Allow websites blocked by WebFilter categories
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Allow websites blocked by WebFilter categories

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Article ID: 169152

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Updated On:

Products

ProxySG Software - SGOS

Issue/Introduction

One or more websites are blocked by categories as defined in the WebFilter within ProxySG or Advanced Secure Gateway (ASG). For example, you may see "access denied" or similar messages in your browser.

 

Cause

Content filter categories contain URLs that are not editable. You can display the category for specific URLs under Configuration > Content Filtering > General.

For example, netflix.com belongs to the categories "TV/Video Streams" and "Entertainment." Your global policy denies access to both categories, which explains why users are blocked from accessing that specific URL.

To verify what category was hit by the user, see Display the URL category information on the exception page.

Resolution

To allow access to specific URLs, such as example.com, but continue blocking other URLs in a category such as "TV/Video Streams" or "Entertainment":

  1. In the management console, navigate to Configuration > Policy > Visual Policy Manager.
  2. Open the Web Access Layer that contains the policy rule with the categories you want to block. Right-click on the Destination value, and click Set.

    set-net-destination-categorie
     
  3. In the Set Destination Object window, click New, and select Combined Destination Object.

    click-new-combined-object
     
  4. In the Add Combined Destination Object window, enter a name and description.
  5. In the left pane, select your existing Request URL Category object that contains the categories you want to block, and then click the top-most Add button. The category appears under "At least one of these objects."
  6. Click New, and select Request URL Category.

    new-combined-object-details
     
  7. In the Edit Request URL Category Object window, define a name for this new object.
  8. Right-click Policy, and click Add Category.
  9. Define a name for this new category, and click OK.
  10. Check the newly-created category, and then click Edit URLs.
  11. Type in the URL, such as example.com, and click OK.


     
  12. Click OK again to close the Edit Request URL Category Object window.
  13. In the left pane, select the newly-created Request URLs Category, and then click the bottom-most Add button. The exception category appears under "None of these objects."

    negate-exception-cat
     
  14. Check Negate.
  15. Click OK to close the Edit Combined Destination Object window.
  16. Select your newly created Combined Destination Object, and click OK to close the Set Destination Object window.
  17. Click Install Policy to save and apply your new policy rule.
  18. Test the URL. You should now be able to access the website.
Note: This change will create an exception for the URL (e.g. example.com) found in both the "TV/Video Streams" and "Entertainment" categories.