WebAdmin Guide Manage Filtering with the Netsweeper Policy Server and the Client Filter

Transcription

1 WebAdmin Guide Manage Filtering with the Netsweeper Policy Server and the Client Filter

2 Netsweeper Inc. 104 Dawson Road Guelph, Ontario N1H 1A7 Canada Phone: Fax: Marlowes Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP1 1LD United Kingdom Phone: No. 23/35 18th Ave. Ashok Nagar, Chennai India Phone: Fax: We have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this guide. However, Netsweeper Inc. makes no warranties with respect to the accuracy of this documentation and disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Netsweeper Inc. shall not be liable for any incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this guide or the included examples. The information in this documentation is subject to change without notice. Netsweeper and Netsweeper Inc. are trademarks or registered trademarks of Netsweeper Incorporated in Canada and/or in other countries. Other product names mentioned in this guide may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and are the sole property of their respective manufacturers. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide 2009 Netsweeper Inc. All rights reserved. iinetsweeper WebAdmin User Guide, Rel Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

3 About this User Guide The chart below lists what tasks each user account would probably perform. Account Holder Master Admin Admin Sysop User Common Tasks Manages installation of Netsweeper Policy Server and deployment of the client filters Monitors and manages the distribution of system resources Manages the System Tools Has overall management responsibility for the admins, sysops, and users Has access to all of the WebAdmin tools. Has no access to the WebAdmin System Tools Manages one or more groups, with their assigned users and policies Creates sysop accounts and manages one or more sysops Has less WebAdmin access than his or her supervising admin Manages policies, users, and groups only for those groups to which he or she is assigned, under the guidance of an admin. He or she typically has somewhat limited access to the WebAdmin tools. Sysops can only report on groups and clients assigned to them. Has very limited WebAdmin access, if at all May be assigned very limited sysop-like duties, such as the review of reports. Generally, a user can only access his or her own account. Contacting Technical Support Netsweeper Inc. is committed to providing exceptional service worldwide. If you require assistance during the installation, configuration, or use of any Netsweeper product, please contact the Netsweeper Technical Support team. Before you call Technical Support, please have: Your Netsweeper product license key Physical access to the server hardware used in your content-filtering solution Familiarity with your network architecture and server specifications You can Support 24 hours a day. support@netsweeper.com. We will respond during regular business hours (8am-5pm Eastern Time), Monday through Friday. You can also telephone Netsweeper Support during regular business hours, Monday through Friday. Telephone the Technical Support Centre nearest you: North America: United Kingdom: India: Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20, 2009 i

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5 Contents About this User Guide Contacting Technical Support... i i Introduction to the WebAdmin 1 Logging into the WebAdmin... 1 The WebAdmin Dashboard... 2 Tool Menus on the WebAdmin Menu Bar... 4 Managing Policies 7 About Policy Management... 8 About Groups... 8 About Policies... 8 About Clients... 8 About Time Segments... 8 Using the Policy Management Tools... 9 Creating a Group... 9 Deleting a Group Surf Using Group Assigning Policies to a Group Assigning Time Segments to a Policy Changing a Time Segment Viewing a Time Calendar Modifying a Policy s Category and Protocol Filtering Deleting a Client Adding Clients to Groups Using Search Keywords Using the Request Servers Tool Managing Accounts 31 Using the Account Manager Adding an Account Resetting a Password Resetting a Password from the Client Filter Manager Suspending an Account Using the Client Filter Manager Resetting a Password from the Client Filter Manager Generating an Uninstall Key Using the Customer Manager Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20, 2009 iii

6 Contents Managing URL and Protocol Categories 37 Category Management Custom Category Manager Category URL List Category Definitions Adding a Custom Category Adding URLs to the Category URL List What Are the Built-In Netsweeper Categories? Creating a New Category Adding URLs to the Category URL List Using the Reporting Tools 55 Creating Quick Reports Types of Quick Reports Using Quick Reports to Monitor Your Network Using Quick Demand Reports Using Quick Search Creating Custom Reports Choosing a Report Type Creating a Demand Report Creating a Scheduled Report Creating a Continuous Report Using the Request Log Using Advanced Reporting Features Using Report Filters Creating Simple Report Filters Using Report Groups Choosing Detail Groups Sorting a Report Using Graphs and Tables Using Options Configuring the Reporter Setting Report Restrictions Allowing Others to Use Quick Reports Using Logs 119 WebAdmin Log URL Alerts Log Message Log Remote Admin Log Directory Sync Log Request Log Files iv February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

7 Using URL Tools 125 Managing the URL Lists Deny Page Allow URL List System URL Lists Local URL/Keyword Lists Global URL Lists Category URL List Parsing a URL How Netsweeper Processes the Lists Creating URL Lists Adding a URL to a URL Lists Importing a URL list Adding URLs or Words to the Allow or Deny Lists Importing URL Lists Creating URL Alerts Using the Web Proxy Using the Your Account Tools 137 Changing your Password Changing your Theme (User Interface) Choosing a Theme Changing the WebAdmin Display Language Changing the WebAdmin Time Zone Setting the Default Paper Size for Printing Logging Out Deploying the Client Filters 143 Differences between the Two Client Filter Editions Organizing Filtering Profiles or Policies Residential Edition or Enterprise Edition? Residential Edition vs. Enterprise Edition Deploying the MSI version of the Client Filter Adding Multiple Clients Filtering Multiple Organizations Task Summary Creating a DNS Entry for Each Company Testing the DNS changes Filtering More than One Organization Deploying the MSI version of the Client Filter Deploying the Executable Version of the Client Filter Adding Multiple Clients Contents Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20, 2009 v

8 Contents Delegating Administration 149 Duties of the Master Admin Creating an Admin Account Creating a Sysop Account Managing Sysop Access to the WebAdmin Standard Sysop Access Possible Additional Sysop Permissions Recommended Sysop Access to the WebAdmin Permissions for the Client Filter Residential Edition Permissions for the Client Filter Enterprise Edition and the Enterprise Filter Changing Sysop Permissions Suspending an Account or Setting an Expiry Date Assigning a Range of IP Addresses to a Sysop Assigning a Group to an Account Removing a Group from a Sysop s Control Using the System Tools 165 Modifying a Global Deny Page Using the Remote Admin Tool to Test the Policy Servers Testing Deny Pages Applying Settings Managing System Configuration Using the Monitoring Tools 173 Viewing System Status Viewing Monitoring Graphs Sample Monitoring Graphs vi February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

9 Introduction to the WebAdmin The Netsweeper WebAdmin is browser-based software that the Netsweeper master administrator (master admin), administrators (admins) or system operators (sysops) use in managing the Netsweeper Internet content-filtering system. The WebAdmin is the dashboard or control centre for your Netsweeper policy server. This user guide explains how to use the Netsweeper WebAdmin software to create user groups, filtering policies, time segments, logs, and reports for managing your Netsweeper Internet content-filtering solution. It also explains how the master administrator can delegate some tasks to admins and sysops. Figure 1 WebAdmin, Business Theme Logging into the WebAdmin You will access the WebAdmin software a web browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Netscape, Safari, or Firefox. The address of your Netsweeper policy server has this format: Instead of $HOST, substitute either the host and domain names or the IP address of your Netsweeper policy server. Your network administrator or a Netsweeper user with admin privileges can provide the URL for the Netsweeper policy server, along with your user ID and password. You can save this address as a Favorite or Bookmark in your browser. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

10 Introduction to the WebAdmin The WebAdmin Dashboard To log in to the WebAdmin software: 1. Use your web browser to navigate to the URL of the WebAdmin/start page for your Netsweeper Policy Server. 2. Type in your username and password. If you are logging in for the first time, your default username is admin and your password is internet. 3. After you have logged in, the software will prompt you to change your password. Change it to the password you wrote down in your Installation Checklist. Figure 2 Change Admin s Password box displays after first login 4. Click Login. The WebAdmin Dashboard Below are two typical WebAdmin Dashboards. Depending on which Netsweeper product you are using, which theme you have applied, and which user privileges you have, you may not see some of these features or they may display in a somewhat different location. Figure 3 WebAdmin Dashboard, SMB Theme 2 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

11 Introduction to the WebAdmin The WebAdmin Dashboard Figure 4 WebAdmin Dashboard, School Theme Note Instructions in this guide assume that you are using one of these user Themes (interfaces): Business, School, and SMB. Some of the other Themes are no longer in common use, and we would recommend that you avoid using them. Table 1 Elements of the WebAdmin Dashboard Dashboard Object Function When you click one of these nine tool buttons, the menu options for that tool set will display as a dropdown list. Some of the interface Themes display all 44 of the tool buttons at once instead of as part of nine tool sets. Others show the menus in a frame on the left side of the page. You must use the scroll bar to display the menu you want to select. In each of these cases, you will click a tool button to open the page for that tool. Menu bar The Quick Links bar allows quick access to three areas of the WebAdmin: Reports, Status, and WebAdmin Log. Just click the link to view the appropriate page. Quick Links bar Task bar The WebAdmin task bar, located at the top right corner of the page, has three buttons: Home, Apply Settings, and Logout. Click Home to display the WebAdmin home page. Click Apply Settings to have the WebAdmin apply changes you have made to the various settings. Click Logout to log out of the WebAdmin. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

12 Introduction to the WebAdmin Tool Menus on the WebAdmin Menu Bar Dashboard Object Function The splash screen is strictly a design element. However, when you click an option on either the Menu Bar or the Quick Links bar, the page for that tool or option displays in this general area. Splash screen Click SUPPORT at the bottom of each WebAdmin page to go to the Netsweeper Support website. Link to Netsweeper Technical Support Tool Menus on the WebAdmin Menu Bar See Managing Accounts. See Managing Categories. See Managing Policies. See Using Monitoring Tools. See Using System Tools. See Using Report Tools. 4 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

13 Introduction to the WebAdmin Tool Menus on the WebAdmin Menu Bar See Using Logs. See Using URL Tools. See Using 'Your Account' Tools Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

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15 Managing Policies Rather than creating individual filtering policies for each user, it is more efficient to create groups of users who share the same filtering requirements affinity groups and then create one or more policies for each group. Table 2 Possible affinity groups Parents Young students Teenagers Office workers Parolees or persons under lawful monitoring Compulsive gamblers Teachers Library patrons Law enforcement workers This chapter describes how to create clients (users), groups, policies, and time segments and use them in managing your users and their Internet activity. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

16 Managing Policies Tool Menus on the WebAdmin Menu Bar About Policy Management Groups, policies, clients and time segments are key concepts used in managing your users and applying filtering policies to them. About Groups Grouping clients (Internet users) with similar filtering requirements offers greater efficiency for filtering management. A group can contain any number of users (called clients) and must contain at least one active filtering policy. About Policies A policy defines acceptable or unacceptable Internet content a group of clients. About Clients If you are using an external authentication system, you can use the users Windows ID or account user name as their Netsweeper account name. If you are not using an external authentication system, you will create a client account for each computer on your network, based on each computer's IP address. For roaming or off-network devices with a Netsweeper Client Filter installed, you will create a client based on the user's Windows Login name. Netsweeper automatically assigns Windows user names without a matching client in the WebAdmin to the default group. Note Never delete the default group from the WebAdmin. However, you can select a group of your creation to designate as the default group. Tip Assign limited or no Internet access to your default group. This ensures that all new clients are protected from offensive Internet content until you can assign them to the appropriate filtering group. You can only assign a client to one group at a time; however, you can change a client s group assignment later, if needed. About Time Segments A time segment is the period of time in which a policy governs the group members Internet activity. A group may have multiple policies, each with its own time segment. The time segments feature allows you to set more or less restrictive Internet filtering at different times of the day or night for a group of users. Only one policy is active at any time, and the active policy governs all clients in the group for its time segment. 8 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

17 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Using the Policy Management Tools The five Policy Management tools are all accessed from the Policy Management menu in the WebAdmin. Policy Management Group Manager Policy Manager Client Manager Search Keywords Request Servers Function Create and manage user groups Create and manage filtering policies on a per-user or pergroup basis Create and manage users Allows you to prevent Search Engine results from displaying for searches of specific objectionable keywords or phrases. Allows you to add remote request servers to those devices that Netsweeper allows to make URL requests through a Netsweeper filtering system. By default the Netsweeper does not allow categorization requests from remote request servers. Creating a Group You must create your groups before you can assign clients to them or create filtering policies for them. To create a group: 1. In the WebAdmin, select Group Manager from the Policy Management menu. 2. Click Add New Group. 3. On the Add New Group page, type in a name 1 for the group (for example, library patrons ) and a description of the group. Figure 5 Add New Group page 4. Select the Add default time policy 2 box. 1 Group names can only contain alphanumeric characters without spaces. If the group names you create do not conform to this standard, Netsweeper will display an error message. 2 You can later change the assigned time policy from the default. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

18 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools 5. Click Submit. The Group Policy page for this new group displays. 6. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Figure 6 Group Policy page You can also choose the group you want to serve as the default group 3, the group that Netsweeper will use for filtering any user not assigned to a group. After you create a group, you can clone the group, including all policies, by clicking Clone Group from the Group menu. Since clients can only belong to one group, Netsweeper does not copy clients to a cloned group. 7. If you make a mistake in creating a group, delete the group. 3 NEVER delete the default group. 10 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

19 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Deleting a Group To delete a group, select the check box for the group from the Group Manager and then click Delete. Surf Using Group For information on the Surf Using Group feature, see the Web Proxy Tech Note on the support site, at You can restrict the group to a range of IP addresses. Select Group Restrictions from the Group menu and type in the range of IP addresses to which you would like this group to apply. Figure 7 Policy page Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

20 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Assigning Policies to a Group A policy defines the filtering rules for every client (user) assigned to a specific group. To create a policy and assign it to a group: 1. Select Group Manager from the Policy Management menu. 2. Select the group name. 3. In the Policies section, click Add New Policy. 4. Type in a policy name and then click Submit. 5. Click Modify Categories. 6. Select the box by each category to which you want to block this group s access. 7. Click Submit. 8. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Assigning Time Segments to a Policy Time segments are blocks of time in a week. You can create multiple policies for one group, each with different degrees of Internet access, and assign them to become active at different time segments during the week. When you add a policy, you must apply time segments to it or the default time segments will apply. A color-coded time calendar in the WebAdmin displays a week with all the time segments with their policy assignments. See To assign time segments to a policy: 1. Select Group Manager from the Policy Management menu. 2. Select the group name. 3. Click Add New Time Segment in the Time Segments section. 4. Select the day and the time that you want this time segment 4 to start. You can also choose when you want the time segment to end, but this is not required. 5. Click Submit. 6. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. 4 Create multiple time segments at once by selecting more than one day for the time segment. For example, if you want the policy to start at 6 p.m. every day, select all seven days and type 18:00:00 as the time. 12 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

21 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Figure 8 Add time segments Changing a Time Segment To change the start time(s) or end time(s) for a policy: 1. Click Policy Management on the WebAdmin menu bar. 2. Click Group Manager on the drop-down menu. 3. Select the name of the group you want to modify. 4. Find the existing time segment in the Time Segments section and select the policy name. 5. Set the new start time or end time and then click Submit. 6. Select Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Figure 9 Modify Time Segment page Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

22 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Viewing a Time Calendar The Time Calendar is a visual representation of when your policies are active. It is an excellent tool to verify that you have set up the Time Segments to your liking. To view a group s time calendar: 1. Select Group Manager in the Policy Management menu. 2. Select the name of the group you want to modify. 3. Click View Time Calendar. Sample Calendar for a Group with One Time Segment If you want to use one policy at all times, you only need to create one policy. By default, new policies start at midnight on Sunday and remain active all the time. Figure 10 The calendar for a group with only one policy (the default) 14 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

23 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Sample Calendar for a Group with Two Time Segments If you want to run one policy during the week and another on weekends, you can set the Weekdays policy to start Monday at 0:00:00 and set the Weekends policy to start Saturday at 0:00:00. The following screen capture is the Time Calendar for this example: Figure 11 Time calendar for a group with two policies Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

24 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Sample Calendar for a Group with Three Policies If you want to create a group with policies for limited access during business hours, moderate access during lunch, and unrestricted access after business hours, you can set up something like the following: 1. Limited access on Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 17: Moderate access on Monday through Friday at 12:00 to 13: Unrestricted access beginning the first day of the week (0:00 on Sunday). This arrangement of three policies and their time segments would look like this: Figure 12 Time Calendar for three policies 16 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

25 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Changing the Filtering for a Policy To change the categories or protocols filtering for a policy: 1. Click Policy Management on the WebAdmin menu bar. 2. Click Policy Manager from the drop-down Policy Management menu. 3. Select the name of the policy you want to modify. 4. Find the Default Status to confirm the policy uses black list filtering. This is the recommended mode. If the policy uses white list filtering, confirm with the master admin that white list is the intended mode. 5. Click Modify Categories in the Categories section. 6. Select the option of which policies you want to change. 7. If you are using black list filtering, select all categories and protocols to which you want to block access. If you are using white list filtering, select all categories and protocols to which you want to allow access. 8. Click Submit. 9. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. 10.Now you have a choice: If you click Specify Deny Page in the Policy Manager, choose whether to use the Global Deny Page, the Group Deny Page, a Custom Deny Page or to log only. If you click Custom Deny Page, you can modify the Deny Pages for each group separately. You also can choose what you want to log for the policy. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

26 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Cloning a Policy 5 To clone a policy: 1. On the WebAdmin menu bar, click Policy Management and then select Policy Manager from the Policy Management dropdown menu. 2. Click the name of the policy you want to clone in the Policy Name column. This displays the page for that policy. At the top of the page, click Clone Policy. Figure 13 Clone Policy button at top of Policy page for Policy 141_Blocked_Domains 3. The cloned policy page displays. In the Policy Name box, type a name for the cloned policy and then click Submit. 4. A notice will describe what has been copied from the old policy. Time segments are not cloned, but the deny page, local allow and deny lists, and the Protocol and URL category list are all copied into the new policy. Click Continue. 5. The detail page for the cloned policy now displays. You can modify the policy, changing the Deny Page, Default Status, Categories, Global URL Lists, Local URL/Keyword List, and so on. 5 Time segments assigned to a policy will not clone with the cloning of the policy. 18 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

27 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Deleting a Policy 6 To delete a policy. select the checkbox beside the policy name in the Policy Manager and then click Delete. For more information on the Surf Using Policy feature, see the Web Proxy Technical Note on the support site, at You could also change the status to white list (Allow selected categories) or black list (Deny selected categories) of the categories chosen. If you clear the check box by Global Deny and Allow Lists, then the lists will not apply to this policy. Adding Clients by User Name For each Netsweeper Client Filter user, create a client within a group. This client should be based on the Windows user name. You must first log into the WebAdmin before you can create a client. To create a client within a group: 1. Select Group Manager from the Policy Management menu. 2. Select the group 7 to which you want to add this client. 3. In the Clients section, click Add New Client. 4. If you want this to be a temporary client, type in an expiry date. 5. Click Authorized By Client Name. 6. Type the user's Windows login name in lowercase as the Client Name. 7. Select any categories you want to block for this client only. 8. Click Submit. 9. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. 6 Do not delete the default policy, as this may cause filtering errors. You can, however, change the policy that is designated as the default policy. 7 If there are a number of groups, use the Search box or advance through the pages by clicking the page number. You can also sort a page alphabetically by group clicking the first letter in the Group name below the Search box. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

28 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Adding Clients by Password This option is for use with the Enterprise Filter, more specifically with Squid. To add a client to a group by password: 1. Select Group Manager from the Policy Management menu. 2. Select the group 8 to which you want to add this client. 3. In the Clients section, click Add New Client. 4. If you want this to be a temporary client, type in an expiry date. 5. Click Authorized By Password. 6. Type in the user's exact Windows login name as the Client Name and type in a password for the user. 7. Select any categories you want to block only for this client. 8. Click Submit. 9. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Adding Clients by IP address If you are using the Enterprise Filter and not using any external authentication methods, such as Radius or Active Directory, you can assign clients based on the IP address of their computer. To add clients to a group by their computer IP address: 1. In the WebAdmin, create a client account for each user based on the user s Windows user ID. 2. Select Group Manager from the Policy Management menu. 3. Select the group to which you want to add this client. Use the Search box or advance through the pages by clicking the page number. Pages can also be sorted alphabetically by clicking the first letter in the group name below the Search box. 4. In the Clients section, click Add New Client. 5. If you want this to be a temporary client, type in an expiry date. 6. Click Computer Address. 8 Use the Search field or advance through the pages by clicking the page number. You can sort pages alphabetically by Group name by clicking the first letter in the Group name below the Search box. 20 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

29 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools 7. Type in the user's exact Windows login name as the Client Name and the computer s IP Address. 8. Select any categories you want to block for this client only. 9. Click Submit. 10.Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Adding Clients by Network Subnet This option is for use with the Enterprise Filter. If you have many users in a range of IP addresses that you would like to filter in the same group, you can add them all at once using a network subnet. To add clients to a group by their network subnet: 1. In the WebAdmin, select Group Manager from the Policy Management menu. 2. Find the group that you want to add this client to and then click it. If you don't have a lot of groups created yet, you should be able to scroll down to find the group. If you do have many groups created, you may need to use the Search box or advance through the pages by clicking the page number. Pages can also be sorted alphabetically by clicking the first letter in the group name below the Search box. 3. In the Clients section, click Add New Client. 4. If you want this to be a temporary client, type in an expiry date. 5. Click Network Subnet. 6. Type in the user's exact Windows login name as the Client Name, the user s IP Address, and the Subnet Mask. 7. Select any categories you only want to block for this client. 8. Click Submit. 9. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

