Products & Services Filtering Documentation

Documentation

Recent Filtering Changes

Accessing the R3000 Filtering Appliance

R3000 Group Administrators Guide

RINET Filtering Guidelines and Recommended Practices

Troubleshooting Information

Filtering Library Categories

Recent Filtering Changes:

RINET recently performed a major upgrade to the R3000 filtering appliances. There have been significant enhancements to categories, override accounts, and the way sub-groups are handled. The following guidelines will assist filtering administrators to effectively manage their filtering profiles. It is important to read through these guidelines before attempting to make any profile changes.

Changes since Fall 2007 version upgrade:

Categories and Subcategories: Filtering administrators can now set filter actions by major category or subcategory

Click on the plus sign next to the category to expand it and see the subcategories available
To set the filter action for a category or sub-category, double-click the filter action (e.g., Pass, Allow, Warn or Block) across from the desired category or subcategory

New Filtering Actions: There are now filtering actions available beyond the traditional Pass/Block options. Current filtering actions include:

Pass - URLs in this category will pass to the end user.
Allow - URLs in this category will be added to the end user’s white list (Not applicable in most cases since the white list method blocks all sites and opens only designated sites).
Warn - URLs in this category will warn the end user that the URL he/she requested can be accessed but may be against the organization’s policies. The end user can view the URL after seeing a warning message and agreeing to its terms.
Block - URLs in this category will be blocked.

Enhanced Override Function: The new override method allows override users to remain filtered based on an override profile, whereas the old override method set the override user to an un-filtered state (see pg. 347 in the R3000 admin guide)

Accessing the R3000 Filtering Appliance

Group Administrators log into the 8e6 R3000 Filtering appliande via the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox 2.0 Web browser in order to manage their group profile(s). Other browsers may work but are not tested and approved by the vendor. Follow the steps below to access the 8e6 R3000 Internet Content Filtering interface:

Start your Web Browser

Click the address field, then enter the web site of the appliance (Please contact netsupport@staff.ri.net or 295-9200 for this information).

Enter your assigned user name and password, and then click <OK>.(Please contact netsupport@staff.ri.net or 295-9200 for this information).

Note: Your browser may require you to download an updated version of Sun Microsystems’ JAVA2. Users may need to adjust their security settings in order to install the above. For assistance changing security settings, please see your browser and/or Windows Help. If you have difficulty logging in try deleting the java cache files (see troubleshooting section below).

R3000 Group Administrators Guide (published by 8e6 Technologies)

The Group Administrator Guide has detailed information regarding setting up sub-groups, creating custom categories, setting up override accounts, and every other function that the filtering administrator will configure.

The 8e6 Group Administrators Guide can be found here:

http://www.ri.net/RINET/products/filter/groupadminr3000.pdf

Please read through the next section before making any changes or creating any custom categories.

RINET Filtering Guidelines and Recommended Practices:

Groups and Subgroups:

RINET creates an individual school, district or library login and assigns an IP group for each member participating in the filtering solution. The IP group is based on the IP address space assigned by RINET.
In general, filtering should be applied to the top-level IP group.
Differing filtering settings may be applied to subgroups with the following caveat:

A filtering administrator should create sub-groups if, and only if, public IP addresses (individual IPs or subnets) correspond to the sub-groups that should be filtered. For example, to filter elementary, middle and high schools using different settings, each of the school types must NAT to one or more public IP addresses leaving the router or firewall. A sub-group will be created for each IP and/or subnet.

Use the copy subgroup option to create additional subgroups (see pg. 376 in the R3000 admin guide for more detailed info on managing sub groups)

Exception URLs and Custom Categories:

Use exception URLs sparingly, preferably for temporary use only

excessive exception URLs will lead to higher CPU utilization on the filter and can result in filtering slippage for everyone

If you have a large number of exception URLs we recommend creating custom Allow and Block categories (this info can be found on pg. 396 in the filter admin guide for detailed info on custom categories)
Name custom categories so that it is obvious that they are for your site, for example RINET-Pass and RINET-Block would be the names that we would use at RINET
Do not use custom categories created by different sites (denoted by suffix in parentheses at the end of category name)
You may use custom categories created by RINET (with no suffix at the end of the category name)
Wildcard URLs ONLY work in custom categories, not exception URLs (*.myspace.com)
Use the library lookup function before creating any custom categories, exception URLs to ensure that you effectively Block/Pass all occurrences of the site in question.

General Recommendations:

Under filter options, we recommend that you (see pg. 369 in the R3000 admin guide for more detailed info on filtering options):

Use Google/Yahoo safe search option (to enforce safe searches and to eliminate access to inappropriate thumbnail pictures)
Do not use URL or Search Engine keyword filtering (Sites that test this option always turn it off due to overblocking of searches)
Do not use x-strikes blocking unless you have a local filtering appliance

Filter Troubleshooting

If you are unable to access the filter:

Check that your browser security level is set to allow Java/Active X controls (differs depending on browser, see your browser’s help for more info)

Make sure you are running a current version of Sun Java

Delete the Java cache files. See here for details

Contact RINET Network support at netsupport@staff.ri.net or 295-9200 if you are still unable to access the filter

If you've made filtering changes and find massive overblocking:

Never set uncategorized site to "Block." Make certain that the “Uncategorized Sites” radio button on the Category Profile page for is set to "Pass."

If you’ve made filtering changes and don’t experience the results immediately:

To maximize filtering uptime, multiple filtering appliances are being load balanced. Therefore, changes may take up to 5 minutes before becoming effective.

Contact RINET Network Support at netsupport@staff.ri.net or 295-9200 for all other filtering questions.