Netsweeper with Schools Broadband

[azureusnation]

@RobMason When will we be able to create a edit Shared Lists on netsweeper. Just today ive asked your guys 6 times to add more urls to my lists. Not only does it lose me time but its also effecting your firstline guys having to make all these changes... why cant we have access... seems pointless that we cant.

[sister_annex]

@RobMason When will we be able to create a edit Shared Lists on netsweeper. Just today ive asked your guys 6 times to add more urls to my lists. Not only does it lose me time but its also effecting your firstline guys having to make all these changes... why cant we have access... seems pointless that we cant.

 

We asked, and got access...

[azureusnation]

We asked, and got access...

 

I asked and got fobbed off with 'Sorry our NOC team doesn't want anyone to have permission to that yet.' @RobMason please can this be sorted?

 

@sister_annex - What other access do you have from what they give you as standard? I've looked through the netsweeper documentation and there is loads of features that are built in but @SchoolsBroadband are just not letting us have access to.

 

For anyone that is interested everything can be found on the 6.0 documentation here - https://helpdesk.netsweeper.com/docs/6.0/#t=Welcome_to_Netsweeper_Documentation.htm

 

Took a while of scouting around for it but found it in the end.

[sister_annex]

I asked and got fobbed off with 'Sorry our NOC team doesn't want anyone to have permission to that yet.' @RobMason please can this be sorted?

 

@sister_annex - What other access do you have from what they give you as standard? I've looked through the netsweeper documentation and there is loads of features that are built in but @SchoolsBroadband are just not letting us have access to.

 

For anyone that is interested everything can be found on the 6.0 documentation here - https://helpdesk.netsweeper.com/docs/6.0/#t=Welcome_to_Netsweeper_Documentation.htm

 

Took a while of scouting around for it but found it in the end.

Atm, we can only add/edit shared lists and local lists (originally we could create them but not edit - spoke to SBB (Sean IIRC) and he sorted it) - that is about it when it comes to that.

 

Creating/editing reports as standard. We also have access to the URL tools to help us trace requests and the 'request Log Files' function which allows us to see the requests that are coming through...

 

The ache in the nuts atm is the constant requesting for Domain Syncs as it doesn't sync AD groups automatically (which apparently will be fixed in v6) also, 1 thing to note is a filter user must be at least a member of domain users as well as the filtering group that is assigned.

 

oh and FYI, SBB are currently running version 5.3 - they are (apparently) going to be upgrading to V6.x during the summer holidays.

[SchoolsBroadband]

Hi folks.

 

Yes v6 was a bit too "green" when we went into production so we stuck with v5.3

 

You are correct though v6 is happening in the summer which you'll all get for free.

 

Dave

[broadld]

Are Schools Broadband forcing all customers to migrate from Lightspeed to Netsweeper or can you opt to stay with Lightspeed filtering? From what I hear from people that have migrated to Netsweeper is that they have had nothing but problems and wish they had Lightspeed back.

[SchoolsBroadband]

We don't have a definitive date for migrations yet. We've a lot of customers that have moved and are liking the new Netsweeper platform. It works quite differently to Lightspeed but we've quite a few developments we're working on to make migrations easier so watch this space. The new Netsweeper platform also has 100% uptime which was one of the reasons we developed and invested in a new scalable & resilient platform to cope with new bandwidths which are being imminently released by BT and other carriers (G.Fast for example).

 

Dave

[azureusnation]

@SchoolsBroadband

 

Can you explain why a lot of traffic goes through under the default filter and not under user groups? Some websites such as BBC needed to be unblocked on the default policy rather than the user policy.

[BrotherSidious]

Hi all. We are experiencing a few issues onsite today (ticket has been submitted) but wondered if anyone else who has moved to NetSweeper is experiencing issues? As an example we cant get this page to work across multiple PC's Speedtest by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test The page partially loads and we get the response time back but it does not complete the download and upload test. Just wondered if anyone else was experiencing the same ? We are also seeing a lot of pages similar to this coming up for users when trying to access a number of websites : Edited April 16, 2018 by BrotherSidious

[RobMason]

Morning All,

 

@SchoolsBroadband

 

Can you explain why a lot of traffic goes through under the default filter and not under user groups? Some websites such as BBC needed to be unblocked on the default policy rather than the user policy.

 

All websites will first hit the default group and then be redirected to the correct group, URLs such as bbc.co.uk should not be unblocked in the default group as users will be able to access them without being authenticated. Only CDNs, website resources etc should be unblocked in default. If you are struggling just drop me a PM and I will ask someone to give you a call.

[RobMason]

Hi all. We are experiencing a few issues onsite today (ticket has been submitted) but wondered if anyone else who has moved to NetSweeper is experiencing issues? As an example we cant get this page to work across multiple PC's Speedtest by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test The page partially loads and we get the response time back but it does not complete the download and upload test. Just wondered if anyone else was experiencing the same ? We are also seeing a lot of pages similar to this coming up for users when trying to access a number of websites : [ATTACH=CONFIG]48501[/ATTACH]

 

I have not seen this before and will get one of our NOC guys to have a look as well as raising it with Netsweeper just in case, is it still happening this morning?