30 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Figure 14: Add client to the group Teachers Adding Multiple Clients In many businesses, it is important to be able to identify specific users in reports, such as employees, managers, administrators, or visitors. If you use an authentication service, such as Microsoft Active Directory, you can assign users to groups and then replicate those group names on the Netsweeper Policy Server. Netsweeper supports Microsoft Active Directory, LDAP, Novell, and Radius authentication methods and has a robust API to integrate with other authentication systems. For more information on synchronizing from Active Directory, go to the Netsweeper support site at Modifying a Policy s Category and Protocol Filtering To change the categories or protocols blocked for a particular policy: 1. Select Policy Manager from the Policy Management menu. 2. Find the policy you want to modify and then click the policy name. 3. Find the Default Status to confirm the policy uses black list filtering (the recommended mode for filtering). If the policy instead uses white list filtering, confirm with the master admin that white list is the intended mode. 4. Click Modify Categories in the Categories section. 5. Select the option of which policies you want to change. 6. If you are using black list filtering, select all categories and protocols to which you want to block access. If you are using white list filtering, select all categories and protocols to which you want to allow access. 7. Click Submit. 22 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

31 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools 8. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. 9. If you click Specify Deny Page in the Policy Manager, you are given the choice whether to use the Global Deny Page, the Group Deny Page, a Custom Deny Page or to log only. 10.If you click Custom Deny Page, you can modify the Deny Pages for each group separately. You are also given the choice of what you want to log for the policy. Deleting a Client To delete a client from a group: 1. Select Client Manager from the Policy Management menu. 2. Select the checkbox beside the client name you want to delete. 3. Click Delete. To move a client to another group: 1. Select Client Manager from the Policy Management menu. 2. Select the client name. 3. Choose the new group from the Group menu and then click Submit. 4. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Figure 15 Client Manager Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

32 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Adding Clients to Groups There are four methods for adding clients to groups by user name, password, IP address, or network subnet. The instructions for adding a client by user name are below. See the Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide for details on the other methods. You can also add multiple clients. See Adding Multiple Clients in the Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide. Adding Clients by User Name For each Netsweeper Client Filter user, create a client within a group. This client should be based on a user s Windows user name. To add a client by Windows user name: 1. On the WebAdmin menu bar, select Group Manager from the Policy Management menu. 2. Select the group to which you want to add this client. If there are a number of groups, use the Search box or advance through the pages by clicking the page number. You can also sort a page alphabetically by group clicking the first letter in the Group name below the Search box. 3. In the Clients section, click Add New Client. 4. If you want this to be a temporary client, type in an expiry date. 5. Click Authorized By Client Name. 6. Type the user's Windows login name in lowercase as the Client Name. 7. Select any categories you want to block for this client only. 8. Click Submit. 9. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Adding Clients by Password This option is for use with the Enterprise Filter, more specifically with Squid. You must first log into the WebAdmin to create a client. To add a client to a group by password: 1. On the WebAdmin menu bar, select Group Manager from the Policy Management menu. 2. Select the group to which you want to add this client. If there are a number of groups, use the Search box or advance through the pages by clicking the page number. You can also sort a page alphabetically by group clicking the first letter in the Group name below the Search box. 3. In the Clients section, click Add New Client. 24 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

33 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools 4. If you want this to be a temporary client, type in an expiry date. 5. Click Authorized By Password. 6. Type in the user's exact Windows login name as the Client Name and type in a password for the user. 7. Select any categories you want to block only for this client. 8. Click Submit. 9. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Adding Clients by IP Address If you are using the Enterprise Filter and not using any external authentication methods, such as Radius or Active Directory, you can assign clients based on the IP address of their computer. To add clients to a group by their computer IP address: 1. Create a client account for each user based on the user s Windows user ID. 2. Select Group Manager from the Policy Management menu. 3. Select the group to which you want to add this client. Use the Search box or advance through the pages by clicking the page number. Pages can also be sorted alphabetically by clicking the first letter in the group name below the Search box. 4. In the Clients section, click Add New Client. 5. If you want this to be a temporary client, type in an expiry date. 6. Click Computer Address. 7. Type in the user's exact Windows login name as the Client Name and the computer s IP Address. 8. Select any categories you want to block for this client only. 9. Click Submit. 10.Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Adding Clients by Network Subnet This option is for use with the Enterprise Filter. If you have many users in a range of IP addresses that you would like to filter in the same group, you can add them all at once using a network subnet. To add clients to a group by their network subnet: 1. In the WebAdmin, select Group Manager from the Policy Management menu. 2. Find the group that you want to add this client to and then click it. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

34 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools If you don't have a lot of groups created yet, you should be able to scroll down to find the group. If you do have many groups created, you may need to use the Search box or advance through the pages by clicking the page number. Pages can also be sorted alphabetically by clicking the first letter in the group name below the Search box. 3. In the Clients section, click Add New Client. 4. If you want this to be a temporary client, type in an expiry date. 5. Click Network Subnet. 6. Type in the user's exact Windows login name as the Client Name, the user s IP Address, and the Subnet Mask. 7. Select any categories you only want to block for this client. 8. Click Submit. 9. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Figure 16: Add client to the group Teachers 26 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

35 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Adding Multiple Clients In many businesses, it is important to be able to identify specific users in reports, such as employees, managers, administrators, or visitors. If you use an authentication service, such as Microsoft Active Directory, you can assign users to groups and then replicate those group names on the Netsweeper Policy Server. Netsweeper supports Microsoft Active Directory, LDAP, Novell, and Radius authentication methods and has a robust API to integrate with other authentication systems. For more information on synchronizing from Active Directory, go to the Netsweeper support site at Modifying a Client To delete a client from a group: 1. Click Policy Management on the WebAdmin s menu bar. 2. Select Client Manager from the Policy Management menu. 3. Select the checkbox beside the client name you want to delete. 4. Click Delete. Moving a Client to Another Group To move a client to another group: 1. In the WebAdmin, select Client Manager from the Policy Management menu. 2. Select the client name. 3. Choose the new group from the Group menu and then click Submit. 4. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

36 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Figure 17: Global Client Manager Using Search Keywords 9 Search Keywords is an application listed on the Policy Management menu. To open the Search Keywords page, click Policy Management on the WebAdmin menu bar and then click Search Keywords from the resulting dropdown menu. The Search Keywords tool allows you to create a list of objectionable words or phrases on which you want to prevent users from performing Internet searches. If a user visits a Search Engine and searches for one of these words, the page will be denied. This only works for URLs that have been categorized as a search engine site. The filter will block sites like or if a URL contains any of the search keywords. Use the Category URL List to assign a Search Engine site to a URL, if you want the search keywords to apply. For example: as a search engine site would enforce search keywords on all websites. 9 You can turn this feature off in a policy. 28 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

37 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Figure 18: Search Keywords tool, page 1 (partial) of 3 The Add New Keyword function will add a new search keyword, which will be blocked in Search Engine Site URLs. You can create two different types of keywords: regular and encoded. If you copied the keyword a browser URL address bar, it is encoded. Encoding the keyword replaces any non-alphanumeric characters, except the hyphen (-), underline (_), and period (.), with a percent (%) sign followed by the character s 2-digit hex equivalent. Spaces are replaced by plus (+) signs. You cannot add a word already in the list. You can also importing a list from a comma- or tab-delimited text file. Export the current list by clicking Export. Using the Request Servers Tool Request servers are those devices that Netsweeper allows to make URL requests through a Netsweeper filtering system. By default, Netsweeper does not allow categorization requests from remote request servers. If you want to allow access to remote request servers, you must use the Request Servers tool to notify the Policy Server of their existence. This is the same as the request_server entries in the file nsd.conf. You will add both the Site Name and IP Address or IP Range information to register a Request Server with the Netsweeper Policy Server. Optionally, you can indicate a range of IP addresses by typing CIDR /XX at the end of an IP Address. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

38 Managing Policies Using the Policy Management Tools Allowing any IP Address as a Request Server To allow any IP address to serve as a request server, add the address Note When possible, type in a more restrictive mask than to increase the security of the policy server. To add a Request Server: 1. Select Request Servers from the Policy Management menu. 2. Click Add New Request Server. 3. Type in a descriptive site name to identify the IP or IP range you are adding, such as Netsweeper Client Filter Users. 4. Type as the IP address. 5. Select the Active check box. Clear all of the check boxes below this box. 6. Click Add New. 7. Click Apply Settings from the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Figure 19: Add a new Request Server 30 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

39 Managing Accounts The Account Management tools allow you to create sysop and admin users and assign them groups to delegate administration tasks. They also allow you to manage the Netsweeper Client Filter accounts. Account Management menu Account Management 10 Account Manager Client Filter Manager Customer Manager Function Manage client accounts (including resetting passwords), create admin and sysop accounts and delegate administration tasks, Manage client filters Manage customers When you create an account, you have the option to give an expiry date. You can also suspend an account. Using the Account Manager Adding an Account To add an account: 1. Click Account Management on the WebAdmin menu bar. 2. Select Account Manager from the drop-down list. 3. Click Add New Account. The Add New Account page displays. 10 For more information on delegating administrative tasks to system operators (sysops), see the Sysop Permissions Guide at Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

40 Managing Accounts Using the Account Manager Figure 20 Add New Account page 4. Complete the Account Information on the Add New Account page, making sure that you complete the Login Name, Organization, Account Password, and Verify Password boxes. 5. Select a classification for the user: Admin, Sysop, or User. 6. If the new account is for a sysop, you can clone the sysop permissions from another account, if another sysop account has been created. Click the down arrow in the box to the right of Sysop and select an option from the resulting list. 7. Set an expiry date for the account by clicking the calendar tool and selecting a date. 8. Select a theme (interface) for the account by clicking the down arrow in the box to the right of Theme and selecting an option from the resulting list. 9. If this account will have its own group policy and not use one you have previously created, select the box by Create Account Group Policy. 10.Click Submit. 11.A message will display at the top of the page advising you that the account has been added. 12.Click Apply Settings on the taskbar to load the new account into all of the policy servers. 13.Click Apply. 32 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

41 Managing Accounts Using the Account Manager Resetting a Password To reset an account password: 1. Click Account Management on the WebAdmin menu bar. 2. Select Account Manager from the drop-down list. 3. Find the account name in the Accounts list and click the Edit button beside it (in the Actions column). Figure 21 Account Manager window with Accounts list. The Account Information page for that account will display. 4. Create a new password for the account and type it in both the Account Password and Verify Password boxes. 5. Click Submit. 6. Click Apply Settings on the taskbar to load the new account into all of the policy servers. 7. Click Apply. You can also reset a password in the Client Filter Manager. Resetting a Password from the Client Filter Manager To reset a password in the Client Filter Manager: 1. On the WebAdmin menu bar, click Account Management and select Client Filter Manager from the drop-down list. 2. Find the account Login Name in the Accounts list, and Click Modify in the Actions column, to the left of the account name. 3. This displays the Client Filter Manager page for that account. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

42 Managing Accounts Using the Client Filter Manager 4. Click Change Password beside the Actions box. 5. On the Change [Login Name] s Password page, type the new password in the New Password and New Password Again box and then click Submit. 6. Click Apply Settings on the taskbar to load the new account into all of the policy servers. 7. Click Apply. Suspending an Account To suspend an account: 1. In the WebAdmin, select Account Manager from the Account Management menu. 2. Click Edit beside the account you want to suspend. 3. Click Suspend/Resume Account. 4. Select the checkbox beside the option you want to disable and then click Submit. (To resume an account, clear the checkboxes and then click Submit.) 5. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Using the Client Filter Manager On the Client Filter Management page, you can: 1. Reset or remove installs once an account has reached its install limit. 2. Reset a user account password. 3. Upload a new version of the Netsweeper Client Filter. 4. Generate uninstall keys, used to uninstall the Netsweeper Client Filter when a user has forgotten a password and the affected computer has no Internet connection to use in retrieving a new password. With the Client Filter Management permission, you can uninstall any Netsweeper Client Filter using the same Policy Server, even those outside of its group it belongs to. You can also install the Netsweeper Client Filter on virtually an unlimited number of computers under the same account. For these reasons, we recommend that only admin users have access to these advanced functions. The Client Filter Manager allows you to assume the identity of the account for testing purposes. You can adjust the maximum number of installs, maximum number of profiles, set an expiry date for the account, or change the password, by clicking Modify beside the account. You can reset the number of installs to zero for an account by clicking Reset Installs. You can reset the accounts preferences for the Profile Manager by clicking Reset Preferences. You can use the Release Manager to upload a new version of the Netsweeper Client Filter and then when users log on, it will tell them to update with newer version. 34 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

43 Managing Accounts Using the Customer Manager Resetting a Password from the Client Filter Manager To reset a password in the Client Filter Manager: 1. On the WebAdmin menu bar, click Account Management and select Client Filter Manager from the drop-down list. 2. Find the account Login Name in the Accounts list, and Click Modify in the Actions column, to the left of the account name. 3. This displays the Client Filter Manager page for that account. 4. Click Change Password beside the Actions box. 5. On the Change [Login Name] s Password page, type the new password in the New Password and New Password Again box and then click Submit. 6. Click Apply Settings on the taskbar to load the new account into all of the policy servers. 7. Click Apply. Generating an Uninstall Key When a user wants to remove or reinstall a client filter on his computer, the software will generate a security key and notify the user to contact his or her admin or sysop for an uninstall key. The admin or sysop will then generate an Uninstall Key in the Client Filter Manager. However, if a user forgets his or her password and does not intend to uninstall the client filter, the admin or sysop merely resets the password in the Account Manager. To generate an uninstall key: 1. Click Account Management on the WebAdmin menu bar. Select Client Filter Manager from the resulting dropdown menu. 2. Click Uninstall Key Generator. 3. Type in the six-digit Security key that the user provides. 4. Click Generate Key. Figure 22: Uninstall Key Generator Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

44 Managing Accounts Using the Customer Manager Using the Customer Manager This is used primarily by ISPs with families as clients. 36 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

45 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Figure 23 Category Management menu options Category Management The Category Management tools allow an admin or sysop to manage the blocked or allowed URL and protocol categories and create custom categories. Table 3 Category Management Menu Options Category Management Tool Custom Category Manager Category URL List Category Definitions Function This tool allows you to create or redefine filtering categories and assign URLs to these categories This tool lists the built-in and custom URL and protocol filtering categories. This is a list of the category definitions for all the built-in categories used by Netsweeper. You can sort the category definitions by category name, group or number or search the category definition list. Custom Category Manager The Custom Category Manager allows the addition and maintenance of custom categories. Any category you create will show up in your Category Definitions. It will also show up in the logs and reports for your users when they try to access a URL that you have added as part of a new category. Category URL List Netsweeper allows you to override the categories assigned to a particular site by adding that URL to an Allow or Deny list. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

46 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Category Definitions The Category Definitions page contains Netsweeper s official definitions of what type of content a page must contain to be included into each of the available categories. Additionally, if you create a new category, it will also show up in the Category Definitions page in the WebAdmin. You can sort the definitions by name, number, or group. If you are looking for a particular category, you can search the list by keyword. Figure 24: Add a Custom Category Adding a Custom Category It is possible for you to create your own custom categories. These are categories that you want to filter or monitor, that are not in the Netsweeper default categories. The maximum number of custom categories is seven. To add a custom category: 1. Select Custom Category Manager from the Category Management menu. 2. Click Add New Category. 3. Type in the Category name and a short description of the category. 4. Click Submit. 5. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. 6. Add the list of URLs you want to associate with the category. 38 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

47 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Adding URLs to the Category URL List If there are URLs that you want to filter as part of a category, or URLs that you feel are incorrectly categorized, you can add them to the Category URL List and choose the category to which they belong. To add a URL to the Category URL List: 1. Select Category URL List from the Category Management menu, or click Custom Category Manager from the WebAdmin menu bar and then click Modify Category URL List. 2. Click Add New URL. 3. Type in the URL (See How URL Lists???, for proper syntax.) and select the checkbox by any categories to which you want it assigned. Custom categories are at the bottom. 4. Click Submit. 5. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. 6. Click the created link to check the URL address. 7. To edit the URL, click Edit beside the URL address. Tip If you have many URLs to add, import a list. Use the Categories Definitions page to find the category numbers, which are the keywords in this case. What Are the Built-In Netsweeper Categories? Internet filtering fundamentally revolves around a filtering company s ability to categorize a URL. Netsweeper provides more than 50 different URL categories for you to use in filtering Internet content. The following pages list the Netsweeper categories visible to the user/administrator. There are also a number of internal categories that are generally invisible to the user/administrator that are used to manage error conditions and internal processing. It is possible for a URL to belong to more than one category. The Netsweeper categories can be filtered in black list or white list mode. In black list mode, when you choose a category, users will be blocked from going to or seeing any URL that has been determined to belong to that category. For example, when you select the Sports category, users are not allowed to go to URLs that are determined to be sports websites. In white list mode, when you select a category, you are only allowed to go to URLs in that category. A common question is whether Netsweeper has a Child Safe category. This is an example of a white list category. To achieve this goal, you can import a list of acceptable websites and block all others. The following list contains the categories that Netsweeper currently filters. The URLs listed are representative but not a complete list. Example websites were active at the time of writing. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

48 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Adult Filtering Group This group includes URLs that reference, discuss, or show pornography, pictures, videos, or sexually oriented material. It includes nudity, soft and hard-core pornography, sadomasochism, bestiality, child porn, fetishes, stories, adult magazines, toys, or sex-related products or purchases. Table 4 Adult Filtering Group Categories Adult Category No. Description Adult Image Alcohol Alternative Lifestyles Criminal Skills 230 This category is similar to Pornography, but based on the content of images instead of text. 160 This category includes URLs that reference alcohol, including wine, spirits, beer, cocktail recipes, homemade alcohol, or any other alcoholic drink. It also includes information about bars, pubs, nightclubs, bartending, liquor sales, as well as hangovers and other side effects of alcohol. Examples Ontario Wine Society - The Beer Store - Cocktail Recipes This category includes URLs that reference habits or behaviors related to social relations, dress, or recreation. These behaviors are typically important enough to significantly influence the lives of a sector of the population and hence can be used as a basis of social classification. Websites assigned to this category are not pornographic, but may deal with lifestyle choices that are sexual in nature. Examples Euro Naturist - American Vegan Society - EatVeg This category includes URLs that reference instructions or methods that promote, encourage, or provide the skills to do anything that is generally considered to be illegal, criminal, harmful to the general public, and/or that are forbidden by laws. This category does not necessarily reflect the laws of any particular region or country. This category includes websites that promote academic cheating or software hacking/key breaking. It typically excludes any website that deals with the prevention of criminal activity. Examples Lock Picking - Free For Essays February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

49 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Adult Category No. Description Extreme 9 Extreme websites contain things that are considered far from normal. These URLs are categorized as such for their degree of intensity. The pages are usually violent and may depict or promote torture, mutilation, eating disorders, or other dangerous or disturbing activities. This category does not include pornographic fetishes or widely accepted "extreme sports", such as rock climbing, skiing, or other achievements. Examples Rate my Poo - World of Death - Faces of Death - Gambling 10 This category includes websites that directly provide the ability to place a bet or to determine the outcome of a bet, as well as websites that promote or facilitate gambling. It also includes websites that range from purely factual to strategic to cheating, websites related to lotteries or looking up winning numbers, bingo websites, and websites that are for sports betting. This category excludes websites that are clearly support websites for gambling addiction. Examples Casinos Online - Online Gambling - Poker - Hate Speech 13 Hate Speech is the portrayal (written, verbal, illustrated, etc) of views that are intentionally overwhelmingly critical or offensive to a person. It is intended to degrade, intimidate, or incite violent or prejudicial actions against someone based on race, ethnic affiliation, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or profession. Any description of one of these groups or group members that uses strong or crude language, explicit sexual references, or obscene gestures is considered Hate Speech. Match Making Examples KKK - Symbols of Hate Match Making is the process of introducing people for the purpose of dating, mating, and friendship. The URLs in this category include topics related to dating services, dating advice and tips, relationships, listings or personal advertisements, and on-line dating services. Examples Lavalife - Speed Dating Toronto - Dating Tips and Love Advise - Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

50 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Adult Category No. Description Occult 5 This category includes websites involving the study of secret or hidden knowledge such as: cults, supernatural forces and events, occult lore, vampires, astrology, witchcraft, mysterious symbols, and other phenomena beyond ordinary understanding. It includes websites about these topics that are historical or factual in nature and/or promote such practices. Examples Occult Books, Ritual Magic Books, Spell Books - Wicca Occult Witchcraft - Pornography 23 This category includes URLs that reference, discuss, or show pornography, pictures, videos, or sexually oriented material. This category includes nudity, soft and hard-core pornography, sadomasochism, bestiality, child porn, fetishes, stories, adult magazines, toys, or any sexual related purchase. This category excludes sex education websites. Profanity Substance Abuse Weapons Examples Playboy - Hustler This category includes websites with words that are generally considered obscene, vulgar, or derogatory. This includes sexual and racist slang. Examples Profane Lyrics - Profane Spoof of MADD This category includes URLs that provide information on illegal drugs used for recreational rather than medical purposes, or URLs that promote the abuse of legal drugs. This category includes websites that promote the use of any substance that produces a hallucinated effect on self or others. It excludes informational websites that are clearly intended to provide description of drugs and substances, their negative effects, and addiction potential. Example Marihuana This category includes websites with information related to the promotion, sale, or discussion of weapons. Weapons are any form of device used in combat that can injure or kill, such as guns, knives, or swords. Websites with information on how to build weapons or bombs are included in Criminal Skills. Examples Nuclear Weapons - Guns & Ammo - Advanced Filtering Group The advanced group includes Internet functions such as file sharing and instant messaging, as well as categories specific to Netsweeper. 42 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

