Web filtering (Lotus Foundations)

From Nitix Knowledgebase

Web and content filtering

Lotus Foundations provides positive Web filtering, which is a feature that enables the system administrator to permit access to specific Internet sites, while blocking access to all others.

Enabling the Web filter

1. Select Web Server from WebConfig. The Web Server Setup screen is displayed.
2. In the Content filtering field, select Enable.
3. Click Save Changes.
4. Click Configure. The Web Filtering screen is displayed.

If you plan to use Web filtering in conjunction with Web caching, all proxy server settings must be removed.

Providing full internet access

To provide a specific workstation with access to all Internet sites, perform the following steps:

1. Enter their host name or IP address in the Workstations Exempt from Filtering section of the screen.
2. Click the check mark symbol to confirm the entry. The new entry is displayed in the list of workstations with full access.

To remove full access for a workstation, click the X action button located next to the workstation name or IP address. The exemption list can take up to two minutes to refresh.

Port exemptions

When enabled, the Lotus Foundations content filter monitors port 80 and all others above 1023 (1024-65535). If an application uses a port between 1024 and 65535, that you need to open, follow these steps to permit that application to bypass the content filter. Note that all other applications using this port also are exempt from Web filtering.

1. Enter the port number you want to exempt in the Ports Exempt From Filtering section.
2. Click the check mark to add the entry.

Adding Permitted Websites

For users to access a specific Web site, the administrator has to add it to the Permitted Web Sites list. By default, the Web sites lotus.com and ibm.com are automatically added.

To add a Web site you want to permit all users access to:

1. Enter the site’s name in the empty Add New Website field. To view the Permitted Web Site list, click Display Permitted Website List.
2. Click the check mark button to accept the change. The Web site you entered is now displayed in the Permitted Web Sites list.
• You can use wildcards to enable all prefixes of a given domain. For example, to enable www.example.com, my.home.example.com, and office.example.com, type:

*.example.com

• You can use wildcards in the place of any label (dot-separated block) within a domain name. To do this, replace any label of the domain with an asterisk. For example, in order to enable both example.com and example.org, type:

example.*

• The two rules above cannot be used at the same time. For example, *.example.* will permit www.example.com, office.example.org, but not my.home.example.org.

Adding denied Web sites

To manually add a denied Web site for the first time, perform the following steps:

1. Go to the Content Filtering section labeled Content Filtering Request Denials.
2. Enter the Web site address in the Add New Web site text box.
3. Enter the reason for denial. This section is optional.
4. Click the check mark action button to add the entry. Once this is done, the Content Filtering Request Denials box displays a link labeled Display Denied Website List. You can either click this link to view the current list and add new entries or add new entries on the main.

Accepting access requests

If a user has requested access to a Web site that has not been authorized, a notice is displayed in their browser.

The user can request that this site be authorized by the administrator by clicking the Request Access button.

The administrator can view the all the pending requests in the main Content Filtering section of WebConfig by clicking the link Display Pending List.

To accept or deny requests perform the following steps:

1. Click Display Pending List.
2. A list containing the requested sites is displayed. Choose to permit the site by clicking the check mark action button.

Users can now access the permitted Web site.

Denying access requests

To deny a requested Web site perform the following steps:

1. Click Display Pending List as you would if you were going to accept a request. The list of pending requests is displayed.
2. If you want to immediately deny the request, click the X action button. If you want to provide a reason, click the edit action button and enter it into the text box labeled Reason for Denial. When you are done, click Deny Request.

List management

The List Management feature enables you to import and customize content filtering lists from other Lotus Foundations servers. You can export and customize the local content filtering list to share with other Lotus Foundations servers.

Importing a list

To import a content filtering list you must first obtain an exported list from another Lotus Foundations server. Exporting lists is explained in the section immediately below. After this is done, proceed with the following steps:

1. Click List Management in the Content Filtering section. The List Management screen is displayed:
2. Choose whether or not you want the imported list to include the list of permitted websites. Click either the Enable or Disable radio button.
3. Choose whether or not you want the imported list to include the list of denied Web sites. Click either the Enable or Disable radio button.
4. Click the Browse button in the File To Import section and locate the file you want to import. The file name and path should now be displayed.
5. Click Import.

Exporting a list

To export a content filtering list perform the following steps:

1. Choose whether or not you want the exported list to include the list of permitted Web sites. Click either the Enable or Disable radio button.
2. Choose whether or not you want the exported list to include the list of denied Web sites. Click either the Enable or Disable radio button.
3. Click Export List. A text file is generated that you can save and use to port to another Lotus Foundations server.

Email reporting

The Lotus Foundations content filter can send instant email notifications every time a website has been requested, and email a daily report of all requested sites.

To use the email reporting options perform the following steps:

1. From the Content Filtering section, click Report Options. The Reporting screen is displayed.
2. Enter email address for the administrator in the Administrator's Email Address text box.
3. In the Time of Day for Daily Report field, choose the time of day that the daily report of pending content filtering requests is to be mailed to the administrator. 0:00 represents midnight.
4. To enable instant notification, set Instant Notification to Enabled. This feature requires the internal SMTP server to be enabled.
5. To enable daily reports, set Daily Reports to Enabled, and choose a time from the Time of Day for Daily Report drop-down menu. That this feature requires the internal SMTP server to be enabled.
6. Click Save Changes.

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