.254
255.255.192.0
| Somewhat restrictive
policy
|
If you are interested in such a filtering configuration, you should
contact ESU 10. There are several considerations that should be taken
into account, which may include IP address availability, NAT,
DHCP/static IP addressing, and other network issues.
[Back]
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