51 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Table 5 Advanced Filtering Group Categories Advanced Category No. Description File Sharing 152 is a protocol that allows you to send and receive text, HTML, images, and other data files. 150 File sharing is the sharing and delivery of user specified files among groups of people who are logged on to a file sharing network. Napster was the first mainstream peer to peer software that enabled large-scale file sharing. General 45 This category includes URLs that do not belong to any other category. The majority of the Internet is assigned to this category. Do not block this category unless you are filtering in an allow list only mode. Global List Images Instant Messaging Invalid Serial IWF Local List Misc Protocols Example University of Alberta Library Global List is a list category that indicates the requested URL was found in a global allow or deny list. This is a list of systemwide URLs that have been deemed by the administrator of the Policy Server as appropriate or inappropriate. The global lists are set on the Policy Server and are applied for all users using that Policy Server. 253 The Images category includes URLs for an image file, determined by file name extension (Example: Generally, Images should not be blocked. 151 Instant Messaging is a form of electronic communication that involves immediate correspondence between two or more users who are online simultaneously. This includes text-based clients, as well as voice and video capable Instant Messaging clients. 100 The Netsweeper Distribution Server returns the Invalid Serial category when it detects the serial number of the Policy Server is invalid. (The Policy Server sends its serial number to the NDS with each categorization request.) The Policy Server then displays an Invalid Serial Number deny page to the user. All pages will be denied until the Policy Server serial number is corrected or properly registered with the Distribution Server network. 108 Websites in this category have been identified by the Internet Watch Foundation as containing potentially illegal child abuse images. URLs in this category are omitted from all reports. This list is not managed by Netsweeper. For more information, see IWF's website at Local List is a list category that indicates the requested URL was found in a local allow or deny list. (For the Client Filter Residential Edition, this is the allow/deny list for the account as set in the Profile Manager. For the Enterprise Filter and the Client Filter Enterprise Edition, it is the allow/deny list set for each specific Group.) 154 These are other application protocols like FTP and Newsgroups (NNTP). Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

52 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Advanced Category No. Description Network Timeout Network Unavailable New URL No Text Override Filtering 246 The Network Timeout category indicates that the Policy Server could not obtain a category due to network latency or congestion. The New URL category is always assigned to the categorization request made when a Network Timeout occurs. 252 The Network Unavailable category indicates the Policy Server could not communicate with the Category Naming Service. This can be caused by Internet connectivity issues or other technical reasons. Categorization of new content will be unavailable until the problem has been corrected. The New URL category is always assigned to the categorization request made when the Network is unavailable. 254 New URL is a temporary category assigned to a URL that has not been categorized before or whose categorization has expired. Blocking the New URL blocks any URL that has not already been categorized or whose categorization has timed out. Normally, revisiting a URL immediately after being denied as New URL will return the appropriate category for the URL (it takes about one second to categorize a URL). If you block New URL you are failing closed (deny) on any new URL; if you do not block New URL you are failing open (allow) on any new URL. 248 No Text is used when the file extension of this page is not recognizable by the Categorization Engine. Blocking is entirely based on the file extension. Generally, No Text pages should not be blocked. 103 Override Filtering is a system category indicating that filtering for this user/group is disabled and access is allowed to URLs that would otherwise be blocked. All requests are still logged and sent to the Reporting Server. Redirector Page 47 This category indicates a URL that redirects the user to another page. Do not block this category unless you are filtering in an allow list only mode. Streaming Media System List Unauthorized Access Unknown Category 155 These are application protocols like Shoutcat, itunes, RealPlayer, Winamp, etc. 107 System List is a list category that indicates the requested URL was found in a system allow or system deny list. This is a list of systemwide URLs that have been deemed by the administrator of the Policy Server as appropriate or inappropriate. The system lists are set on the Policy Server and are applied for all filters using that Policy Server. The System List overrides the Global and Local Lists. 101 Unauthorized Access is a system category used when the Policy Server can not assign the user to a Group Policy and there is no default Group defined. It is also known as Unknown IP since the request cannot be associated with a filtering group. 106 Any categories that the Reporter does not recognize are reassigned to 'Unknown Category'. If this category starts to appear in your reports, Netsweeper has changed some of its categories or has made some new categories available. If this occurs, we recommended that you contact Netsweeper to upgrade the categories on your Policy Server. 44 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

53 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Advanced Category No. Description Voice Over IP (VOIP) 153 Voice Over IP allows one to conduct telephone conversations over an Internet connection. Calls to other VOIP users are often free, while tolls are charged for calls to regular telephone and mobile telephone numbers. WebAdmin Access 102 WebAdmin Access is a system category indicating that the WebAdmin was accessed. This can indicate the deny page was displayed to the user. Entertainment Filtering Group The Entertainment group contains categories that involve harmless entertainment, such as sports and games. Table 6 Entertainment Filtering Group Categories Entertainment Category No. Description Arts & Culture 2 Art is a product of human creativity. It is the creation of meaningful things; yet it does not need to be innovative to be good. Culture refers to human activity. Varying definitions of culture reflects the different theories for understanding and valuing human activity. Art that includes the human body with an erotic intent is typically included in this category and the pornography category. Examples Metropolitan Museum of Art - The Gallery of China - Cultural Traditions - Entertainment 8 Entertainment includes all things pertaining to music, recreation, amusements, fan clubs, gossip, celebrities, movies, or any other form of casual diversion. This category also includes personal websites devoted to movies and television shows. Websites overwhelmingly critical of an entertainer or group are categorized as Hate Speech. Examples E! Online - The Internet Movie Database - Warner Bros - Games 11 This category includes websites that have games or information about games, electronic games, computer games, card games, board games, Internet games, and so on. This category also includes strategies, cheats, and any websites that promote game makers, websites, or sellers. Examples Miniclip - Games - Game Experts - Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

54 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Entertainment Category No. Description Humor 14 This category includes URLs that entertain or make people laugh and feel happy. It includes jokes, funny pictures, comic pages, comedy clubs etc. This category could include some profane humor. Examples Aha! Jokes - All Funny Pictures - Funny Pictures - Sports 24 This category includes any physical activity for the recreational purpose of competition or self enjoyment. Sports typically involve side by side competition and a scoring system. This category includes athletics, racing, hunting, baseball, football, basketball, soccer, hockey, and so on. Examples The Sport Network - TSN - Fox Sports - Hidden Filtering Group These are not categories, but instead are used when a user tries to search for something, to get around the filtering. The results of a search for any of the Search Keywords will be blocked, as long as the search engine used uses the safe search function. Table 7 Hidden Filtering Group Categories Hidden Category No. Description Safe Search 245 Safe Search is a mechanism to force the Safe Search on common search engines. Netsweeper Safe Search works with the following search engines: Yahoo, Google, MetaCrawler, Excite, Lycos, AOL, dogpile, hotbot, AlltheWeb. Although Alta Vista offers a safe search function, we do not recommend relying on it. Note that if the Search Engine category is blocked, no search engines are allowed, whether Safe Search is turned on or not. Generally, safe search should be turned on. Search Keywords 250 Search Keyword is a System Category. On the Policy Server, administrators have the ability to define a list of words or phrases as keywords. When the Search Keywords in URL category is turned on, any URL detected as a Search Engine is parsed looking for a match with the keywords. If there is a match, the URL is denied. When this category is turned on, any URL returned with New URL is also automatically scanned for keyword matches and denied if there is a match. 46 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

55 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Information Filtering Group These categories include websites that are informative, such as news sites. Table 8 Information Filtering Group Categories Information Category No. Description General News 12 This category includes websites which involve the reporting of current events by local, regional, or mass media in the form of newspapers, television, radio programs, and websites on the World Wide Web. Most news is investigated and written or broadcast by journalists (or reporters) and often distributed via news agencies. This category includes any mainstream newspaper, television stations, and radio station website. Journals and Blogs Examples BBC News - CNN - The Star Journal and Blogs (or web logs) are electronic diaries or personal chronicles, intended for open communication and sharing of thoughts, knowledge, and opinion. This category includes websites that range from personal and medical to literary and culturally-oriented publications. This category typically does not include electronic forms of mainstream magazines and newspapers. Also does not include personal/family web pages unless there is a diary or blog component. Examples 45 Wyndham - Science Blog - Political 20 Politics is the process and method of decision making for groups of human beings. Although it is generally applied to governments and politics, it is also observed in all human group interactions including corporate, academic, and religious. This category includes websites related to the structure or affairs of government, politics, or the state. Examples Political Resource - Democrats - Portals 37 Portals are web-based applications that provide a single starting point to retrieve information from multiple sources. For example, the content of a portal could include web searching, news, free- , discussion groups, online shopping, references, and other services. Examples Yahoo! - Google Directory - Best of the Web - Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

56 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Information Category No. Description Religion 26 Religion is any specific system of belief, worship, or conduct that prescribes certain responses to the existence of a God or Gods. This category includes URLs related to or dealing with religious beliefs, practices, faith, churches, worship, and so on. Examples Deism - Christianity - Self Help 22 This category includes websites which provide the information or support for an individual or a group to better themselves economically, intellectually, physically, or emotionally. This category ranges from therapy methods to support groups. Examples Teen Drug Use - Drug Addiction Treatment - Ask the Dietitian - Sex Education 27 Sex Education is the study of human reproduction, sexual intercourse, and other aspects of human sexual behavior. Websites in this category usually describe the various stages of reproduction including the conception, the embryo, the fetus, and the birth of the baby. It also includes topics such as sexually transmitted diseases, abortions, contraception, abstinence and sex advice. Social Networking Examples Society for Human Sexuality - Averting HIV & AIDS Social Networking sites are virtual communities that allow members to connect and communicate with friends, family, business contacts, and individuals who share similar interests. Social networking sites are also used to share photos and videos, plan events, schedule meetings, and share information. Much of the content contained within these sites is harmless in nature, however social networking sites can be venues for cyber bullying. Examples Facebook - MySpace- Technology 31 Technology is the development and application of tools, machines, materials, and processes that help to solve human problems. This category includes websites that pertain to technology related content. It also includes websites that offer a software download, either for free as a trial or for purchase. Examples Netsweeper - Microsoft - Technology Review February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

57 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Information Category No. Description Travel 25 Travel is the transport of people on a trip or journey, primarily for vacation, tourism, or family outings. This category includes websites that have discussions of favorite travel destinations, discounts for travelers, special events in different cities, travel guides, vacations, accommodation, transportation, regulations, maps, weather, and bookings. It also includes websites directed toward business travel. Examples Lonely Planet - Expedia - Destinations - Miscellaneous Filtering Group These categories do not fit in to one of the other larger groupings of categories. Table 9 Miscellaneous Filtering Group Categories Miscellaneous Category No. Description Investing 15 This category includes websites for Internet banking systems that allow users to invest online, view their equity portfolio, and ask the bank to buy shares or bonds on their behalf. It also includes URLs about stocks and quotes, money management, online publications, banks, discount brokerage services, mutual funds, and portfolio management. Examples RBC Investing and Trading - Online Investor Complaint Service - Index Funds - Job Search 16 Job Search websites allow people to search and apply for employment positions. This category also includes URLs which include resume writing and interviewing skills, career information, classified advertising, job databases, and job application pages. Examples Career Builder - Monster - Resume Writing - Sales 19 The Sales category includes any website offering consumers the ability to purchase products or services online. In some cases, it may include websites that provide a catalog of products that are offered for sale offline. Examples ebay - Pets 4 Sale - Best Buy - Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

58 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Miscellaneous Category No. Description Search Engine 28 A Search Engine is a tool that helps web users to search the Internet using keywords. Some Search Engines work by automatically searching the contents of other systems and creating a database of the results, and other Search Engines include only material manually approved for inclusion in a database. Some combine the two approaches. Many Internet pages offer some form of search function. Blocking Search Engines blocks only websites whose sole purpose is Internet search. Examples AltaVista - Google - Web Chat 54 This category includes websites that contain computer programs that enable two-way communication between users within an active browser window. This category includes any type of instant messaging and forums that talk about current events, debate, and share common interests. This category does not block instant messaging applications that are run outside a browser, such as MSN, AIM, or Yahoo Messenger. Examples Yahoo! Chat - Chat Zone - Physic Forums - Web 53 The Web category includes websites that permit users to send and receive text, HTML, images, and other data files to each other. This category does not block client applications that run outside a browser, such as Outlook, Thunderbird, or Eudora. Examples Yahoo! Mail - Hotmail - Lycos Mail February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

59 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Security Filtering Group The security categories are the categories that pose threats to your computer, or websites that could potentially help the user get around the filtering. Table 10 Security Filtering Group Categories Security Category No. Description Adware 17 Adware, while not necessarily malware or spyware, is advertising that goes beyond what one would reasonably expect while surfing the Internet. Banner ads and pop-up ads in this category can be used to track your activity and display ads based on your surfing patterns. Ads and other marketing materials are typically drawn from an ad server at a different website. This category includes URLs that are advertisements. If you block the adware category, many portal pages may appear broken - what is actually happening is that the advertisements are being blocked while the main content is still displayed. Most frequently visited web pages are actually composed dynamically, drawing data from several sources at once. Each portion of a page drawn in from a unique location is categorized and filtered separately. Directory 249 The Directory category includes URLs that produce a directory listing instead of a default html page. This page is generated by the remote web server if no default html page is available and directory browsing is enabled. These directory files can be images, movies, applications, or any other type of file. Each individual file within the listing will be assigned a category once requested. Generally, Directory websites should not be blocked. Examples Host is an IP 244 This category identifies a request that is in the form of an IP address. This means the DNS or host name was not used. It is possible that allowing this type of request could in some circumstances override normal content filtering settings. Generally, pages accessed by IP should be blocked. Examples Internal Website - Google - Intranet Servers 243 Intranet Servers are remote servers which are not located on the Internet. The Netsweeper categorization servers will not be able to scan these websites for content. These are normally servers located behind firewalls and on your local area network. Examples Private IP - Invalid Top Level Domain - Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

60 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Security Category No. Description Malformed URLs 247 This category is used when a URL is not valid (for example, the following URL with a semicolon instead of a colon: http;\\ Generally, malformed URL pages should be blocked. Example Blank host segment - Phishing 18 This category includes URLs that are known or suspected phishing websites. These are typically financial fraud or identity theft websites. Blocking this category does not guarantee that ALL fraud or phishing websites will be blocked. Generally, phishing pages should be blocked. Proxy Anonymizer Under Construction 32 This category includes URLs that allow a user to mask their identity online. These websites can be used to bypass the filtering. Therefore, anonymizer pages should be blocked. Example Anonymizer.com This category indicates a website that has been identified by the owner as being incomplete or under construction. Generally, Under Construction pages pose little threat and need not be blocked. Viruses 21 This category includes known or suspected URLs associated with computer viruses. Selecting this as a category to block does NOT guarantee that all viruses websites will be blocked. Selecting this category does NOT inspect attachments or files copies or downloaded to the computer. You should take additional precautions to avoid viruses. Table 11 Filtering Categories Sorted by Number No. Category Group 1 Journals and Blogs Info 2 Arts & Culture Entertainment 4 Criminal Skills Adult 5 Occult Adult 6 Match Making Adult 7 Substance Abuse Adult 8 Entertainment Entertainment 9 Extreme Adult 10 Gambling Adult 11 Games Entertainment 12 General News Info 13 Hate Speech Adult 14 Humor Entertainment 15 Investing Miscellaneous No. Category Group 16 Job Search Miscellaneous 17 Adware Security 18 Phishing Security 19 Sales Miscellaneous 20 Political Info 21 Viruses Security 22 Self Help Info 23 Pornography Adult 24 Sports Entertainment 25 Travel Info 26 Religion Info 27 Sex Education Info 28 Search Engine Miscellaneous 31 Technology Info 52 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

61 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management No. Category Group 32 Proxy Anonymizer Security 33 Social Networking Info 36 Educational Games Entertainment 37 Portals Info 40 Under Construction Security 41 Alternative Lifestyles Adult 45 General Advanced 47 Redirector Page Advanced 53 Web Miscellaneous 54 Web Chat Miscellaneous 100 Invalid Serial Advanced 101 Unauthorized Access Advanced 102 Webadmin Access Advanced 103 Override Filtering Advanced 104 Local List Advanced 105 Global List Advanced 106 Unknown Category Advanced 107 System List Advanced 108 IWF Advanced 150 File Sharing Advanced No. Category Group 151 Instant Messaging (IM) Advanced 152 Advanced 153 Voice Over IP (VOIP) Advanced 154 Misc Protocols Advanced 155 Streaming Media Advanced 160 Alcohol Adult 166 Weapons Adult 170 Profanity Adult 230 Adult Image Adult 243 Intranet Servers Security 244 Host is an IP Security 245 Safe Search Hidden 246 Network Timeout Advanced 247 Malformed URL Security 248 No Text Advanced 249 Directory Security 250 Search Keywords Hidden 252 Network Unavailable Advanced 253 Images Advanced 254 New URL Advanced Creating a New Category It is possible for you to create your own custom categories. These are categories that you want to filter or monitor, that are not in the Netsweeper default categories. The maximum number of custom categories is seven. To add a new category: 1. Select Custom Category Manager from the WebAdmin menu bar. 2. Select Add New Category. 3. Enter the Category name and a short description of the category. 4. Select the Submit button. 5. Select Apply Settings from the top right and select the Apply button. The category has now been created, but you must enter the URLs you want associated with the category, otherwise it will not filter anything. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

62 Managing URL and Protocol Categories Category Management Adding URLs to the Category URL List If there are URLs that you wish to filter as part of a category, or URLs that you feel are incorrectly categorized, you can enter them in the Category URL List and choose the category to which they belong. To add a URL: 1. Choose one of these actions: 2. Select Category URL List from the Category Management menu. OR 3. Click Custom Category Manager on the Category Management menu and click Modify Category URL List. 4. Click Add New URL. 5. Type the URL into the box. (See the Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide for proper syntax.) 6. Select the checkboxes by the categories you want to assign to this URL. Your custom categories list at the bottom of this Web page. 7. Click Submit. 8. Click Apply Settings from the task bar on the top right part of the page and then click Apply. 9. Once you have added a URL, you can click the link by it in the Custom Category List to go to it. You can edit the URL by selecting Edit beside the link. For more information see the Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide. 54 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

63 Using the Reporting Tools Figure 25 Reports menu Reports Report Wizard Demand Reports Scheduled Reports Continuous Reports Quick Reports Report Manager Function Helps you create the reports you need to generate the data you require about filtering activity Generates one-time reports as you order them Generates reports on filtering activity at the times you choose Generates continuous reports on filtering activity Generates quick summary reports Manages the overall reporting system See the Netsweeper Reporter Guide at Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

64 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Creating Quick Reports Netsweeper provides three built-in reporting tools: Quick Reporting Tool Quick Reports Quick Demand Reports Quick Search Description These are commonly used, built-in reports typically generated on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, so that you can review Internet use on your network. They usually generate at midnight at the end of the reporting period These reports are generated once, not repeatedly. They contain the same information and layout as Quick Reports but cover any time period you specify beginning as far back as your logs are stored. This tool allows you to filter the Request Log by users or certain types of requests. Types of Quick Reports By default, five types of Quick Reports and Quick Demand Reports are available to all WebAdmin users. However, depending on the privileges assigned to your WebAdmin Login by the master admin, you may not have access to all Quick Reports and/or you may also have access to eight additional reports. Default Quick Reports Possible additional reports Internet Request Activity Category Activity Allowed Category Activity Denied Category Activity All Top 10 Websites All Top 100 Websites All Top 100 Websites Allowed Top 10 Websites Allowed Top 10 Websites Denied Top 100 Websites Denied Request Log All Request Log Denied Request Log Allowed If you are the master admin, see Allowing and Hiding Quick Reports. You can select as many Quick Reports as you like, although Reporter Settings may limit the report size or hard disk space available to store reports. Only the master admin can access the Reporter Settings. 56 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

65 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Using Quick Reports to Monitor Your Network Below is a list of the Quick Reports with the common network concerns that you can monitor with them: Quick Report Internet Request Activity Category Activity (All) Category Activity (Denied) Top 10 Websites (All) Top 10 Websites (Denied) Request Log (All) Request Log (Denied) Issues the report can monitor When are the peak Internet usage times on my network? When do most denied requests occur? How much Internet traffic (requests per minute) does my network handle during the lunch hour? How many requests were made to a specific category? How many requests to access a specific category were denied? What are the most frequently requested Web sites on my network? What Web sites does the Netsweeper filter most frequently block? What Internet resources did my users attempt to access? Which Internet requests were denied? Sample Quick Reports Figure 26 Internet Request Activity Quick Report Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

66 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Figure 27 Category Activity Allowed Quick Report (Image is divided into two parts to allow larger display.) Figure 28 Top 10 Websites Allowed Quick Report 58 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

67 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Figure 29 Category Activity Denied Quick Report Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

68 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Figure 30 Top 10 Websites Denied Quick Report Figure 31 Internet Request Activity Report 60 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

69 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Category Activity Report These reports include a pie chart and table of the categories assigned to each Web page requested. A page can be assigned to one or more categories so the total indicates all the categories that were assigned, not just the number of pages that were categorized. There are up to three Category Activity reports available on your Reporter: all, allowed, and denied. Using these reports you can include all pages, regardless of category (all); include only pages in allowed categories (allowed); or include only pages in denied categories (denied). Figure 32: Category Activity Report Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

70 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Requested Web Sites Reports These reports include a table of the Top 10 or Top 100 most requested Web sites. Web sites not in the top ten are grouped together under the heading Other. This report does not include non-http requests, such as or instant messaging. You can have up to six Top Web Site reports available on your Reporter. This report also has six variations: Top 10 Reports Top 100 Reports All Allowed Denied All Allowed Denied This report lists the top Web sites, not individual pages. A Web site is a collection of web pages that share the same host and port. The Total Pages column combines all requests to any Web pages at the site. Figure 33: Top 10 Web Sites (Denied) Report 62 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

71 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Request Log Report This report consists of a table that lists the Date, URI, Category, and Denied Flag for every Internet request. A request includes any attempt to access the Internet. This includes , instant messaging, file sharing, and any other Internet-based protocols not just Web sites. The Denied Flag column indicates whether a request was allowed. Up to three Request Log reports are available on your Reporter: all, allowed, and denied. Figure 34: Request Log Report Starting Quick Reports Each report can be scheduled to run daily, weekly, or monthly. The first time you select a Quick Report, the report for the previous day, week, or month is automatically generated. The report may take some time to generate. You may need to refresh the page after a couple seconds before the report is accessible. Subsequent reports are created at midnight at the end of the report cycle, according the time settings of the Policy Server (not necessarily your local time settings). To create a Quick Report: 1. Log on to the WebAdmin. 2. Click Reports on the WebAdmin menu bar. 3. Select Quick Reports from the Reports menu. 4. Select the check box beside each type of Quick Report you want to create. 5. If you want the reports sent to you by , type your address in the Reports to box. To send the reports to multiple addresses, by separating each address with a comma (,) and no spaces. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

