Smoothwall transparent proxy

[Marc_Lemar]

Good Morning,

 

I am after a little help with Smoothwall please, at the moment the school I have joined has a UTM1000 which acts as the firewall and filtering system, all clients access the internet via the proxy which is entered into the web browsers settings. Since my arrival some of the staff have asked if there is a way of getting rid of the settings as when they go home with there laptops they can never remember to take the tick out and put it back in again.

 

In effect we require a transparant proxy setting up, I have never had any training on smoothwall but decided to have a look so my question is how do I go about setting up a transparant proxy to authenticate via ident ??? at the moment when a user access' the internet I can go into the services menu and see who is connected thus able to compile reports. When transparent proxy is setup a user can access the internet but nothing shows up for them being connected.

 

What is the procedure for setting up ident authentication so that an ident client on the pc informs smoothwall who is currently logged on ???

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks.

[jamesreedersmith]

We just put two reg keys on there desktop that they double click to apply and remove the registry keys.

[FN-GM]

If you use a .pac file for proxy config. It will just simply work at home then without needing to touch anything.

[Marc_Lemar]

How does it work I prsume it checks to see if the proxy is there and if so connectes via the settings and if not just goes out to the web but what happens in an instance like at our school where the proxy allows full access to the internet but un-authenticated requests are still allowed though as default users for mobile devices and Is there a tutorial anywhere that describes how to use the .pac file ??? Edited September 15, 2013 by Marc_Lemar

[timbo343]

There is a small program called ez school prozy switcher which we use where staff can choose school or home network.

 

http://www.cliftonemag.co.uk/school-proxy-switcher.asp

Edited September 15, 2013 by timbo343

[Marc_Lemar]

OK guys I have created the proxy.pac file via the Smoothwall UTM, its called proxy and has no file extension but I am unsure where to put the file

would I be right in thinking C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\Etc ???

[Netwacky87]

You normally host the file on a web server or usually the UTM itself, you either make a GPO to point the setting, "Use automatic configuration script" and point to the file, so http://SMOOTHWALLHOSTNAME/proxy.pac

[robk]

OK guys I have created the proxy.pac file via the Smoothwall UTM, its called proxy and has no file extension but I am unsure where to put the file

would I be right in thinking C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\Etc ???

 

No, the file needs to be on a web server, the smoothwall utm has that built in, might be worth a google of auto proxy methods. The way a device finds the file can be from dns or dhcp.

[SYNACK]

Point to the pac file with the correct option in dhcp that way it will work for non domain machines too

[Marc_Lemar]

Was just looking into that as the replys came flooding in thanks everyone.

[ThePalmist]

As someone suggested earlier, a simple script on desktop will be the easiest way here. There are programs as suggested and windows pad etc. but trust me they only cause complications and make it difficult for you to diagnose internet/proxy related issues in schools. They are good in theory only.

[coop1984]

WPAD with DHCP, seamless experience for users at work and at home.

[ThePalmist]

WPAD with DHCP, seamless experience for users at work and at home.

Respectfully differ on this one mate. Speaking from experience, it is an option, probably one of the best out there but not seamless.

[unexus]

I solved this by writing a small auto hot key script that runs at startup and loads in to the system tray. It checks the IP address of the laptop every 30 seconds and changes the proxy registry key accordingly. The user can also manually switch the proxy on or off by clicking on the tray icon. I then deployed this using GPO.