72 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports 6. Select Save. Figure 35 Quick Reports page. The report now generates. 7. If you type your address in the Reports To box, the Reporter will send you the report for the last report cycle. For example, if your report runs daily, the Reporter will send you a report for yesterday's activity. Figure 36: Create Quick Reports Empty reports (containing no data) may not be sent, depending on your settings. If you are the master admin, see Setting Report Restrictions. 64 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

73 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Viewing Quick Reports over the Web Open the WebAdmin to view reports within your browser. To view a report: 1. Log on to the WebAdmin. 2. Select Quick Reports from the Reports menu. 3. Select the name of the report to view the latest report by with that name or select More and choose a report date. Note If you just created the report, it may not have finished processing yet. Wait a few seconds and then return to the Quick Reports screen and try again. Stopping the Delivery of a Quick Report You can stop a Quick Report from being ed to you or from being generated altogether. In the first case the reports is still generated on a regular basis and is still accessible using the WebAdmin. If you completely stop the report, it will no longer be accessible by or through the WebAdmin. To stop the ing of a Quick Report: 1. Log on to the WebAdmin. 2. Select Quick Reports from the Reports menu. 3. Delete your address from the Reports To box. 4. Select Save. Stopping the Generation of a Quick Report To stop the generation of a Quick Report: 1. Click Reports on the WebAdmin menu bar. 2. Click Quick Reports from the drop-down Reports menu. 3. Clear the check box beside the Quick Report you want to stop. 4. Select Save. Your report will no longer be ed or available on the WebAdmin. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

74 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Using Quick Demand Reports Quick Demand Reports are a special class of Quick Reports generated once (not on a regular basis, as are other Quick Reports). Instead of receiving reports for a particular day, week, or month, you can create a Quick Report that covers any date range, starting as far back as the logs are stored. Creating a Quick Demand Report The Quick Demand Reports are only accessible from the Demand Reports page. They list at the bottom of the page, under the Demand Reports. To create a Quick Demand report: 1. Log on to the WebAdmin. 2. Select Demand Reports from the Reports menu. At the bottom of the page is a section called Quick Demand Reports. Figure 37 List of available Quick Demand Reports on the Demand Reports page 3. Select the Quick Demand Report you want from the list. 4. Select the Start Date and End Date for the report. 5. Type all dates in the following format: MONTH DAY, YEAR If you chose the Top Websites Accessed or the Top Websites Denied report, type in the number of entries you want in the Number of hosts to display field. 7. If you want to the report, type in the intended recipient s address. You can send the reports to multiple addresses by separating each address with a comma (,) and no space. 8. Select Submit. The new report will process. If you provided an address, you should receive the report shortly. If you did not provide an address or want to access it immediately, you can view it over the Web. 11 Use only the first three letters of the name of the month. For example, use NOV for November. 66 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

75 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Viewing a Quick Demand Report You can use the WebAdmin to access and view reports. However, a report may not be available immediately after you create it. The Reporter must first process the report, which may take a few minutes, depending on the size of the report and the number of reports waiting to process. When the Reporter processes a Quick Demand Report, the status changes from Waiting to Started Processing, and finally to Processed. You can generate Quick Demand Reports in HTML, PDF, CSV, or plain text. However, only PDF and the default View can contain graphs. Other formats contain data tables only. To view a Quick Demand Report: 1. Click Reports on the WebAdmin menu bar. 2. Click Demand Reports on the drop-down Reports menu. 3. If the status of your report is still Waiting or Started Processing, click Refresh to reload the page and check whether the report has finished processing. 4. To quickly view the report in the default format, select the name of the report. 5. Select View beside the name of the report you want to view. The name of each Quick Demand Report is automatically generated. It always includes the type of report and the date range that the report covers. 6. Select View to view the report in the default format or select PDF, HTML, CSV, or Plain Text to view the report in that format. Figure 38: Choose format to view report Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

76 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Sending a Quick Demand Report by If you did not enter your address when creating the report or you want to resend the report to yourself or to others, you can still do so after the report has been created. You can also send to one or more addresses as a carbon copy (cc:) or a blind carbon copy (bcc:), as you would a regular . To your report: 1. Log on to the WebAdmin. 2. Select Demand Reports from the Reports menu. 3. Select View beside the report you want to send. 4. Select Type in the addresses to send the report to. By default, the report is sent as part of the body. Instead, you can choose to a link to the actual report or the report as an attachment in PDF, HTML (text only), CSV (comma separated values), or Plain Text format. HTML (text only), CSV, and Plain Text files contain data tables only, not graphs. For this reason, only the first three options are recommended unless you plan to export the data into a third party reporting tool, such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, or Crystal Reports. 6. Select Send February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

77 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Deleting a Quick Demand Report If you no longer need your Quick Demand Reports, you can delete them to save room on your hard drive for other reports. To delete a Quick Demand Report: 1. Log on to the WebAdmin. 2. Select Demand Reports from the Reports menu. Figure 39: Demand Reports menu 3. Select Delete beside the report you want to delete. 4. Click OK to confirm the deletion. Using Quick Search Quick Search allows you to searching through the Netsweeper logs for specific Internet activity. Instead of reading or viewing the entire log, you can reduce the number of records shown by applying report filters. Quick Search Filter Descriptions The following filters can be applied during a Quick Search. Filter Date Description This includes requests occurring during the time specified and filters out all others. When typing in the date, use the format shown on screen or click the calendar icon to select a date from the calendar. Each demand report should have a date filter. By default, a filter spanning the last 24 hours is automatically assigned. Since logs are not stored forever, the report cannot include data from dates no longer stored in the logs. To determine how long Netsweeper stores the logs, see Using the Request Log. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

78 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Filter IP Address Client Name Policy Group URL Host Denied Flag Categories Description Every computer on your network is assigned a unique IP address. In most cases, each computer on the filtered network uses a static (unchanging) IP address. The IP Address filter is most useful when specifying range of IP addresses. If you want to include non-sequential IP addresses or do not know the users' IP addresses, use the Client Name or Group Policy filters instead. Some deployments may use dynamically assigned IP addresses, using DHCP along with some form of external authentication. These deployments use the Client Name filter instead of the IP Address filter. A client name represents a specific computer. Admins or sysops can enter multiple Client Names in the Client Name field, separating names by commas and no spaces: user1,user2,user3,user4. Each Client belongs to a Group. Select Client Manager from the WebAdmin menu bar to view the Client Names assigned to you. Not all administrators have the permissions required to access the Client Manager. If you want to include an entire Group (or several Groups), use the Policy Groups filter instead. This filter includes only the requests made by users (clients) in the policy groups specified. To include some groups in the report, excluding all others, select the names of the groups you want to include in the Policy Groups filter, separating the group names by commas and no spaces. For example: group1,group2,group3. Each web request is identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The URL is the full address that appears in the address bar of your browser when you visit a Web site. When you type one or more URLs in this filter, the report excludes requests to all other URLs. A URL identifies a specific page at a Web site, not the entire site. For example, is a different URL than If you wish to include all the pages at a particular Web site (such as netsweeper.com), use the Host filter instead. Unlike URLs, hosts can house multiple web resources, such as an entire Web site; not just a single web page. To include requests to all URLs that have the same host, select the host in the Host filter. You can enter multiple hosts, separated by commas with no spaces. For example: Yes indicates the request was denied, and no indicates that it was allowed. You can use the Denied Flag filter to list only denied requests or allowed requests. By default, all requests are included in the report unless you change this filter. This allows you to include only requests assigned to selected categories. To apply this filter, click Show List and select the categories you want to include. If you select no categories, the filter is not applied and the report includes all categories. 70 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

79 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Performing a Quick Search To perform a Quick Search: 1. Click Reports on the menu bar and then click Demand Reports on the drop-down menu. Figure 40 Demand Reports page 2. Click Search Requests. The Quick Search page displays. Figure 41 Quick Search page 3. Complete the form on the Quick Search page, adding the specific information you want to search by. The more filters you apply and the more specific your criteria, the faster the report will process and the smaller it will be. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

80 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports Figure 42: Quick Search Filter Options 4. Click Search. 5. Your Report now lists on the Demand Reports page under the name Quick Search Made at [current date and time]. Figure 43 New Quick Search lists with other Demand Reports 6. The search status is Waiting until the search finishes. When finished, the search status is Processed. 7. Click Refresh on the Demand Reports page to see any updates to the status. Figure 44 Demand Reports page 8. If your search has not yet processed, wait a minute or so and then click Refresh again. 72 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

81 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Quick Reports 9. Once your search status is Processed, click View beside the name of the Quick Search to view the results. 10.If the Quick Search results report is very large, it may take time to load. Viewing Your Quick Search Results A Quick Search may not be available immediately after you create it. The Reporter must first process the search, which may take less than a second or up to a few minutes, depending on the size of the report and the number of other reports currently waiting to be processed on your server. While the Reporter is processing a report, the status of the report changes from Waiting to Started Processing and finally to Processed when the Quick Search report is ready. You can generate reports in HTML, PDF, CSV, or plain text. However, only PDF and the default View format can contain graphs. To view a report: 1. Click Reports on the WebAdmin menu bar and then click Demand Reports. 2. If the status of your report is Waiting or Started Processing, click Refresh to reload the page and check whether the report has finished processing. 3. Repeat this step periodically until the Report is Processed. 4. If your search status is Processed, select the name of the report you want to view. 5. The report will display in the WebAdmin. OR To view a report in a different format: 1. Click Reports on the WebAdmin menu bar and then click Demand Reports. 2. Click View beside the name of the report. 3. Select the format you want: PDF, HTML, CSV, or (Plain) Text. Sending Your Quick Search Results by If you want to save a copy of your Quick Search results or send them to another user, you can the results after performing the search. To Quick Search Results: 1. Click Reports on the WebAdmin menu bar. 2. Select Demand Reports from the drop-down Reports menu. 3. Click beside the report you want to . Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

82 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports 4. Type your address in the Address field if you want the report ed to you. You can still view the report using the WebAdmin if you leave the Address field blank. 5. Select your desired Report Delivery option. This option defines the format the report should be sent in (as the body; as a link to the full report; or as a PDF, HTML, CSV, or plain text attachment). 6. Click Send . Deleting Your Quick Search Results If you no longer need a report, you can delete it. To permanently delete Quick Search Results: 1. Select Demand Reports, Scheduled Reports, or Continuous Reports from the Reports menu, depending on the type of report you want to delete. 2. Click Delete beside the report you want to delete. 3. Click OK to confirm the deletion. Creating Custom Reports The Report Wizard is an application that allows you to create a concise, focused report that includes only the information you need. This makes your report much easier to understand. To use the Report Wizard: 1. Choose a report type: Demand, Scheduled, or Continuous. See Choosing a Report Type. 2. Apply the filters you want. See Applying Report Filters. 3. Choose any summary or detail groups you want. 4. Generate the report. 5. View, modify, or delete the report. If you want to use some of the more advanced features beyond those described in this chapter, see Advanced Features. 74 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

83 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports Choosing a Report Type Report type Demand Scheduled Continuous When used? A customized one-time report covering any time period and generally for a specific purpose. It can display both Detail and Summary Groups. A customized Quick Report, created once and run routinely to monitor users Internet access at regular intervals, beginning before or after the current time. It can display both Detail and Summary Groups. A customized up-to-date line graph of summary information intended for frequent update (as often as once a minute). Useful for monitoring current activity on your network. Once you have chosen the type of report you, your next task is to decide which filters to apply. Using one or more filters can focus your report by including only the data required and thereby making the report easier to read and interpret. If you are creating a Demand or Scheduled Report, you must decide what level of detail the report should include by choosing a Summary Group or a Detail Group. See Using Report Groups. Continuous Reports can only use Summary Groups. Even if you do not set up the ing of a report, you can view your reports in the WebAdmin. You can also delete or edit a report after it is created. Sorting Reports Created with the Report Wizard You can sort the reports you create with the Report Wizard and display them by any combination of the following criteria: Group (filtering group) Client (workstation) Request (processed Internet resource request) File (requested file) Page (requested Web page) Host (main server for a Web site) Pages denied Pages allowed Category Time or date range Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

84 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports Creating a Demand Report Unlike other reports, Demand Reports are only generated once. These reports can cover any time period, provided that data for the time period is currently stored in the logs. Reports that start earlier than the current logs or use an end date that occurs in the future will appear to have no data for those time periods. Starting the Report Wizard To start the Report Wizard: 1. Log on to the WebAdmin. 2. Select Report Wizard from the Reports menu. 3. Select Demand Report. 4. Click Next>. Figure 45: Select Demand Report as report type Applying Report Filters Report filters are used to simplify and focus the reports. Only Internet requests that meet the requirements of your report filters are included in the report. The Date filter is the only filter applied by default. It includes only requests that occurred during the specified time. Filters left blank are not applied. 1. Set the Date filter by changing the From and To fields. 2. Apply any additional report filters you want. Filter IP Address Client Name Policy Groups URL Host Denied Flag Description Only includes requests made from IP addresses in the range you specify Only includes only specific users (clients) Only includes specific filtering groups Only includes requests to specific web pages Only includes requests to specific Internet hosts (entire Web sites) Includes either allowed or denied requests 76 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

85 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports Filter Categories Description Only includes web requests assigned to the categories you select To apply the Categories filter: 3. Click Next>. Click Show List and select the categories you want to include. Figure 46: Report Wizard Filters 4. Add at least one report Group to your report. You can add multiple Summary Groups, followed by one Detail Group. Figure 47: Add New Report Group Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

86 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports Adding a Summary Group A Summary Group shows graphs or tables that provide an overview of the data and general trends on your network. See Using Report Groups. In creating your Summary Groups, remember that selecting multiple Summary Groups can cause your report to grow very large and possibly exceed the maximum allowed report size on your server. Note If you do not want to create any Summary Groups, skip ahead to Adding a Detail Group. Remember that you must create at least one Group (detail or summary) before you can continue. To add a Summary Group: 1. Select Add New Report Group. 2. Confirm that Summary Group is selected and click Next>. 3. Select the field on which the requests should be grouped. See Choosing Summary Groups for help choosing a Summary Group. The criteria or field you choose affects the type of graph or table that you can use with the report. The following table shows the types of graphs and tables available for each field. Graph or Table Type Data Table Pie Graph 2D Bar Graph 3D Bar Graph Line Graph URL Host of URL IP Address User Policy Group Category Denied Flag Date Range indicates the field or criteria displays in the indicated graph or table format. 4. Click Next>. 5. Select the data fields you want in the report. The first column of a table is always the field by which the information is grouped. Successive columns appear, from left to right, in the order in which you select them. To change the order of the columns, select a field name and drag it up or down in the list. You do not have to select all the fields. 78 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

87 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports See Defining Requests, Pages, and Files for the difference between requests, pages, and files. 6. Click Next>. 7. To accept the default ordering, click Next>. You can change the sort order by selecting Ascending or Descending beside the name of the field by which you want the report sorted. 8. Adjust the order by clicking-and-dragging a field name up or down the list. 9. Select the types of graphs you want in the report and the graph options you want applied. See Using Graphs and Tables. 10.If you selected more than one graph, you can also select a vertical or horizontal layout for the graphs. Figure 48: Choose Report Presentation 11.Select Finish. 12.You can now add another Summary Group, add a Detail Group, or finish the Report. To finish the report, skip to Finishing the Report. Adding a Detail Group A Detail Group displays a table that lists information about each individual request in the report. You can only create one Detail Group per report. To create a Detail Group: 1. Select Add New Report Group. 2. Select Detail Group and click Next>. 3. Select one or more Available Fields to include as columns in the table. The first field you select is used as the first column in the table, the second field as the second column, and so on. You can remove fields from the report by clearing selected Report Fields. You can rearrange the order of the fields by clicking and dragging a field up or down. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

88 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports Figure 49: Choose Detail Groups 4. Click Next>. 5. Select Ascending or Descending beside the field you want the rows ordered in. You can also select Ascending or Descending beside additional fields to specify additional ordering priority. Each additional ordering priority is used only to break a tie in the previous priority when there are two or more entries with the same value in the previous field. See Sorting your Report. 6. Click Next>. Modify the table options, if needed. See Data Tables. Figure 50: Confirm Presentation 7. Select Finish. Finishing the Report After you finish adding a Report Group, you are returned to the page where you can add a new Report Group. After you have created report groups, finish the report. To finish the report: 1. Click Next>. 2. In the conditions box, type the addresses of report recipients in the Address box. 80 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

89 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports You can view the report in the WebAdmin if you leave the Address field blank. You can also select additional ing options and conditions. See Using Options. 3. Click Next>. 4. Type a descriptive name for the report in the Report Name field. 5. If you have admin level privileges, you can also assign this report to another account or make the report available to all accounts on the WebAdmin. If you assign the report to another account, only that account will have access to it. Figure 51: Name the Report 6. Select Finish. The report now processes. If you entered your address, you should receive the report in an soon shortly. Creating a Scheduled Report This section describes how to create a Scheduled Report using the Report Wizard. Scheduled Reports are created once and generated on a regular basis. For example, Scheduled Reports can be generated once every day, usually at midnight at the end of every day. Starting the Report Wizard To start the Report Wizard: 1. Log on to the WebAdmin. 2. Select Report Wizard from the Reports menu. 3. Select Scheduled Report. 4. Click Next>. Figure 52: Select Scheduled Report as report type Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

90 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports 5. Select a Run Interval. A report run Every Minute creates a report once every 60 seconds that includes only requests made during the last 60 seconds. Likewise, a report run Every Month is run once per month and includes the entire month s requests in the report. Figure 53: Run Interval options 6. Click Next>. 7. Apply any filters you want. Filters help condense and simplify the reports. The report only includes those Internet requests that meet the requirements of your report filters. See Using Report Filters. Available Report Filters Filter Relative Date IP Address Client Name Policy Group URL Host Denied Flag Categories 8. Click Next>. Description Allows you to specify when the report should start and end. By default, each interval starts at midnight, so that reports that run every hour run on the hour, reports that run every day run at the end of each day, and so on. Includes only requests made from IP addresses in the range you specify. Includes only specific users (Clients) Includes only specific groups of users (Groups). Includes requests to specific web pages. Includes requests to specific Internet hosts (entire Web sites) Includes either only allowed requests or only denied requests. Includes only web requests assigned to the categories you select. To apply the Categories filter, select Show List. 82 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

91 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports Figure 54: Report Wizard Filters for Scheduled Reports 9. Add at least one report group to your report. You can add multiple Summary Groups, followed by, at most, one Detail Group. Figure 55: Add New Report Group Report Wizard: Adding Summary Groups A Summary Group shows graphs or tables that provide an overview of the data and general trends on your network, not detailed information about each request. See Using Report Groups. When creating your Summary Groups, remember that selecting multiple Summary Groups can cause your report to grow to be quite large. Larger reports take longer to generate and download and may even exceed the maximum report size limit on your server. Check with your master admin account user to find out how much hard disk space is allocated for reports on your Reporting Server. Note If you do not want to create any Summary Groups, skip ahead to Adding a Detail Group. Remember that you must create at least one Group (detail or summary) before you can continue. To add a Summary Group: 1. Select Add New Report Group. 2. Click Next>. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

92 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports Figure 56: Add new Summary Group 3. Select the field by which to group the requests. The field you choose affects the type of graph that you can use with the report. The following table shows which types of graphs and tables are available for each field. Graph or Table Type Data Table URI Host of URI Pie Graph 2D Bar Graph IP Address User Policy Group Category Denied Flag 3D Bar Graph Date Range 4. Click Next>. 5. Select the data fields you want in the report. Line Graph The order in which you select the data fields is the order in which they will display. 6. To change the display order of the selected summary fields, click-and-drag each selected field up or down the list. You do not have to select all the fields. 7. See Differentiating between Requests, Pages, and Files for more on the differences between requests, pages, and files. 84 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

93 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports Figure 57: Select Summary Fields 8. Click Next>. 9. To accept the default order, click Next>. 10.Change the order by selecting Ascending or Descending beside the field by which you want the report sorted. To adjust the order, click and drag a field up or down the list.) See Sorting Your Report. 11.Select the types of graphs and the graph options. 12.If you selected more than one graph, you can also select the horizontal layout to have the graphs display side by side in the report instead of vertically. Figure 58: Choose Report Presentation 13.Select Finish. 14.You can now add another Summary Group, add a Detail Group, or Finish the Report. To finish the report, skip to Finishing the Report. Report Wizard: Adding a Detail Group A Detail Group displays a table of information about each individual request in the report. You can only create one Detail Group per report. To create a Detail Group: 1. Select Add New Report Group. 2. Select Detail Group and click Next>. Figure 59: Select Detail Group 3. Select one or more Available Fields to include as columns in the table. The first field you select becomes the first column in the table; the second field becomes the second column, and so on. You can remove fields from the report by selecting Report Fields. 4. To change the order of the fields, click and drag a field up or down. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

94 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports Figure 60: Select Detail Groups 5. Click Next>. 6. Select Ascending or Descending beside the field you want the rows ordered in. 7. Select Ascending or Descending beside additional fields to specify additional ordering. Additional ordering is used only when there are two or more entries with the same value in the previous field. See Sorting Your Report. 8. Click Next>. 9. Adjust the table options as desired. See Data Tables. Figure 61: Confirm Report Presentation 10.Select Finish. After creating the Detail Group, you must complete a few final steps to finish the report. Report Wizard: Finishing the Report To finish the report: 1. Once you finish adding a Report Group, click Next>. 2. Select a Start Date. If you select Current Date, the first report will be run at the end of the current report period (for example, at the end of the day, if you selected Every Day as your run interval). If you select a date in the past, the Reporter will create up to five additional reports immediately, plus each subsequent report starting with the current report period will run at the end of the period. 86 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

95 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports 3. Type your address in the Address field, if you want the report ed to you. You can view the report using the WebAdmin if you leave the Address field blank. You can also select additional ing options and conditions. See Using Options. In general, we recommend the default settings. 4. Click Next>. 5. Type a descriptive name for the report in the Report Name field. 6. If you have admin level privileges, you can assign this report to another Login account or to make the report available to all Login accounts on the WebAdmin. If you assign the report to another account, only that account will have access to it. Figure 62: Name the Report 7. Select Finish. Your report will now process. If you set the report up to be ed, the designated recipients should receive the report in an soon after it processes. Creating a Continuous Report This section describes how to create a Continuous Report using the Report Wizard. Continuous Reports contain frequently updated summaries of your network traffic. To create a continuous report: 1. Log on to the WebAdmin. 2. Select Report Wizard from the WebAdmin menu bar. 3. Select Continuous Report. 4. Click Next>. Figure 63: Select Continuous Report as Report Type 5. Select a Run Interval. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

96 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports The span of a Continuous Report depends on its run interval (how frequently it runs). The following table lists the approximate time span of a report based on the Run Interval: Run Interval Time Span Every minute 5 hours Every 5 minutes 1 day Every 10 minutes 2 days Every 30 minutes 1 week Every hour 2 weeks Every 2 hours 25 days Every 6 hours 2.5 months Every 12 hours 5 months Every day 1 year Every 2 days 2 years Every week 6 years Every month 25 years 6. Click Next>. Applying Report Filters Reports filters are used to simplify and focus the reports. Only Internet requests that meet the requirements of your Report Filters are included in the report. See Using Report Filters. You can apply a report filter to narrow your report results. Filter IP Address Client Name Policy Groups URL Host Denied Flag Categories Description Only includes requests from IP addresses in the range you specify Only includes users (clients) you select Only includes groups you select Only includes requests for specific web pages Only includes requests to specific Internet hosts, that is, entire Web sites Only includes either allowed requests or denied requests Only includes web requests assigned to the categories you select. To apply a filter, select the filter name and click Next>. 88 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

97 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports Report Wizard: Adding Summary Groups A Summary Group shows graphs or tables that provide an overview of the data and general trends on your network, not detailed information about each request. For Continuous Reports, you can only add one Summary Group per report. To add a Summary Group: 1. Select Add New Report Group. 2. Select the field by which you want the requests grouped. See Choosing Summary Groups. Five summary fields are available for Continuous Reports: IP Address, User, Policy Group, Category, and Denied Flag. 3. Click Next>. 4. Select the data fields you want to include in the report. The order in which you select the data fields is the order in which they will display. Figure 64: Select Summary Fields 5. Select Finish. Finishing the Report To finish the report: 1. After you add the Summary Group, click Next>. 2. Type a descriptive name for the report. 3. If you have admin level privileges, you can assign this report to another Login account or make the report available to all Login accounts on the WebAdmin. If you assign the report to another Login account, only that account will have access to it. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

98 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports Figure 65: Name the Report 4. Select Finish. Your report now processes. See Viewing a Report. Additional Report Options Once the report processes, you can view it from the WebAdmin, send it by , edit it, or delete it. Viewing a Report A report may not be available immediately after you create it. The Reporter must first process the report, which may take less than a second or up to a few minutes, depending on the size of the report and the number of other reports currently waiting to be processed on your server. While the Reporter is processing a report, the status of the report changes from Waiting to Started Processing and finally to Processed when the Report has finished processing. You can view reports in HTML, PDF, CSV, or plain text. However, only PDF and the default view format can contain graphs. To view a report: 1. Select Demand Reports, Scheduled Reports, or Continuous Reports from the WebAdmin menu bar, depending on the type of report you want to view. 2. If the status of your report is Waiting or Started Processing, click Refresh to reload the page and check whether the report has finished processing. 3. Repeat this step every few minutes until the status displays as Processed. 4. Click View beside the name of the report to view it in the default format. Or, select PDF, HTML, CSV, or Plain Text to view the report in one if those formats. The report will open in a new window. Figure 66: Report Results 90 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

99 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports Sending a Report by If you want to resend the report to yourself or send it to others after creating it, even if your chose not to the report when first creating it, you can do so after the report has been created. You can also send it to one or more addresses as a carbon copy (cc:) or a blind carbon copy (bcc:), exactly as you would a regular . To your report: 1. Select Demand Reports, Scheduled Reports, or Continuous Reports from the WebAdmin menu bar, depending on the type of the report you are sending. 2. Select View beside the report you want to send. 3. Select Type in the destinations for the report. 5. By default, the report is sent as part of the body. You can choose to a link to the report or to the report as an attachment in PDF, HTML (text only), CSV (comma separated values), or Plain Text format. 6. Click the Send button. Figure 67: your Report Editing a Report To edit a report: 1. Select Demand Reports, Scheduled Reports, or Continuous Reports from the Reports menu, depending on the type of report you want to edit. 2. Select Edit beside the Report you want to edit. 3. All of your original report settings automatically display. 4. Change the filter settings you want to change, and click Next>. 5. To edit a report group (Summary or Detail Group), select the name of the Group. 6. To remove a report Group, select Delete. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

100 Using the Reporting Tools Creating Custom Reports You must have at least one report group in your report. Once you have completed editing the group, click Next>. 7. Edit the remaining report settings as you want. 8. Click Next> to go to the end of the Report Wizard. 9. At any time, click Prev (Previous) to return to the previous screen and make a change. However, once you begin editing a report group, you must finish editing that group before returning to the Filters window. 10.To regenerate the report, select Finish. Deleting a Report If you no longer need a report, you can delete it. To permanently delete a report: 1. Select Demand Reports, Scheduled Reports, or Continuous Reports from the Reports menu, depending on the type of report you want to delete. 2. Select Delete beside the report name. 3. Click OK to confirm the deletion. Using the Request Log Only admin and master admin accounts have direct access to the entire Request Log. This section describes how to open the request log and browse through the requests. Quick Search provides a simple way to search through the logs for specific requests accessible to all administrators. See Using Quick Search. The entire Request Log can be opened using the WebAdmin. To access the Request Log, select Request Log Files from the Reports menu. The Request Log Files page displays: Figure 68: Request Log Files Screen Select Last Log Entries to view the 50 most recent entries. Click Delete to delete the log (not recommended). 92 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

101 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features View the date of the oldest record in the log in the First Date column. View the date of the most recent record in the Last Date column. View the size of the log in the Size column. View the total number of records in the log as shown in the # Records column. To view the log, select the log name in the Name column. To move through a log, use the page numbers and the navigation arrows (<<, <, >, and >>). Using Advanced Reporting Features In general, there are five main tasks involved in creating a report with the Report Wizard: 1. Applying report filters 2. Choosing your report groups 3. Sorting your report data 4. Choosing how to display each report Group with a graph or table 5. Choosing how and when a report should be ed This chapter provides more detailed information on each of these tasks and how to use some of the advanced features available for these tasks. Not all tasks are required for every type of report. Use this chapter if you need more information about a specific task in the Report Wizard, or to learn more about the available features. Using Report Filters To reduce the size of reports and make them easier to read, use report filters to extract only the log entries you need. For example, include only a certain group of users, requests to particular Web site, or Web sites in certain categories. Applying report filters is one of the first steps in creating any report with the Report Wizard. By default, a list of simple filters is displayed by the Report Wizard. While these simple filters are precise enough for most situations, there is also an advanced set of filters available if you require them. Creating Simple Report Filters When creating a report with the Report Wizard, you have the opportunity to apply one or more filters to the report. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

102 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features To apply simple report filters, type your criteria in the fields. Only entries that meet those restrictions will be included in your report. Figure 69: Simple Report Filters Filter Date (only available for demand reports) IP Address Client Name Policy Groups Description This includes only requests occurring during the time specified. When typing in the date, use the format shown on screen or click the calendar icon to select a date from the calendar. Each demand report should have a date filter. By default, a filter spanning the last 24 hours is automatically assigned. The report cannot include data from dates no longer stored in the logs. To determine how long your Netsweeper configuration stores the logs, see Using the Request Log. Every computer on your network is assigned a unique IP address. In most cases, each computer on the filtered network uses a static (unchanging) IP address. The IP Address filter is most useful in specifying a range of IP addresses. If you want to include non-sequential IP addresses or do not know the users' IP addresses, use the Client Name or Group Policy filters instead. Some deployments may use dynamically assigned IP addresses, using DHCP along with some form of external authentication. These deployments use the Client Name filter instead of the IP Address filter. A client name represents a specific computer. Admins or sysops can enter multiple Client Names in the Client Name field, separating them with commas but no spaces: user1,user2,user3,user4. Each Client belongs to a Group. Select Client Manager from the menu bar to view the Client Names assigned to you. Not all administrators have the permissions required to access the Client Manager. If you want to include an entire Group (or several Groups), use the Policy Groups filter instead. This filter includes only the requests made by members of the filtering groups specified. Select the names of the groups you want to include in the Policy Groups filter, separating the group names by commas but no spaces. For example: group1,group2,group3. 94 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

103 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features Filter URL Host Denied Flag Categories Description Each web request is identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The URL is the full address that appears in the address bar of your browser when you visit a Web site. When you type one or more URLs in this filter, the report excludes requests to all other URLs. A URL identifies a specific page at a Web site, not the entire site. For example, is a different URL than If you wish to include all the pages at a particular Web site (such as netsweeper.com), use the Host filter instead. Unlike URLs, hosts can house multiple web resources, such as an entire Web site; not just a single web page. To include requests to all URLs that have the same host, select the host in the Host filter. You can enter multiple hosts, separated by commas with no spaces. For example: Yes indicates the request was denied, and no indicates that it was allowed. You can use the Denied Flag filter to list only denied requests or allowed requests. By default, all requests are included in the report unless you change this filter. This allows you to include only requests assigned to selected categories. To apply this filter, click Show List and select the categories you want to include. If you select no categories, the filter is not applied and the report includes all categories. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

104 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features Switching between Simple and Advanced Filters To switch from a Simple Filter to an Advanced Filter, click Advanced Filter at the bottom of a Simple Filter page. Figure 70: Advanced Filter screen To switch from an Advanced Filter to a Simple Filter, click Simple Filter at the bottom of an Advanced Filter page. Creating an Advanced Filter Rule To create an advanced filter, select Add New Filter Rule. Most of the advanced filters use the following string comparisons: Less Than (<) Less Than or Equal To ( ) Equal To (=) Greater Than or Equal To ( ) Greater Than (>) Not Equal To ( ) Between These comparisons sort the entries chronologically, numerically, alphabetically, and include only the entries that fall in the range you specify. 96 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

105 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features Use the following guidelines when setting advanced filters: The date :41:01 is less than :40:55 because it occurs first chronologically. The letter a is less than the letter b because a occurs first in the alphabet. For example, apple is less than orange and ape is less than apple. IP addresses are typically displayed as four octets in dotted decimal notation (that is, four numbers between 0 and 255, separated by decimals). When comparing IP addresses, the first octet is compared first, followed by each subsequent octet, as necessary. So, is less than (because 10 is less than 192) and is less than Using Report Groups Detail and Summary Groups define how the information in the report is grouped together. Group data based on the user name, Web site, or category information using Summary Groups or show a detailed log of each request using Detail Groups. Each report must have at least one Group. A report can use more than one Group in a report, including multiple Summary Groups and up to one Detail Group. However, you can not include multiple Detail Groups in the same report. In effect, this means you can create multiple reports in a single file. However, reports can get quite large when you include more than one Group. Choosing Summary Groups Report data can be grouped together using one of the summary fields. Depending on the type of report, there are up to seven types of summary fields available: URI Host of URI IP Address User Policy Group Category Denied Flag Date Range (Ranging from 1 minute up to 1 month) The Summary Group is the primary field used for the report. For example, if you select Host of URI, all requests made to a host are counted and displayed. In a table, each host appears as an item in the first column; in a pie graph, each host composes a slice of the pie; and in a line or bar graph, each host represents a point on the horizontal axis. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

106 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features The following example was created with a Host of URI Summary Group: Figure 71: Example report using Host of URI Summary Group Choosing Fields These are the secondary fields. When selecting these fields, the order in which you select affects the order they display in the report. To move a field up or down, click and drag it to the position you want. See Sorting Your Report. Once you have decided how to group the data, you can choose from of the following fields to include in the report: Field Request Count Request Count Percent Requests Allowed Requests Denied Page Count Page Count Percent Pages Allowed Pages Denied File Count File Count Percent Files Allowed Files Denied Description The total number of requests made by summary group. The proportion (percentage) of requests, compared to all requests, made by summary group. The total number of requests made by the summary group that were allowed. The total number of requests made by the summary group denied. The total number of page requests by summary group. The proportion (percentage) of requested pages, compared to all page requests, by summary group. The total number of allowed page requests by Summary Group. The total number of denied page requests by Summary Group. The number of nonpage files requests by the Summary Group. The percentage of nonpage files requests, compared with all nonpage file requests, by Summary Group. The total number of allowed nonpage file requests by Summary Group. The total number of denied nonpage file requests by Summary Group. 98 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

107 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features Choosing Detail Groups Detail Group reports show each individual request (excluding those removed by the report filters). These detail reports are only available as tables. Since each request is stored in the Request Log as a single entry with seven fields, each of the fields can be included in the report as one of the columns headings in the table. Seven report fields are available for Detail Groups: URI URI host IP address User (Client name) Policy Group Category Denied flag The following example was created with a Detail Group: Figure 72: Example report using a Detail Group The order in which you select your fields determines the order that they display in the report. To move a field up or down in the list, click and drag it to the position you want. See Sorting Your Report. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

108 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features Sorting a Report Reports can be sorted to appear in many different ways. Choose the order that columns and rows appear in a table or the order on items along x-axis in a bar or line graph. The first step in sorting your report is to choose the fields in the report. Sorting by Columns The order in which you choose the fields is the order that the items display in a table or graph. However, line graphs use a separate line for each field. Pie graphs, on the other hand, can only include one field. To adjust the order after you have selected your fields, click and drag a field up or down the list in the Report Fields column. Figure 73: Detail Group column sorting If you are creating a Summary Group, choose one field to Group the information (URI, Host of URI, IP address, User, Policy Group, Category, Denied flag, or a Date Range) before choosing additional fields. This field is always used as the first column in a table or as the x-axis values in a bar or line graph. The remaining Summary Group fields are then sorted in the order in which you select them. Figure 74: Summary Group column sorting 100 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

109 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features Sorting by Rows The order that rows (in a table) or groups of bars (in a 2D or 3D bar graph) appear in can be sorted alphabetically, numerically, or chronologically, depending on the field. For example, the User field can be used to sort the rows alphabetically, the Date Range fields can sort them chronologically, and the IP address field can sort them numerically. Each field can be sorted in Ascending or Descending order. When choosing your row sorting, the screen looks similar to this, though the Available Fields will vary. Figure 75: Row sorting a Summary Group To sort the rows, select Ascending or Descending beside the field you want to sort by. For example, if you selected Requests Denied Ascending, then Pages Allowed Descending, in order in a Summary Group, the report would be ordered from the highest number of Requests Denied down to the lowest. If two or more groups had the same number of Requests Denied, that block of groups would be sorted from lowest number of Pages Allowed to highest. In the event that a tie still exists after all the sorting options are exhausted, the remaining fields are used to break the tie in the order they were selected. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

110 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features Using Graphs and Tables During the creation of most reports, you are provided the option of choosing what format the information is presented in. The Reporter has five different presentation formats available: Data Tables Pie Graphs 2D Bar Graphs 3D Bar Graphs Line Graphs Detail Group Options When creating a Detail Group in a Scheduled or Demand Report, only data tables can be displayed. Graph Options for Summary Groups Not all formats are available for every report. For example, since each entry in a Detail Group is unique, these report groups can only be presented as tables. Continuous Reports use only line graphs. For Scheduled and Demand Reports, the following table lists the available presentations for each type of report. Demand and Scheduled Reports Graph Options URI Host of URI Data Table Pie Graph 2D Bar Graph IP Address User Policy Group Category Denied Flag 3D Bar Graph Date Range = The presentation format is available Continuous Reports All continuous reports display as line graphs. Line Graph 102 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

111 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features Data Tables Data tables are the most common format used for presenting reports and are always available when creating a Scheduled Report or a Demand Report. Selecting the table and modifying its options are the final steps in creating a report Group. When customizing the tables in your report, you will have some or all of the following options: Figure 76: Data Table options Data Table Options Columns Rows Data Other options Description Select the checkboxes beside fields you want to use as Columns in the table. By default, all fields are selected. Clear the check boxes beside fields you want to omit. Select whether the individual Group Details rows should be displayed. Typically, you should leave this option selected. This option is only available for Summary Groups. Select whether to display the Totals row, which sums up the total number (or Totals percentage) of request, pages, or files out of all the records in the report. This option is only available for Summary Groups. Selecting the Item Counter options counts the items in the report. Limit the number of records in the report by selecting Display first 10 records. You can also change the number of records in the report by editing the number in the text field. Choose whether any URLs listed in the report should be hyperlinks pointing to the actual URL by selecting Clickable URL fields (when available). This field is selected by default. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

112 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features Pie Graphs Pie graphs, available only for Summary Groups, are useful for comparing a single field in the report. Each slice of the pie is a different color and represents one of the Summary Groups (the IP address, user, Policy Group, category, or denied flag setting that you selected when creating the report). Pie graphs are not available for URI or Host of URI Summary Groups. Figure 77: Pie Graph options Pie Graph Options Data Field Legend Type Other options Description Select which Data field to use in the pie chart. Remember, you can create several pie graphs, each with a different Data field. Select the Legend Type. The legend is a table used to identify which Group is associated with each slice of the pie. You can choose a legend with or without the numerical values displayed or you can choose to display labels for each slice surrounding the pie graph. In general, a legend without values is not recommended for large reports. Limit the number of records in the report by selecting Display first 10 records. That is, show only the top 10 entries in the report. You can also increase or decrease the limit by editing the number in the text box. Select Explode Sectors to add some space between the slices so that smaller slices are more easily distinguished. Select Transparent colors to display the slices with transparent colors. 104 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

113 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features Figure 78: Exploded Sectors example 2D Bar Graphs 2D bar graphs have the following options: Figure 79: 2D Bar Graph options 2D Bar Graph Options Data Chart Type Other Options Description Select the checkboxes beside the Data fields you want. Each selected field is included as a different colored bar. Each different Summary Group has its own set of bars. Select how each set of bars should be displayed using Chart Type: Stacked bars, Side-by-Side bars or Overlapped bars. (See illustration below the table.) Limit the number of records in the report by selecting Display first 10 records. That is, show only the top 10 entries in the report. You can also change the number of records the report is limited to by editing the number in the text box. Add a Polynomial Trend line to chart the direction of changes in activity. This option is only recommended for Date Range summary groups. You can also edit the order of the trend line. Display a 3D border around each bar. This makes small, hardto-see bars more visible. You can also set the bars to display in Transparent Colors. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

114 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features Stacked Side-by-side Overlapped 3D Bar Graphs 3D bar graphs have the following options: Figure 80: 3D Bar Graph options 3D Bar Graph Options Data Chart Type Description Select the check boxes beside any Data options you want to include. Clear the check box beside any Data options you want to omit. Each selected field displays as a different colored bar. Select how each set of bars should be displayed using Chart Type: Stacked bars, Side-by-Side bars or Front-to-back bars. (See illustration below the table.) 106 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

115 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features 3D Bar Graph Options Other Options Description Limit the number of records in the report by selecting Display first 10 records. You can also change the number of records in the report by editing the number in the text box. Select Display Trend line to chart the direction of changes in activity. This option is only recommended for Date Range summary groups. You can also edit the order of the trend line. Display a 3D border around each bar. This makes small, hardto-see bars more visible. Select whether you want the bars to display in Transparent Colors. Figure 81: Front to Back Bars Line Graphs Line graphs are only available if you select a Date Range as your Summary Group. Line graphs have the following options: Figure 82: Line Graph options Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

116 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features 3D Bar Graph Options Data Chart Type Description Select the check box beside any Data option you want to include. Clear the check box beside any Data options you want to omit. Each field displays as a different colored line. Select the type of chart: In a Polyline graph, the line is composed of many small line segments, creating a jagged effect. A Stepped Line shows a plateau at each data point. A Spline shows a single curved line. A Filled Area graph fills the area between the lines. See the samples below this table. Other Options Limit the number of records in the report by selecting Display first 100 records. You can also change the number of records in the report by editing the number in the text box. Select Display Trend line to chart the direction of changes in activity. This option is only recommended for Date Range summary groups. You can also edit the order of the trend line. Select whether you want the bars to display in Transparent Colors. Table 12 Chart Types Polyline Stepped Line Spline Filled Area 108 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

117 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features Using Options The Report Wizard offers several options for how and when s should be sent. Report Delivery offers options for how the report is delivered, Empty Reports offers options for how to handle empty reports, and Conditional Sending allows for the addition of conditions under which the report will be sent. Figure 83: Options screen in Report Wizard Setting the Recipients of a Report Type your address in the Address field and the report will be sent as an shortly after it is processed. If you want to send the report to more than one address, you can enter multiple addresses, separated by commas with no spaces. For example, example1@netsweeper.com,example2@netsweeper.com. If you leave the Address field blank, the report is not ed but you can still view the report using the WebAdmin. See Viewing a Report. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

118 Using the Reporting Tools Using Advanced Reporting Features Setting Report Delivery Options Select your desired Report Delivery option. We recommend the default option, the Report. Report Delivery Option the Report Links to the Report the Report as Attached PDF File the Report as Attached HTML (text only) File the Report as Attached CSV File the Report as Attached Plain Text File Description This is the default option. This HTML based format can be read by most clients and can contain all table and graph formats. The sent includes only links that you can use to download the report in various formats. The report is served from your Netsweeper Server. Attach the report as a PDF Attach the report as an HTML text file. (No graphs are shown in a text file). Attach the report as a comma separated values (CSV) file. Attach the report as a plain text (.txt) file. Setting Empty Report Options Select an Empty Reports option to decide what to do if a report contains no data. The options are: Empty Report Option Do not the report a Notification about such Reports Do not Reports but a Notification about empty Reports Description No is sent to the report recipients. An notifies report recipients that the report was empty. This setting overrides all of the above settings. Reports are never sent by , but in the event that an empty report is generated, a notification is sent. 110 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

119 Using the Reporting Tools Configuring the Reporter Setting Conditions for ing a Report To set conditions for ing a report, select Add Sending Condition from the Options screen in the Report Wizard. Figure 84: Sending Conditions Screen To add a condition for the sending of a report: 1. Select Add Condition beside one of these: User, Page Count, or Order Number. 2. Select one of the string comparison options and enter a user, or a number, depending on which condition you selected. For more information, see Advanced Report Filters, as the conditions will behave similarly. 3. Click Finish. 4. Repeat steps 1-3 until you have added all the conditions that you want. 5. If you want to send a message, instead of a report, when the conditions are met, type the message in the box provided and click Save. 6. Click Finish. The report will now be sent only if the conditions are met. Configuring the Reporter Only the built-in master admin account can access these settings through the WebAdmin. Other admin and sysop accounts do not have access to these settings. If you do not have access to the built-in master admin account, contact an administrator with access if you need the Reporter settings adjusted. The Reporter Settings control how much disk space is used by the Reporter and define which types of requests are defined as pages. The WebAdmin Settings allow you to specify which Quick Reports are available to all other accounts on the Policy Server. This chapter describes how each of these settings work and how to adjust them. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

120 Using the Reporting Tools Configuring the Reporter Setting Report Restrictions The Reporter Settings allow you to set various restrictions on what types of reports are available, how much hard disk space the Reporter can use and what information that report should include. The following report settings are accessed by selecting System Configuration from the Reports menu and selecting Reporter Settings. Note Apply settings after making any changes to the Reporter Settings. To apply settings, select Apply Settings from the top right-hand corner of the WebAdmin, and click Apply. Figure 85: Reporter Settings Allowing Demand, Scheduled, and Continuous Reports Option Allow Demand Reports Allow Scheduled Reports Allow Continuous Reports Description Choose whether to allow users to create and view Demand Reports. Note that this will also disable Quick Search and Quick Demand Reports. Choose whether to allow users to create and view Scheduled Reports. Choose whether to allow users to create and view Continuous Reports. 112 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

121 Using the Reporting Tools Configuring the Reporter Setting Hard Disk Restrictions Hard Disk Restriction Maximum Report Size Maximum Temporary File Size Maximum Disk Space for All Reports Maximum Size Maximum Number of Report Instances per Report Description Set the maximum size (disk space) that a report can reach. Reports that exceed this size are not processed, not available on the WebAdmin, and not ed. During processing, each report creates a temporary file to store data removed after the report is finished. Set the maximum size of this file. Set a limit on the total amount of disk space allowed for all reports on the server. The Reporter regularly checks the total size of all reports on the server and removes the oldest reports if the limit is exceeded. Set the maximum size of a report that can be ed. If a report exceeds this size, either no is sent, an with links to the report on the server is sent, or a notification indicating that the report was too large is sent, depending on the settings of the individual report. A Scheduled Report generate many times. Each time it generates, a new instance is created. Set the limit on the number of instances stored on the server. Once the limit is reached, the oldest report is deleted to make room for a new report. Old scheduled reports may be removed before the instance limit is reached if the maximum disk space for all reports limit is reached first. Customizing Report s Report Option Reporter Web address (for a link in an message) Report has no data Description Type in the host name and WebAdmin port of the Reporting Server. In single server deployments, this should always be in the format unless you are using a port other than 8080 for the WebAdmin. This is the message sent by when an empty report generates. In the actual , %N is replaced by the name of the report and %D is replaced by the date of the report. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

122 Using the Reporting Tools Configuring the Reporter Defining a Page by an HTML Extension Counting the number of requests a user makes does not necessarily provide a true reflection of their level of activity. A single web page is often composed of many different resources, each of which must be accessed with a separate request. Because of this, when you access a single web page, your browser may make several requests in order to display the page. To report only on the actual pages visited, instead of the total number of requests, the Reporter classifies all requests as either pages or files based on the request's file extension. Every request is categorized as a page or a file. Only requests with a file extension in the HTML Extensions list are classified as pages, while all others are classified as files. Requests commonly classified as files include images (*.jpg, *.gif, *.png) and cascading style sheets (*.css). Thus, the Reporter can report on actual web pages visited instead of simply the total number of requests. However, new file extensions may emerge, which means not all possible pages may be included in the HTML Extensions list, and a page may include multiple requests with file extensions in the extensions list. Thus, the Reporter can only provide an estimate, not necessarily an exact measurement of the number of pages accessed. Default HTML Extensions List The following extensions are included in the HTML Extensions list by default on all Netsweeper Servers: Common Text Pages Type htm html sgm sgml wml wmlp Description Common HTML file. Common HyperText Markup Language (HTML) file. SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) file. SGML file. Wireless Markup Language (WML) file. Alternate Wireless Markup Language file xhtml EXtensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) file. xml EXtensible Markup Language (XML) file. 114 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

123 Using the Reporting Tools Configuring the Reporter Active Pages Type asmx asp aspx cfm jsp xsp Description ASP.NET Web Service page Microsoft Active Server Page (ASP) ASP.NET (Microsoft.NET Active Server Page) page Cold Fusion Markup language page Java Server Page extensible Server Page (Microsoft.NET) Pages Generated by Script Language Type Description cgi Common extension for Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts ksh Korn Shell script php Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) script php3 PHP (version 3) script php4 PHP (version 4) script phtm Additional extension for PHP script pages phtml Additional extension for PHP script pages pl Perl script py Python script sh Shell script shtm Server Side Includes HTML shtml Server Side Includes HTML tcl Toolkit Common Language (Tcl) script Editing the HTML Extensions List Once you add an extension to the HTML Extensions List, any files that use that extension will now be classified as pages instead of files. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

124 Using the Reporting Tools Configuring the Reporter Adding an HTLM Extension To add an extension to the HTML extensions list: 1. Select System Configuration from the System Tools menu. 2. Click Reporter Settings. 3. At the bottom of the list beside the Add button, type the extension without the period. 4. Click Add. If you remove an extension from the HTML Extensions List, the Reporter will classify any files that used that extension as files. Removing an HTML Extension from the List To remove an extension from the list: 1. Select System Configuration from the System Tools menu. 2. Select Reporter Settings. 3. Select Delete beside the extension name you want to delete. 4. Click OK. Note Apply settings after making any changes to the Reporter Settings. To apply settings, select Apply Settings from the top right-hand corner of the WebAdmin, and click Apply. Allowing Others to Use Quick Reports The WebAdmin Settings allow you to choose which Quick Reports are available for all administrators, sysops, and users on the system. To enable the Quick Reports you want available to other Login accounts: 1. Select System Configuration from the System Tools menu. 2. Select WebAdmin Settings. 3. Scroll down to Enabled Quick Reports under the General Settings heading. 4. Press the Ctrl key and select the names of all of the Quick Reports you want available. Selected names are available, and unselected names are unavailable. 5. Click Submit. Note Apply settings after making any changes to the System Configuration. To apply settings, select Apply Settings from the top right-hand corner of the WebAdmin, and click Apply. 116 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

125 Using the Reporting Tools Configuring the Reporter Figure 86: Enabled Quick Reports Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

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127 Using Logs Figure 87 Logs menu Logs WebAdmin Log URL Alerts Log Message Log Remote Admin Log Directory Sync Log Request Log Files Function Stores debugging information and account Internet activity that you can search by user name, action, type, or IP and sort in ascending or descending order by date Stores URL alerts, which you can search by user name, action, type, or IP and sort by ascending or descending date Stores information about the general operation of the Netsweeper Policy Server Stores information about changes in filtering groups as well as information about remote administration Stores information about Active Directory that you can search by keyword or source URL Stores the last 50 Internet requests made to the Netsweeper Policy Server Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

128 Using Logs WebAdmin Log WebAdmin Log Figure 88 WebAdmin Log Records of activity on the Policy Server web interface, including updates to Policies, Allow and Deny lists, user logins and changes to groups or clients. To set up notification for WebAdmin activity: 1. Type your address in the Add box. 2. Select the options for which you want to receive notification. 3. Click Add . URL Alerts Log Figure 89 URL Alerts Log 120 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

129 Using Logs Message Log The URL Alerts Log lists category review requests for Web sites. These are instances in which your network feels our artificial intelligence engines have categorized incorrectly. (Our human review team reviews the requests and changes the category assignments of these sites, if needed.) To register a URL Alert with us, use the URL Alert tool on the URL Tools menu. Message Log Figure 90 Message Log The Message Log stores information about the Netsweeper Policy Server. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

130 Using Logs Remote Admin Log Remote Admin Log Figure 91 Remote Admin Log The Remote Admin Log stores information about changes to filtering groups and remote administration. 122 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

131 Using Logs Directory Sync Log Directory Sync Log Figure 92 Directory Sync Log Netsweeper s Active Directory synchronization process takes user lists from Active Directory and creates clients for those users on the Policy Server. The synchronization process continuously monitors changes in Active Directory and updates the Policy Server to reflect those changes. If a problem occurs with the Active Directory synchronization, look at the Directory Sync Log. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

132 Using Logs Request Log Files Request Log Files Figure 93 Request Log Files The Last Log Entries lists the last 50 Internet requests made to the Netsweeper Policy Server. The other log files, listed in the bottom half of the page, contain all the information that Netsweeper records for a range of dates. The Reporter draws information from these logs in running its reports. 124 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

133 Using URL Tools Figure 94 URL Tools menu The tools accessed through the URL Tools menu allow you to create precise custom filtering for your Netsweeper system. You can block or allow individual websites by adding their URLs to a Deny or Allow list. The URL Tools also allow you to ask Netsweeper to review the classification of a URL that you feel is incorrect. You can create custom URL Allow and Deny lists to override the default category assignments of the Netsweeper categorization engines. This allows you to create exceptions to the filtering policies. For example, you may want to block access to most social networking sites but allow access to a site whose content you trust. You can use the URL lookup tools to see the categories that the Netsweeper categorization engines, using Artificial Intelligence, have assigned a specific URL. If you suspect that a site has been incorrectly categorized, then you can create a URL Alert to notify Netsweeper that one of our human content analysts should review the site. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

134 Using URL Tools Managing the URL Lists Table 13 URL Tools Menu Options URL Tools URL List Manager URL Lookup URL Lookup Details Local List Search URL Alert Web Proxy Function Allows you to type in the URLs of individual websites that you want to allow or block or import a list of URLs. Allows you to look up the category assigned to a URL. Allows you to look up the category assigned to a particular URL and provides the correct syntax if you want to block the website. Allows you to search for an individual URL in your Local List 12 to determine whether the URL has been blocked or allowed for a specific group, policy, or client. Allows admins, sysops and users to request that Netsweeper check the accuracy of a URL s categorization. Allows you to test the filtering policies for a group by assuming the group s identity to browsing the Internet. Managing the URL Lists You can use URL Lists to allow or deny specific URLs to undo allow or deny rulings based on category assignments. Several URL lists with different authority levels are available. From highest authority to lowest, they are as follows: List Authority Ranking Deny Page Allow URL List Highest System URL Lists Higher Local URL/Keyword Lists Medium Global URL Lists Lower Category URL List Lowest A URL that is both on the Global URL Allow List and the System URL Deny list would always be denied, since the System lists outrank the Global lists. Deny Page Allow URL List If you have created custom deny pages, you must add all files in the deny pages to this list. To test whether you have properly added all of your deny page files, type the Deny Page URL into the Deny Page Test Tool in the WebAdmin. If you discover errors, add the inaccessible URLs to the Deny Page URL Allow List. 12 Sysops can only view local lists assigned to them. 126 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

135 Using URL Tools Managing the URL Lists System URL Lists The System URL Allow and Deny Lists override all other filtering settings. Add a URL to the Allow List and Netsweeper will allow access to it. Similarly, add a URL to the System Deny URL List, and Netsweeper will deny access. Local URL/Keyword Lists The Local URL/Keyword Lists are used to always allow or deny a URL for a particular policy. Only users assigned to that policy s group, during times when the policy is active, will be affected. Both URLs and keywords are on this list. Keywords are a string of characters that can appear in a URL. For example, adding sex to the Local Deny List would block access to sites like and As you can see from this example, it is important to be very careful when using keywords. These lists can be overridden by entries in the System URL List. Global URL Lists The Global URL Lists are similar to the System URL Lists. They are used to allow or deny access to specific URLs to all users on the system. However, these lists can be overridden by the Local or System Lists, or simply turned off on a per policy basis. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

136 Using URL Tools Managing the URL Lists Category URL List The Category URL Lists are for URLs that you want to add to a category, or URLs that you want to re-categorize. This list is overridden by all the other lists because it has the same priority as the categories themselves. Keywords are a string of characters that can appear in a URL. For example, adding sex to the Local Deny List would block access to sites like and Figure 95 Add Category URL window Parsing a URL One of the subtle features of the Netsweeper Policy Server is how Netsweeper parses or interprets a URL. By understanding the parsing, you can minimize the number of entries and provide extremely accurate filtering. Review and consider URLs carefully before adding or modifying them to ensure you accomplish the outcome you want. The format of a URL is: protocol://host/path The Netsweeper Policy Server breaks the host and path into individual segments. The host may also contain user name credentials or an optional port number. 128 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

137 Using URL Tools Managing the URL Lists The format is: protocol:// (typically Term host or host segments Port path or path segments Description Host or host segments start after the protocol, or after if user name credentials are present. Processing stops at /,?, and #. The entire host is always converted to lower case. The host is parsed into host segments by the. (period) character. Sequential periods are treated as a single period. The number of host segments in a URL string cannot exceed if more are found they are not used during assembly. Host segments cannot be empty (for example: is invalid). If the host segments form an IP address the Host is an IP category is assigned. The port starts after the colon (:) in the host and must be numeric. If the protocol is http and the port is 80, the port is removed. If the protocol is https and the port is 443, the port is removed. The path starts after the host and stops when the question mark (?), number sign (#_, or the end of the entry occurs. Paths are broken into path segments by slash (/) characters. There can only be 5,000 path segments. If additional path segments exist, they are not used. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

138 Using URL Tools Managing the URL Lists How Netsweeper Processes the Lists From the validation sequence, the entry is broken down into small, unique tokens used during processing. The asterisk (*) in these examples represents a wild card that matches any character or string of characters or no character at all (empty string) and is case insensitive. Note Only the path segment of a URL is case sensitive. Searches for keywords are NOT case sensitive. When no path or port is specified, Netsweeper assigns a wild card to the beginning and ending of the URL entry. See examples below. URL Translation When a port is specified, only the end of the URL will have a wild card. However, if the HTTP protocol is used and port 80 is specified, or the HTTPS protocol is used and port 443 is specified, the port is removed. See examples below: URL Translation When a path is specified, only the end of the URL has a wild card. See examples below. URL Translation The following illustrate some common issues with the URL lists: URL Translation February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

139 Using URL Tools Managing the URL Lists Creating URL Lists A common error is to include many URLs in a list when a single one would do. Categorizing an entire host/domain generally provides the best results, and automatically allows for additional pages that may be added in the future. Although the time needed to process a single URL in an allow/deny list is very small, it may become significant if you have thousands of unnecessary URLs that get processed for every URL request. Rather than adding multiple variations of tv.com which are individual pages, the host/domain tv.com should be added. Before adding any URL that is more than just the host/domain, investigate whether you can just categorize the host/domain. Some hosts/domains, such as Geocities, host a variety of content and to categorize geocities.com as a pornography site would be inaccurate. However, there are plenty of pornography sites at Geocities. In these cases, consider the shortest URL that you can define to accurately categorize the site you are concerned about. Since paths are case sensitive, every attempt should be made to categorize without a path segment. In addition, you may want to consider adding to your allow list top level domains that you trust. For example, domain registration for.edu and.gov are generally highly controlled and could in most cases be considered safe and globally allowed. Another issue to consider is how often you review and purge your allow/deny lists. In many cases, undesirable URLs (pornography, racial, violence, and so on) move or change on a monthly basis. Having an allow/deny list full of dead sites is inefficient. Adding a URL to a URL Lists Netsweeper allows a URL on the Allow List unless a list with higher priority overrides it. Netsweeper always denies a URL on the Deny List unless a list with higher priority overrides it. Only use the Deny Page Allow URL List for files added to a Custom Deny Page. Figure 96: URL List Manager Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

140 Using URL Tools Managing the URL Lists To add a URL to one of the URL lists: 1. In the WebAdmin, select URL List Manager from the URL Tools menu. 2. Select the list to which you want to add the URL from the Select List menu. 3. To add a single URL, type in the URL in the Add URL box and then click Add. To add several URLs at once, click Add New URLs, type in one URL per line in the Add New URLs box, and then click Submit. 4. Click Apply Settings on WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Note Search the URL lists by typing in a keyword or a source URL in single quotes. Importing a URL list If you have a list of URLs that you want to add to a specific list in the URL List Manager, you can import a file. You can import either a text file or a CSV file. The file must have at least two columns: the URLs and the list you want to add them to, and each row must be either comma or tab delimited. If you have more columns, you can choose to ignore them. To import a URL list: 1. In the WebAdmin, click URL Tools on the WebAdmin menu bar and select URL List Manager from the drop-down list. 2. Click Import. 3. If there are no headings in the file, clear the checkbox beside Headings. 4. Select how the fields are delimited. You can choose to replace all the existing data from the list. 5. Click Browse and find the file you want to open. Select the file and then click Open. 6. Click Import. 7. Identify which columns in your file are URLs and which are lists. Ignore the rest of the fields. 8. Click Submit. 9. Click Apply Settings from the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Note Place each custom URL list in a separate file and upload it individually in the URL List Manager. Each list has a corresponding keyword that you must include in the file. The list of keywords is shown below. 132 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

141 Using URL Tools Managing the URL Lists Table 14 Keywords for uploading URL lists List Allow URL List Global Deny URL List System Allow URL List System Deny URL List System Allow Protocol List System Deny Protocol List Deny Page Allow URL List Keywords suggest_allow suggest_deny system_allow system_deny systemproto_allow systemproto_deny deny_allow Example "Global URLs","List" " " " Adding URLs or Words to the Allow or Deny Lists You will use the Local URL List and Keyword List to always allow or deny a URL for a particular policy. Only users assigned to that policy's group, during times when the policy is active, will be affected. Both URLs and keywords can be type ined in this list. You must include the or included at the beginning of the URL; otherwise, the URL will be treated as keywords. Keywords are a special case. They are a string of characters that can appear anywhere within a URL. For example, adding sex to the Local Deny List would block access to sites like and As you can see from this example, it is important to be very careful when using keywords. To add a URL or a keyword: 1. In the WebAdmin, select Group Manager from the Policy Management menu. 2. Select the name of the group with the policy you want to modify. 3. Select the name of the policy you want to modify. 4. Click Local Allow URLs/Keywords or Local Deny URLs/Keywords from the Local List menu, depending on whether you want to allow or deny the site for users of this policy. 5. Type in the URL or keyword in the Add Entry box and then click Add. 6. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Note Select the encode box if you type in any nonalphanumeric characters. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

142 Using URL Tools Managing the URL Lists Importing URL Lists To import a list of URLs for the Local Allow and Local Deny lists, follow the procedure described in Importing a List. However in this case, the entries for the Local Allow and Local Deny lists can go in the same file. Additionally, the keywords for the Local Allow and the Local Deny lists, respectively, are 1 and 2. The Checklist Report will categorize all websites type ined in the Local List. This function allows admins and sysops to verify the Local Allow and Local Deny lists. Creating URL Alerts The URL Alert tool allows administrators, sysops and users to prompt Netsweeper to check the accuracy of a URL s categorization. To submit a URL Alert: 1. Type in one or more URLs you feel are inaccurately categorized. 2. Click Submit. Your message is sent via to the Netsweeper Review Team, which will review the URL and make a decision as to the validity of your request. Figure 97: URL Alert 134 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

143 Using URL Tools Managing the URL Lists Using the Web Proxy By using the Web Proxy, you can test the filtering policies for each group you create by assuming the identity of a group member and then browsing the Internet under the group s policy. To use the Web Proxy to test a filtering policy: 1. Select Web Proxy from the System Tools menu. 2. Select the group whose policy you want to test. 3. Click Surf As. 4. Browse to filtered URLs or protocols. Note You can also click Surf using group when you are looking at a group, or surf using policy when you are looking at an individual policy. For more information on this feature, see the Web Proxy Technical Note on the support site, at Figure 98: URL for Web Proxy Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

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145 Using the Your Account Tools Figure 99 Your Account menu Table 15 Your Account Menu Options Your Account Menu Options Change Password Change Theme Change Language Change Time Zone Set Default Paper Size Function Changes your account password Changes the WebAdmin interface Changes the language in which the WebAdmin displays Changes the time zone of the WebAdmin Changes the default paper size for printout of logs or reports Changing your Password To change your password: 1. Select Change Password from the Your Account menu. 2. Type the new password in the New Password and New Password Again boxes. 3. Click Submit. 4. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

146 Using the Your Account Tools Changing your Theme (User Interface) Changing your Theme (User Interface) The instructions for using the WebAdmin vary, depending on which user interface you choose from among the nine different Themes available to you. After logging in to the WebAdmin, you can apply a theme locally, to one account, or, if you are a admin or sysop user, you can apply it globally, to all accounts under your control. The instructions contained in this guide apply to the three newest themes Business, School, SMB which feature a nine-button menu bar, a three-button Quick Links bar, a three-button WebAdmin task bar, and a link to Netsweeper Technical Support at the bottom of the page. We would recommend that you choose one of these three themes for best compatibility with our documentation. Figure 100 WebAdmin Home Page, Business Theme Choosing a Theme To choose a theme: 1. Click Your Account on the WebAdmin menu bar. 2. Select Change Theme from the Your Account drop-down list. 3. Select the theme you want from the Account Theme and Global Themes dropdown lists. 4. Click Submit. 5. Click Logout. 6. Log back on to the WebAdmin. 138 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

147 Using the Your Account Tools Changing your Theme (User Interface) Available Account and Global Themes (User Interfaces) Business School SMB ISP Classic Default Light Client Filter Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

148 Using the Your Account Tools Changing your Theme (User Interface) Available Account and Global Themes (User Interfaces) Default (Old) To change your theme (user interface): 1. Select Change Theme from the Your Account menu. 2. You now have a choice: To change the theme for the admin account only, select a theme from the options in the Account Theme dropdown list and then click Submit. To change the theme for all accounts on the WebAdmin, select a theme from the options in the Global Theme dropdown list and then click Submit. Figure 101 Change Theme page 3. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. 4. Log out of the WebAdmin and then log on again. Changing the WebAdmin Display Language 13 To change the WebAdmin display language: 1. In the WebAdmin, select Change Language from the Your Account menu. 2. Select a language icon under Global Language if you want to change the language globally (for all accounts assigned to your administrative control), or Select a language icon under Account Language if you want to change the display language for your account. 13 The WebAdmin is available in other languages besides French and English by request. 140 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

149 Using the Your Account Tools Changing your Theme (User Interface) Figure 102 Change Language page Changing the WebAdmin Time Zone To change the WebAdmin time zone: 1. Select Change Time Zone from the Your Account menu. 2. Select a time zone from the dropdown list and then click Submit. 3. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Figure 103 Change Time zone page Figure 104 Time zone list Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

150 Using the Your Account Tools Changing your Theme (User Interface) Setting the Default Paper Size for Printing To set the default paper size for printing from the WebAdmin: 1. Select Set Default Paper Size from the Your Account menu. 2. Click the arrow for the drop down list beside Account Default Paper Size and select a paper size from the list. The options are: letter, legal, A3, A4, and A5. 3. Click Submit. 4. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Logging Out To log out of the WebAdmin, select Logout from the Your Account menu, or click Logout on the taskbar. 142 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

151 Deploying the Client Filters This document describes deployment methods for the two client filter editions. Large organizations should use the Client Filter Enterprise Edition, in which a group of admins and sysops manage group filtering policies through a Web-based interface, called the WebAdmin. The organization s Active Directory or other authentication system validates Netsweeper users and assigns them to filtering groups. Small organizations and home users should use the Client Filter Residential Edition, in which a person designated as a profile manager creates filtering profiles for users and assigns each a profile and a password. Differences between the Two Client Filter Editions Method Large-Scale (Enterprise) Small-Scale (Residential) Who manages the filtering? How do they do it? What is filtered? What else? Procedure Master admin, admins, and sysops Web-based WebAdmin software Groups are filtered according to the dictates of their filtering policy. Focuses on efficient management of large groups of users 1. Admins or sysops create groups, policies, time segments, and assign clients to groups. 2. Deploy the Netsweeper client filters to individual computers. See the WebAdmin Guide for details. An admin or sysop creates up an account for the organization through the WebAdmin, and then a person in that organization uses the client filter s Profile Manager to create profiles for each of the organization s filtered users. Profile Manager software installed on each PC Profiles are filtered, perhaps individually, according to the dictates of their profile. Focuses on simplicity and ease of use and hides complex features 1. An admin or sysop, using the WebAdmin, creates an account for the small organization or family. 2. Then the small business or home user can log in with the first time log in and set up the account. See the Protection Pack User Guide for details. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

152 Deploying the Client Filters Organizing Filtering Profiles or Policies Organizing Filtering Profiles or Policies After your IT team installs and configures the Netsweeper operating system (covered in the Netsweeper Server Setup Guide) to work with your authentication system, those admins and sysops handling policy creation and administration determine whether to deploy the Client Filter Residential Edition or the Client Filter Enterprise Edition. Residential Edition or Enterprise Edition? The Netsweeper Client Filter has two formats: Residential Edition and Enterprise Edition. If you are a large service provider, you may prefer to use the Client Filter Residential Edition with your smaller customer accounts and the Client Filter Enterprise Edition with your larger customer accounts. You can deploy both editions from the same server. Residential Edition Service providers often deploy the Netsweeper Client Filter Residential Edition for distribution to families, schools, or smallto medium-sized businesses that want simple, easy-to-manage filtering, logging, and reporting for a small number of users. The Profile Manager has a simple user interface that allows a customer admin or parent (in the case of a family) to create basic filtering profiles as well as simple logs and reports. Account authorization is by account username and password. User authorization is by profile name and optional password. Enterprise Edition Service providers, businesses, governments, and schools usually deploy the Netsweeper Client Filter Enterprise Edition when they need a tool that allows them to centrally deploy the filter to a large network of computers and users and efficiently manage content filtering for those users. In this edition, only admins or sysops have access to the management interface, the WebAdmin software. When individuals use the Client Filter Enterprise Edition, their Netsweeper user name is identical to their Windows user name. Admins or sysops can either type each Windows user name into the WebAdmin or use our Active Directory Sync tool, available from Netsweeper Support. 144 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

153 Deploying the Client Filters Organizing Filtering Profiles or Policies Residential Edition vs. Enterprise Edition To deploy the Residential Edition 1. The service provider-level admin or sysop fine tunes any default filtering profiles for the user base, using the Policy Management tools. 2. The service provider-level admin or sysop uses the Account Management tools in the WebAdmin to create an account name and password for each of the service provider s business, school, or family customers. 3. The customer uses that account name (generally an address) and password to download the client filter Profile Manager onto his/her organization s computers. 4. The customer admin or parent then uses the Profile Manager to create the filtering profiles that he/she will use in managing filtering under that account. 5. The customer admin or parent uses the Profile Manager to modify the default profiles, if needed. 6. The customer admin or parent creates simple reports to monitor profile users Internet activity. To deploy the Enterprise Edition 1. The policy admins and sysops group users into affinity groups by their filtering needs. They may configure their authentication system to automatically route users into their affinity groups. 2. The admin or sysop creates at least one filtering policy per affinity group. 3. If a group has multiple policies, governing different times or days, then the admin or sysop applies time segments to each of the group s policies. 4. The admin or sysop modifies each policy, tweaking the Allow and Deny lists, URL and protocol lists, Search Keywords, and other policy details as needed. 5. The admin or sysop creates simple or complex reports for monitoring users Internet activity. 6. The admin or sysop tests the policies and reports. Deploying the MSI version of the Client Filter If you are deploying the Microsoft Installer (MSI) version of the product, you can use Microsoft s tools to transform your packages and silently deploy the client filter. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

154 Deploying the Client Filters Filtering Multiple Organizations Adding Multiple Clients After you have deployed the client filters, you will add clients to the various group Policies. The only difference between a single-client software deployment and a multiple-client software deployment is that the client names will need to have domain appended to their names in a multiple-client deployment. This will also allow you to use the same usernames across the system. Figure 105 Client Settings window with append to usernames Filtering Multiple Organizations Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can manage filtering for a number of customer businesses or organizations from the same Netsweeper Policy Server. This chapter describes how an ISP would configure this arrangement. Task Summary To support multiple companies on the same Policy Server: 1. Create a DNS 14 entry in your DNS server configuration for each company for which you are deploying Netsweeper. 2. Test your DNS entries by using the ping command. 3. Configure the Netsweeper Policy Server to manage all of the companies. 4. Create users, groups, policies and time segments for each company. 5. Deploy the Netsweeper client filters to each company s computers. 14 Domain Name Server 146 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

155 Deploying the Client Filters Creating a DNS Entry for Each Company Creating a DNS Entry for Each Company Create a Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) configuration to make company1, company2, and company3 respond to the Netsweeper Policy Server s IP address. An example BIND configuration: $TTL IN SOA ns1.company.com. support.company.com.( ; serial, todays date + todays serial # 3600 ; refresh, seconds 3600 ; retry, seconds 3600 ; expire, seconds 3600 ); minimum, seconds NS ns1.company.com. NS ns2.company.com. MX 10 IN A company1 IN A company2 IN A company3 IN A Note Replace the IP address in the example above with the external IP address of your Netsweeper Policy Server. Testing the DNS changes After you make the changes in your DNS, test your changes by using the ping command. (Ensure that neither your firewall nor the Netsweeper Policy Server is blocking the ping.) To test the DNS, type in: # ping company1.company.com The result of the ping should be similar to this: Pinging company1.company.com [ ] with 32 bytes of data: Reply from : bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=245 Reply from : bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=245 Reply from : bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=245 Ping statistics for : Packets: Sent = 3, Received = 3, Lost = 0 (0% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 6ms, Maximum = 8ms, Average = 7ms Filtering More than One Organization Edit the /usr/local/netsweeper/etc/nsd.conf file using nano, a free curses-based text editor. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

156 Deploying the Client Filters Adding Multiple Clients To edit the /usr/local/netsweeper/etc/nsd.conf file: 1. Type in the line below: # nano -w /usr/local/netsweeper/etc/nsd.conf 2. At the end of the configuration file, add the following line: rus_append policyserver 3. Save the file and restart the policy server. # nsdctl restart Deploying the MSI version of the Client Filter If you are deploying the MSI version of the product, you can transform your packages and silently deploy the client filter. Deploying the Executable Version of the Client Filter If you are deploying the executable version of the client filter software, type in the following command to specify which Netsweeper Policy Server to use: setup.exe /POLICY_SERVER=company1.company.com:3431 /S Adding Multiple Clients After you have deployed the client filters, you will add clients to the various group Policies. The only difference between a single-client software deployment and a multiple-client software deployment is that the client names will also need to have domain appended to their names. This will also allow you to use the same usernames across the system. Figure 106 Client Settings window with append to usernames 148 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

157 Duties of the Master Admin Delegating Administration The Netsweeper master admin in a large or geographically dispersed organization may choose to share administration of the Netsweeper system with other technically trained admins and delegate some tasks to system operators or sysops. These sysops will share some, but not all, of the privileges of the Netsweeper admins. The master administrator will determine what privileges and duties the sysops have. See the Netsweeper Sysop Guide for ideas about delegating the Netsweeper administrative duties among admins and sysops. The level of access you have to the WebAdmin depends on the type of WebAdmin Login account you have. There are four types of WebAdmin Login accounts: Login Type Master admin Admin Sysop User Description The master admin account is a special, built-in account designed for the head Netsweeper Server administrator. Typically, this is the person in charge of maintaining the server and managing the accounts of other administrators. This account has access to all the features that a regular administrator has, plus a few extra system settings. The admin account is for administrators who manage one or more groups of users. These accounts have access to all of the Netsweeper Reporter's features and can report on all users, but cannot access any of the System Configuration settings, including the Reporter Settings. The sysop account is for assistant administrators who have restricted access to administrative features. The level of access that sysops have on the system depends on the individual sysop permission settings. Sysops can only report on groups and clients assigned to their account. Sysop permissions can only be modified by an Admin or Master Admin. For more information on sysop permissions, see the Sysop Permissions Guide on the support site at In most Netsweeper deployments, user accounts have no direct access to the WebAdmin. Users can only access their own account. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

158 Delegating Administration Adding Multiple Clients Creating an Admin Account To create an admin account: In the WebAdmin, select Account Manager from the Account Management menu. 1. Click Add New Account. This displays the Add New Account page. Figure 107: Add New Account page 2. Type in the Login Name, Organization, and Account Password. Type the password again in the Verify Password box. 3. Click Admin in the Classification field. 4. If you click Create account group policy, a group and policy will be created for this account. The admin user will join the group as a client and be filtered. 5. Click Submit. 6. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. 150 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

159 Delegating Administration Creating a Sysop Account Creating a Sysop Account You will create sysop accounts in the Account Manager. To create a sysop account: 1. Log on to the WebAdmin as an admin or master admin. 2. On the menu bar, click Account Management and then select Account Manager from the drop-down menu. 3. Click Add New Account. This displays the Add New Account page. Figure 108 Add New Account Page 4. Complete the form, especially the Login Name, Organization, Password, and Verify Password boxes. 5. Click Sysop in the Classification field. 6. If you want to clone sysop permissions from another sysop account, click the down arrow in the box beside Clone Sysop Permissions from Account and select a name from those listed. (There will not be any if no other sysops have been created.) Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

160 Delegating Administration Managing Sysop Access to the WebAdmin 7. If you click Create account group policy, a group and policy will be created for this account. The sysop will be filtered as a member of this new group. 8. Click Submit. 9. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Managing Sysop Access to the WebAdmin You can share common administrative duties for managing groups, policies and users by assigning specific tasks to system operators (sysops). Sysops are particularly useful in organizations with a large number of computer users. This document describes the possible sysop permissions and recommends which permissions should be granted for sysop management of the three main Netsweeper products the Enterprise Filter, the Client Filter Enterprise Edition, and the Client Filter Residential Edition. Sysops can only manage groups assigned to their account and only access WebAdmin functions permitted by their account. Each sysop has his or her own set of permissions. When creating a sysop account, the admin should ensure that he or she assigns the sysop appropriate access to the WebAdmin to perform the tasks the sysop needs to perform. For security reasons, only grant access to the functions the sysop needs to perform and nothing more. Standard Sysop Access The following are the basic tasks within the WebAdmin that all sysops can access, even if not given access to any additional functions. Table 16 Basic Sysop Access to the WebAdmin Permission Category Definitions URL Lookup and URL Lookup Details Local List Search Change Password Change Language Description Sysops can view the Category Definitions page, which contains Netsweeper s definitions of its filtering categories. URL Lookup allows sysops to type in a URL to see what category or categories the Netsweeper Categorization Service has or will assign to it. URL Lookup Details allows sysops to look up the category currently assigned to a particular URL and see how it was categorized. Local List Search allows sysops to search for URLs that are already in their Local Lists. Sysops can only see local lists in the groups assigned to them. They can use this tool to check whether a URL has been blocked or allowed for a specific group, policy, or client. Sysops can change their own account password using the Change Password feature available as an option in the Your Account menu. If a sysop forgets his or her password, an admin user must reset the password for using the Account Manager. Sysops can change their own account language settings using the Change Language option on the Your Account menu. Changing this setting does not affect the language displayed for any other user. Only admin users can change the global language settings. 152 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

161 Delegating Administration Managing Sysop Access to the WebAdmin Permission Change Time Zone Logout Description A sysop can change his or her time zone setting with the Change Time Zone option on the Your Account menu. Changing this setting does not affect the time zone of any other user. Only admin users can change the global Time Zone setting. Sysops can logout of the WebAdmin and have access to the Logout shortcut at the top of the WebAdmin page. Possible Additional Sysop Permissions Permission Group Manager Add Groups Delete Groups Modify Group Description Append Organization to Group Clone Groups Policy Manager Add Group Policies Delete Group Policies Modify Group Policies Modify Group Policy Global URL List Description A sysop must have access to the Group Manager for groups to which the sysop is assigned. This permission allows sysops to create groups. This allows the sysop to delete groups. Sysops can only delete groups assigned to them. This permission allows sysops to change the group s description, a brief description of the group to help users identify groups more easily. This permission will automatically append the organization name entered when the sysop is created to every new group the sysop creates. Access to this permission allows a sysop to create a copy of an existing group, including all policies, by clicking Clone Group on the Group Manager page. Since clients can only belong to one group, clients are not copied to a cloned group. Access to this permission is not required to modify policies, as they can also be accessed from their respective groups. Policies define the filtering rules assigned to each group. A group can have a single policy that runs continuously or have two or more that run at different times. The Add Group Policies permission allows sysops to create new policies for the groups assigned to them. Sysops can delete policies with this permission enabled. sysops can only delete policies from groups assigned to them. When access to this permission is selected, a sysop can modify the categories that a policy allows or blocks. When the policy is in blacklist mode, all selected categories are blocked. In white-list mode, all selected categories are allowed and everything else is blocked. The default mode for new policies is black list. If you want to allow a sysop to choose whether a policy is filtered in black list or white list mode, give the sysop access to the Modify Group Policy Default Status permission. In the Policy settings, a sysop can enable or disable the Global Allow and Deny lists for his or her groups. However, the sysop cannot add or delete URLs from Global URL lists unless given access to the Global URL List permission. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

162 Delegating Administration Managing Sysop Access to the WebAdmin Permission Modify Group Policy Local URL/Keyword List Modify Group Policy Default Status Append Organization to Time Policies Modify Account Group Memberships Quick Policy Management Add Clients Delete Clients Modify Clients Append Organization to Client Description When selected, this permission allows sysops to add or delete URLs or keywords from the Local URL/Keyword Lists for their groups. Access to this permission allows a sysop to choose whether a group is filtered in black list or white list mode. This permission will automatically append the Organization entered when the sysop is created to any new policy that the sysop creates. This permission allows a sysop to view and delete user accounts that are assigned to any of the sysop s groups. If the sysop is given the Account Management permission, then the sysop can create his/her own users and assign them to groups. If a sysop is assigned to ONLY one group, which has the same name as his/her account name, a new Settings menu will appear. The menu allows the sysop to make changes to the group s blocked categories, and to the Allow and Deny Lists for a policy. This occurs when the box Create account group policy is selected when creating the sysop. A client contains information that points toward the identity or location of an end user. Access to the Add Clients permission allows sysops to create clients within a group. The sysop can create a client based on client name, password, IP address, or network subnet, depending on what additional permissions are given. Sysops must have at least one of the following additional permissions selected for the Add Clients permission to work: Allow Client Name-Based Clients Allow Password-Based Clients Allow Workstation-Based Clients Allow Network-Based Clients With this permission selected, sysops can delete clients from the groups they administer. Sysops do not have access to clients outside their groups. With access to the Modify Clients permission, sysops can modify the settings for any client assigned to one of their groups. They can move the client to a different group and select how the client is identified by the Policy Server (by client name, password, or IP address/range). To change how the client is identified by the Policy Server, the sysop must have access to the permission for the client-creation method they want to select that is: Allow Client Name-Based Clients Allow Password-Based Clients Allow Workstation-Based Clients Allow Network-Based Clients Access to this permission automatically appends the organization name submitted when the sysop account was created to any new client the sysop creates. 154 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

163 Delegating Administration Managing Sysop Access to the WebAdmin Permission Allow Client Category Selection Allow Client Name- Based Clients Allow Password- Based Clients Allow Workstation Based Clients Allow Network Based Clients Add Time Segments Delete Time Segments Description Access to this permission is generally not recommended for either sysops or admins. It allows sysops to add categories for each client in addition to the categories selected for their policy. However, doing so can cause problems if a policy s time segments change between black list and white list mode. We recommend that the admin or sysop creates a new group and policy for that client. This permission allows sysops to manage users authenticated based on their client name. If the sysop will be managing clients authenticated based on their client name, then they should have access to this permission. Also select Add Clients, Delete Clients, and Modify Clients if you are granting a sysop access to this permission. This permission allows sysops to manage users authenticated based on password. If the sysop will be managing clients authenticated based on password, they should have this permission selected. The main exception is with the Client Filter Residential Edition. Sysops do not need to manage clients for deployments of the Client Filter Residential Edition, since this is done by the Profile Manager for the account usually a parent, in the case of a family account. Also select the Add Clients, Delete Clients, and Modify Clients permissions if granting access to this permission. Most network based deployments use either workstation-based clients and/or network-based clients. Workstation-based clients use the IP address of the workstation to authenticate. If the sysop will manage such users, select this permission. If users in an entire range or subnet of IP address are assigned to a single filtering policy, then enable access to the Allow Network-Based Clients permission. You should also select the Add Clients, Delete Clients, and Modify Clients permissions. Network-based clients are similar to workstation-based clients except that a client can be assigned as an entire range of IP addresses or a network subnet. Select access to the Add Clients, Delete Clients, and Modify Clients permissions if you are enabling this permission. This permission allows sysops to create new time segments. Time segments allow you to activate different filtering policies for a group at different times. Therefore, enable the Add Time Segments permission only if you enable the Add Group Policies permission, since time segments are only useful when a group has multiple filtering polices. The sysop can define the time segment's start and end times when creating a time segment. However, the sysop cannot change the start or end times of the time segment unless you enable access to either the Modify Time Segments or the Delete Time Segments permission. Sysops do not need to add, delete, or modify time segments for Client Filter Residential Edition users as they are automatically created or managed by the home user. When selected, this permission allows sysops to remove time segments from their groups. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

164 Delegating Administration Managing Sysop Access to the WebAdmin Permission Modify Time Segments Specify Deny Pages Apply Settings Access Change Password Access Change WebAdmin Theme Allow Remote Admin Description Access to this permission allows sysops to change the start and end time of time segments for their assigned groups policies. This permission allows sysops to choose which Deny Page displays for each of their groups. Sysops can assign the Global Deny Page, which is the default setting for all groups; a Custom Deny Page, which can be created and edited by the sysop; or Log Only, which means no websites are ever blocked but the activity is recorded and can be viewed using the Reporter. After any of the settings in a group or policy are modified, sysops and admins should always Apply Settings to ensure that the settings take effect. Enable this permission if you are allowing your sysops to change any group, policy, or client settings. Alternatively, any admin or sysop can select Apply Settings, and it will apply any changes made to the Policy Server by anyone. This permission also adds a shortcut to Apply Settings at the top of the WebAdmin screen. This permission determines whether the sysop can change the password for WebAdmin accounts they have created. This permission does not affect the client filter password. The sysop must have the Client Filter Management permission enabled to change a client Filter password. The Change WebAdmin Theme permission allows sysops to change their own Account theme. Changing the Account theme simply changes the appearance of the web interface and does not provide any additional functionality or affect any other users. sysops can not change the Global WebAdmin Theme. Remote Admin is an interface used to test the Netsweeper Policy Servers. With this permission, sysops can access the Remote Admin commands listed below. They will also have access to the Test Deny Pages tool. It is not recommended to enable this permission as it allows a sysop some admin level permissions. Table 17 Functions of the Remote Admin Tool that can be performed by a sysop Function Query NSP Version Group Lookup Rotate Log Files URL Lookup URL Lookup (Cache Disabled) CNS URL Lookup Description Displays the version of the Netsweeper that is currently installed. Find information related to the active group of the entered IP address. Saves current log and starts a new one. Details the category assignments and Time To Live (TTL) of a particular URL. Similar to URL Lookup but does not utilize the Cache. The Lookup will proceed as if the URL was not found in the Cache. Details the category assignment and Time To Live (TTL) of a particular URL. Performs a direct CNS URL Lookup. This will bypass the CNS Extension, CNS TLD, and all internal Policy Server processing. 156 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

165 Delegating Administration Managing Sysop Access to the WebAdmin Function Cache URL Lookup URL Lookup Default Group URL Lookup Details Toggle Remote Logging Reload TLD List Reload Master List Reset URL Assign IP to Group Disable Filtering Reactivate Filtering Flush NSLAM Users Disable Category Filtering Signal Dynamic Client Reload Allow WebAdmin Notification Allow WebAdmin Log Access Allow Alert Log Access Account Management Description Performs a direct Cache URL Lookup. This will only search the Cache for the URL. Returns the URL that is either denied or allowed as defined by the default group. Returns the URL that is either denied or allowed as defined by the default group, the Policy Server that categorizes the URL, and the category number for the URL. Allows enabling or disabling of Remote Logging Reloads the top level domain list. Reloads the Master List of URLs for your Policy Server. Resets a particular URL to its default characteristics. This feature provides a means to assign a specific IP address to a particular group. Effectively disables filtering of a chosen URL on a particular IP address for a specified length of time. Removes the effects of "Disable Filtering" and reactivates filtering on an IP address. Flush all dynamic group assignments to disk. Disable filtering for specific categories for a user for a specific period time. Save dynamically added clients to disk. This permission allows a sysop to sign up for WebAdmin Notification. Sysops will then receive an anytime activity occurs in the WebAdmin that is based on their administration level, and the users assigned to them. Each action taken by an account user in the WebAdmin is stored in the WebAdmin Log. A sysop, who is given this permission, will be able to view the actions performed in the WebAdmin by himself/herself and any of his/her accounts. The URL Alerts log stores each URL that has been entered as a URL Alert. A sysop with this permission will be able to see all the URLs that have been sent to Netsweeper as URL Alerts. Using the Account Manager, sysops can create, delete, or edit user accounts. To allow a sysop to assign Accounts to a group, you must also select the Modify Account Group Memberships permission. Enable this permission if you are using an Account-based solution, such as the Client Filter. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

166 Delegating Administration Managing Sysop Access to the WebAdmin Function Client Filter Management Customer Management View All User Accounts Demand Reports Scheduled Reports Continuous Reports Quick Reports Global URL List Category URL List System URL List Deny Page URL List URL Alert Description With this permission, sysops can reset or remove installs once an account has reached the install limit, reset a user account password, upload a new version of the Client Filter, or generate uninstall keys (used to uninstall the Client Filter when the password has been forgotten and the computer has no Internet connection to retrieve a new password.) With these permissions, a sysop can uninstall any Client Filter using the same Policy Server, even those outside of their group. Using this permission, a sysop could install the Client Filter on virtually an unlimited number of computers under the same account. For these reasons, we recommend that only Admin users have access to this advanced permission. The Customer Manager is a tool used to view and troubleshoot account or group settings. When you select this permission, a sysop can assume the identity of a group to test and view their settings and change the password for accounts assigned to that group. Access to this permission allows sysops to view all the user accounts, not just those they create, as long as they also have the Account Management permission. If they are also given the Modify Account Group Memberships permission, they can change the group membership for any users on the system. Enable access to this permission if you want a sysops to create Demand Reports. Enable access to this permission if you want a sysop to create Scheduled Reports. Enable access to this permission if you want a sysops create Continuous Reports. Enable access to this permission to allow a sysop to generate Quick Reports. The Global URL List permission allows sysops to add, delete, or modify URLs from this list. To enable or disable the Global Allow and Deny Lists for groups assigned to a sysop, they must be given the Modify Group Policy Global URL List permission. Access to the Category URL List permission allows sysops to add, delete, or modify URLs on the Category URL list. This list is overridden by all the other lists because it has the same priority as the categories themselves. Access to the System URL List permission allows sysops to add, delete, or modify URLs from the System Allow and Deny URL lists and the System Allow and Deny Protocol lists. Access to the Global URL List permission allows sysops to add, delete, or modify URLs on this list. Access to this permission allows a sysopsto ask Netsweeper for a human review of the categories assigned to a URL by Netsweeper s Artificial Intelligence engine. 158 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

167 Delegating Administration Recommended Sysop Access to the WebAdmin Function Groups/Policies Web Proxy Description Access to the Groups/Policies Web Proxy permission allows sysops to test their groups and policies. Instructions on using the Web Proxy tool are available from the support site, at Recommended Sysop Access to the WebAdmin Admins should only grant sysops access to those permissions that they require for their particular management duties. Since management of the Client Filter Residential Edition is different from management of the Client Filter Enterprise Edition and Enterprise Filter, sysops managing those different editions need access to a different set of permissions. This chapter lists the recommended sysop permissions for the Client Filter Residential Edition, the Client Filter Enterprise Edition, and the Enterprise Filter. Permissions for the Client Filter Residential Edition This section lists the recommended access for sysops managing users implementing the Client Filter Residential Edition. Group, policy, or client setting changes should not be performed by the sysop user. It is recommended for system security and ease-ofuse that sysops are not given more permissions than they need. The Client Filter Management permission is not recommended for most situations. See the Client Filter Management description on page 158 for more. Recommended Permissions The recommended sysop permissions for the Client Filter Residential Edition are: Apply Settings Access Account Management Demand Reports Scheduled Reports Continuous Reports Quick Reports Optional Permissions The following are some additional permissions that you may want to grant to sysops managing Client Filter Residential Edition users, depending on the tasks you want them to perform: Specify Deny Pages Change WebAdmin Theme Allow Remote Admin Allow WebAdmin Notification Allow WebAdmin Log Access Allow Alert Log Access Client Filter Management (not recommended) View All User Accounts Category URL List System URL List Deny Page URL List URL Alert Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

168 Delegating Administration Permissions for the Client Filter Enterprise Edition and the Enterprise Filter This section lists the recommended sysop permissions for sysops who are managing users with the Client Filter Enterprise Edition only. For system security and ease-ofuse, we recommend that you not give sysops access to more permissions than they need. Recommended Permissions We recommend the following sysop access for management of the Client Filter Enterprise Edition: Group Manager Add Groups Delete Groups Modify Group Description Add Group Policies Delete Group Policies Modify Group Policies Add Clients Delete Clients Modify Clients Allow Client Name Based Clients Add Time Segments Delete Time Segments Modify Time Segments Apply Settings Access Demand Reports Scheduled Reports Continuous Reports Quick Reports Depending on how your users are being authenticated, the type of user authentication permission required may be any one of Allow Client Name Based Clients, Allow Password Based Clients, Allow Workstation Based Clients, or Allow Network Based Clients. Optional Permissions The following are some additional permissions that you may want to consider giving to sysops using the Client Filter Enterprise Edition, depending on the tasks you want them to perform: Clone Groups Policy Manager Modify Group Policy Global URL List Modify Group Policy Local URL/Keyword List Modify Group Policy Default Status Allow Client Category Selection Specify Deny Pages Change Password Access Change WebAdmin Theme Allow Remote Admin Allow WebAdmin Notification Allow WebAdmin Log Access Allow Alert Log Access Customer Management Global URL List Category URL List System URL List Deny Page URL List URL Alert Groups/Policies Web proxy 160 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

169 Delegating Administration Changing Sysop Permissions Changing Sysop Permissions If you need to add or remove permissions for a sysop user, you can do so in the same area of the WebAdmin that you originally used to set the permissions. To set sysop access to WebAdmin permissions: 1. Click Account Management on the WebAdmin menu bar. 2. Select Account Manager from the resulting drop-down menu. 3. Click Edit beside the name of the sysop account you want to modify. Figure 109: Sysop Options 4. Click Sysop Permissions. 5. Select only the check boxes of permissions to which you want to grant access. Clear the check boxes of permissions to which you want to deny access. 6. Click Submit. 7. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. Suspending an Account or Setting an Expiry Date When you create an account, you have the option to set an expiry date. When an account expires, the user will no longer be able to sign in to the WebAdmin. You can also suspend an account. To suspend an account: 1. Click Account Management on the WebAdmin menu bar. 2. Select Account Manager from the resulting drop-down menu. 3. Click Edit beside the account you want to suspend. 4. Click Suspend/Resume Account. 5. Select the checkbox beside the action you want to disable and select Submit. (To resume an account, deselect the checkboxes and select Submit.) 6. Click Apply Settings from the top right and select the Apply. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

170 Delegating Administration Assigning a Range of IP Addresses to a Sysop Assigning a Range of IP Addresses to a Sysop You can designate a range of IP addresses for which the sysop is responsible. This prevents the sysop from adding network- or client-based workstations outside of this range. To add an IP range: 1. Click Account Management on the WebAdmin menu bar. 2. Select Account Manager from the resulting drop-down menu. 3. Click Edit beside the sysop account you want to add the IP range to. 4. Select the IP Range. 5. Type in the IP Range as a subnet. For example, the subnet mask /24 includes the IP addresses from to Click Submit. 7. Click Apply Settings from the top right and then click Apply. Assigning a Group to an Account Sysop accounts only have access to the Groups to which they are assigned. All groups created by a sysop are automatically assigned to that sysop. However, if you want to assign an existing group or reassign another sysop's group to a new sysop, you have to assign them manually. To assign a group to an account: 1. Click Account Management on the WebAdmin menu bar. 2. Select Account Manager from the resulting drop-down menu. 3. Select the account name to which you want to assign the group. 4. Click Edit Groups. 162 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

171 Delegating Administration Removing a Group from a Sysop s Control Figure 110: Edit groups for the account Sysop 5. Select the group or groups you want to assign to the sysop. 6. Click Submit. 7. Click Apply Settings from the WebAdmin task bar at top right and then click Apply. Removing a Group from a Sysop s Control To remove a group from a sysop s control: 1. Click Account Management on the WebAdmin menu bar. 2. Select Account Manager from the resulting drop-down menu. 3. Select the account name to which you want to assign the group. 4. Click Edit Groups. 5. Click Delete beside the group you want to delete. 6. Click Submit. 7. Click Apply Settings from the WebAdmin taskbar at top right and click Apply. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

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173 Using the System Tools Tools accessed through the System Tools menu control the Netsweeper system settings. The master admin can use these tools perform system maintenance and adjust the settings. Figure 111 System Tools menu System Tools Global Deny Pages System Configuration System Backups Remote Admin Test Deny Pages Apply Settings Function The Global Deny Pages tool allows you to manage and test global deny pages. These pages display when Netsweeper denies users access to Internet content. System Configuration contains tools to allow the master admin to change the configuration of system services. When you modify the configuration of a service, you must either restart the service or reboot the server. Some services require a server reboot while others automatically reload the settings. The System Backups tool feature allows the master admin to download the current configuration file or upload an existing configuration file. It also allows the master admin to reset the Global Deny Pages. The Remote Admin is an interface to the Netsweeper Policy Servers that allows the administrator to see both the Remote Admin command and the result on the affected policy server. A Test Deny Page allows the administrator to test filtering policies. The Apply Settings tool applies configuration changes to the Netsweeper system. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

174 Using the System Tools Modifying a Global Deny Page Modifying a Global Deny Page The Global Deny Page is the page to which users are directed when they request access to a URL to which their filtering policy denies access. You can add links to the Global Deny Page or modify the text on the page. To modify a Global Deny Page: 1. In the WebAdmin, select Global Deny Pages from the System Tools menu. 2. Select the Deny Page you want to modify, and then click Submit. Figure 112: Modify Global Deny Page 3. Make your changes to the deny page by inserting options, text, images, etc When you have completed the changes, click Submit. 5. Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar in the top right corner of the page and then click Apply. 15 Toggle between text and graphic modes to test your changes to the deny page. 166 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

175 Using the System Tools Modifying a Global Deny Page Using the Remote Admin Tool to Test the Policy Servers Admins use the Remote Admin tool to manage the Netsweeper Policy Servers. Table 18 Remote Admin commands Remote Admin Command Query NSP Version Group Lookup Apply Settings Rotate Log Files URL Lookup URL Lookup (Cache Disabled) CNS URL Lookup Cache URL Lookup URL Lookup Default Group URL Lookup Details Toggle Remote Logging Reload TLD List Reload All Lists Reset URL Assign IP to Group Disable Filtering Reactivate Filtering Flush NSLAM Users Disable Category Filtering Signal Dynamic Client Reload Description Displays the currently installed version of Netsweeper. Displays information about the active group of an IP address you specify. Applies configuration changes to a specific IP address or client name. Stores the current log file and starts a new one. Lists the Category assignments and Time To Live (TTL) of a specific URL. Similar to URL Lookup but does not search the cache. The Lookup will proceed as if the URL was not found in the cache. Lists the category assignment and Time To Live (TTL) of a specific URL. Performs a direct CNS URL lookup. This bypasses the CNS Extension, CNS TLD, and all internal Netsweeper Policy Server processing. Performs a direct cache URL lookup. This will ONLY search cache for the specific URL. Returns a denied or allowed, as defined by the default group policy. Returns the denied or allowed URL as defined by the default group policy, the policy server that categorizes the URL, and the category number of the URL. Enables or disables remote logging. Reloads the top-level domain list. Reloads the master list of URLs for the Netsweeper Policy Server. Resets a URL to its default characteristics. Allows the assignment of a specific IP address to a particular group. Disables filtering of a specific URL on a particular IP address for a specified length of time. Reactivates disabled filtering of an IP address. Flushes all dynamic group assignments to disk. Disables filtering of specific categories for a user for a specific period time. Saves dynamically added clients to disk. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

176 Using the System Tools Managing System Configuration Testing Deny Pages You can test your Deny Pages in the WebAdmin. Type in a URL you expect to be blocked and then click Test. The Deny page will then be tested. If the URL you typed in is not blocked, Netsweeper will respond: URL Not Denied. Applying Settings Some configuration changes you make in the WebAdmin will not take effect unless you apply them with the Apply Settings control. To apply settings: Click Apply Settings on the WebAdmin task bar, and then click Apply OR Select Apply Settings from the System Tools menu and then click Apply. Figure 113: Apply Settings page Managing System Configuration System Configuration 16 WebAdmin Settings Database Configuration WebAdmin Login Settings External Authentication Settings 17 Description Control how the web interface functions and pages display. Specify the Host name for each part of the Netsweeper Policy Server. The standard set up will have them all on the same server. Set the system timeouts for Admin, sysop, and users. You can allow different users to connect on different ports. The External Auth Module box contains the specific information for your authentication server on your network. If you have clients (end users) who are externally authorized, DO NOT enable external authentication for the WebAdmin. Otherwise, end users can log on to the WebAdmin and may change the configuration. Since the Local Allow and Deny lists have priority over lists on the NSD server, a user does not need to log on to the WebAdmin. Thus, external authentication is unnecessary in this case. 16 System Tools are only available to the master admin. 17 The default admin account never uses external authentication. 168 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

177 Using the System Tools Managing System Configuration System Configuration 16 Disable Filtering By Configuring a Netsweeper Client Filter General Settings Reporter Web Address Minimum/Maximum Password Length Maximum URL Display Length Accounts Per Page Groups per Page Logs per Page Global URLs per Page Global Keywords per Page Enable Popup Windows Enabled Languages Enabled Quick Reports API Settings Description Manages how the WebAdmin handles enabling and disabling filtering for users. The three methods for disabling filtering: by IP Address, client name, or group policy. Quick Disable allows you to disable filtering for a certain amount of time. This section allows you to set preferences for the Profile Manager, the application used to create filtering profiles for the Client Filter Residential Edition. For example, you can set the types of Profile enabled, the installs per account, and other options. You can also set the Global Uninstall Password. Allows you to change various options within the WebAdmin. To see all the options, go to General Settings in WebAdmin Settings. The external address of the WebAdmin. Set the address to Generated if you want to autogenerate this address. If you are using a transparent proxy, you will need to specify the URL, such as You will also need to change the nsd.conf deny_page_host parameter so that it contains the routable IP address of the WebAdmin Server) Maximum Local URLs on the Allow and Deny lists. (Setting a value to 10 would allow 10 Local Deny URLs and 10 Local Allow URLs.) URLs larger than the maximum will still be processed but they will have "..." appended after them.) This applies to number of accounts listed on each page in the Account Manager. This applies to the number of groups per page in the Group Manager, an application accessed through the Policy Management menu. This is the number of logs per page in the WebAdmin Log, an application accessed through the Logs menu. This applies to number of Global URLs listed on each page in the URL List Manager. This applies to number of global keywords listed on each page in the Search Keywords application. When you select this check box, all submenus in the WebAdmin will open in new windows. Available and activated WebAdmin display languages Available and activated Quick Reports. Changes the NSLAM settings. For more information, go to and download the Netsweeper API Guide. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

178 Using the System Tools Managing System Configuration System Configuration 16 Override URL Settings Protocol Settings Default Policy Global URL Lists Default Policy Status Force Categories Web Proxy Support Information Default Categories Policy Server Settings Router Settings Reporter Settings Maximum Number of Report Instances per Report Radius Settings Description Admin and sysop accounts can assign a URL to a different category when you enable this option for URL Lookup and URL Alert. The temporary category expires when the assignment times out. If you select the checkbox, you can no longer select protocols when you try to modify categories. You can choose whether to enable or disable the Global Allow and Deny Lists for a policy. They are enabled by default. You can choose whether to block (black list) selected categories or allow (white list) them. Netsweeper will always enforce the categories you add to this section. You can choose to enable or disable the Web Proxy Tool. For more information on the Web Proxy, see the technical note on the support site at Type in your default support information. This information can be added to the Deny Pages. See Modifying the Deny Page on page 166. You can choose which categories Netsweeper will automatically block for the default policy. You can also choose which protocols Netsweeper will automatically block for the default policies. This file contains the Netsweeper Policy Server settings. Warning Do not edit the configuration files manually unless you know exactly what you are doing or have instructions from Netsweeper Support. This file contains the Router settings. Warning Do not edit the configuration files manually unless you know exactly what you are doing or have instructions from Netsweeper Support. You can choose the types of reports (Demand, Scheduled, or Continuous) allowed for your system and specify the maximum size for a report. The number of times a scheduled report will run before Netsweeper begins overwriting old reports. Set this number according to how long you want to keep a report. You can also add to the list of recognized HTML extensions for the Reporter and Logger. This file contains the Radius settings. Do not edit the configuration files manually unless you know exactly what you are doing, or have instructions from Netsweeper Support. 170 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

179 Using the System Tools Managing System Configuration System Configuration 16 Cache Settings Directory Settings SNMP Settings Restart Reboot Master List Test Components Description The Cache Settings control Squid and its parameters. Here you can make adjustments that may improve or harm the overall performance of your users installations. Warning Do not edit the configuration files manually unless you know exactly what you are doing or have instructions from Netsweeper Support. Directory Settings synchronize the WebAdmin to Active Directory. You can copy your users and groups from Active Directory. For more information, see the Tech Note Synchronizing from Active Directory at The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) monitors network-attached devices for conditions that require administrative attention. Warning Do NOT edit the configuration files manually unless you know what you are doing or have instructions from Netsweeper Support. You can restart any part of the server, such as the Netsweeper Policy Server, Reporter, Cache, Router, or Radius. After you have modified the configuration of a service, you must either restart the service or reboot the server. When you change the configuration for a service, you must restart the specific service. Click Restart for the service you want to restart. The Reboot Server will initiate a complete restart of the Netsweeper Policy Server. All applications are shutdown and the entire system performs a POST. You should make sure that your CMOS is set up so that it will continue to boot even if no keyboard is connected. It is usually not necessary to reboot the Netsweeper Policy Server. However, you may need to reboot it in some cases, such as when you change the IP address of the Policy Server. Generally, you should never reboot your system unless Netsweeper Technical Support advises you. The Master List is Netsweeper s list of all categorized URLs. Netsweeper updates it daily, but you can manually refresh the list. You can test your to ensure that you will receive any scheduled reports. You can also test external authentication. Type in the name of the script you are using for authentication and then click Test Authentication. You can then test that your users are authenticated correctly by typing in usernames and passwords. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

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181 Using the Monitoring Tools Figure 114 Monitoring menu Table 19 Monitoring Menu Options Monitoring System Status Monitoring Graphs WebAdmin Notification Function Shows the current version number and status of the major components of the Netsweeper system. Shows the load on the system and its performance. Sends you alerts whenever activity occurs in the WebAdmin, based on your administration level and assigned users. Viewing System Status To view the status: 1. Click System Tools on the WebAdmin menu bar. 2. Select System Status on the System Tools drop-down list. The System Status and Policy Server Reload Time will display. Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

182 Using the Monitoring Tools Viewing Monitoring Graphs Figure 115 System Status page Viewing Monitoring Graphs The WebAdmin creates dozens of monitoring graphs at your command. To view Monitoring Graphs: 1. In the WebAdmin, click Monitoring on the WebAdmin menu bar and then click Monitoring Graphs. 2. Select the Graph Type, Server, Service, and Interval options you want and then click View Graphs on the Monitoring Graphs page. Figure 116 Monitoring Graphs page 174 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

183 Using the Monitoring Tools Viewing Monitoring Graphs Table 20 Options Available in the Monitoring Graphs Tool Field Graph Type Server Service Interval Available options One variable per graph Many variables per graph All (One server per graph) All (Many servers per graph) Sum of all servers Individual Servers Localhost All Services Netsweeper Cache Netsweeper Router Netsweeper Policy Server Netsweeper WebAdmin Netsweeper Reporter Netsweeper Logger NET-SNMP Compliant Day Week Month The resulting graphs display at the bottom of the page. Sample Monitoring Graphs Figure 117 Graph of Policy Server Cache Stats Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

184 Using the Monitoring Tools Viewing Monitoring Graphs Figure 118 NET-SNMP Compliant CPU Usage Figure 119 NET-SNMP Compliant - Memory Usage 176 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide

185 Using the Monitoring Tools Viewing Monitoring Graphs Figure 120 NET-SNMP Compliant - TCP Stats Figure 121 NET-SNMP Compliant - UDP Stats Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide February 20,

186 Using the Monitoring Tools Figure 122 Netsweeper Policy Server - Incoming Filter Requests 178 February 20, 2009 Netsweeper WebAdmin Guide