 

Can you drop me a PM with some contact details so someone can get in touch,

 

Thanks,

[Blue_Cookeh]

How are you complying with prevent strategy without any user authentication? Do you keep logs of who uses which I pad?

 

Yeah - technically it's too damn awkward to solve on iPads, especially with the likes of certificate pinning in apps now. Generally teachers assign an iPad's asset tag to a student at the beginning of the year.

 

We're all talking about meeting PREVENT etc on Edugeek but I do wonder how those small primary schools in all the villages are meeting it since most of them won't have dedicated IT techs or education-focused IT companies.

Edited April 17, 2018 by Blue_Cookeh

[mavhc]

Yeah - technically it's too damn awkward to solve on iPads, especially with the likes of certificate pinning in apps now. Generally teachers assign an iPad's asset tag to a student at the beginning of the year.

 

We're all talking about meeting PREVENT etc on Edugeek but I do wonder how those small primary schools in all the villages are meeting it since most of them won't have dedicated IT techs or education-focused IT companies.

 

Hopefully they have enough adults to watch what all the children are doing, better if you can do it that way anyway, relying on computers matching word lists is a worse solution.

[clockend25]

Really struggling with how much content is being blocked via the default policy, particularly on mobile devices. Given the way the filtering works, it's then very difficult to allow access without opening up sites and apps to all users. Grr.

[SchoolsBroadband]

Really struggling with how much content is being blocked via the default policy, particularly on mobile devices. Given the way the filtering works, it's then very difficult to allow access without opening up sites and apps to all users. Grr.

 

PM'd it is quite different from our old Lightspeed solution but can still be done. It just takes a while to get used to it.

[fiza]

Anyone using Creative Cloud Desktop App with Netsweeper? I have the proxy settings in IE and browsing works fine but the Creative Cloud Desktop App just returns "No Internet Connection". Nothing appears when I look at the live traffic in the Netsweeper Console.

 

Any ideas?

 

[Jawloms]

Anyone using Creative Cloud Desktop App with Netsweeper? I have the proxy settings in IE and browsing works fine but the Creative Cloud Desktop App just returns "No Internet Connection". Nothing appears when I look at the live traffic in the Netsweeper Console.

 

Any ideas?

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]48896[/ATTACH]

 

Change your port from 31280 to 31395 (I assume they use the same ports in all schools?). I realise that 31280 should work, but we had issues trying to activate CS6 and found this solved it. If it does, then you may need to speak to schoolsbroadband for a proper solution.

 

Stuart

[fiza]

Change your port from 31280 to 31395 (I assume they use the same ports in all schools?). I realise that 31280 should work, but we had issues trying to activate CS6 and found this solved it. If it does, then you may need to speak to schoolsbroadband for a proper solution.

 

Stuart

We don't utilise 31395 although I did try it just in case but I lost all internet connectivity and reverted back to 31280. I have raised a ticket with them but thought someone here may be quicker with an answer.

[sted]

Change your port from 31280 to 31395 (I assume they use the same ports in all schools?). I realise that 31280 should work, but we had issues trying to activate CS6 and found this solved it. If it does, then you may need to speak to schoolsbroadband for a proper solution.

 

Stuart

 

im 95% sure they DONT use the same ports in all schools. also try it with the actual proxt rather than a pac file. ive found sage for instance wont isntall when pointed at a pac file but if i manually add the actual proxy/port it installs no issues

 

my current issue is sophos cloud i went through it with them last week got it working on 1 pc and now it wont install on another in the same school just fails to download

[mavhc]

A lot of crappy software doesn't read the proxy correctly in Windows and fails when you use auto detect with wpad/pac

[fiza]

im 95% sure they DONT use the same ports in all schools. also try it with the actual proxt rather than a pac file. ive found sage for instance wont isntall when pointed at a pac file but if i manually add the actual proxy/port it installs no issues

 

my current issue is sophos cloud i went through it with them last week got it working on 1 pc and now it wont install on another in the same school just fails to download

 

I did enter the proxy details manually but no joy.

[peej2k]

Are they mandating this Netsweeper solution? I'm happily on the Lightspeed array and have no intentions of ever using Netsweeper. I've had nothing but pain with the product in my 15 years in Education IT and do not want it.

If they're going to mandate this and proxies, I'm going to have to go elsewhere and look for a get out clause in my contract with Schools Broadband. I'm more than happy with using a transparent proxy. I don't want to go to the pain of installing proxy pac addresses and that kind of nonsense in this day and age.

 

If they're keeping Lightspeed around for legacy customers, I can suffer staying. If they won't be I'll be gone.

[lmrogers]

Are they mandating this Netsweeper solution? I'm happily on the Lightspeed array and have no intentions of ever using Netsweeper. I've had nothing but pain with the product in my 15 years in Education IT and do not want it.

If they're going to mandate this and proxies, I'm going to have to go elsewhere and look for a get out clause in my contract with Schools Broadband. I'm more than happy with using a transparent proxy. I don't want to go to the pain of installing proxy pac addresses and that kind of nonsense in this day and age.

 

If they're keeping Lightspeed around for legacy customers, I can suffer staying. If they won't be I'll be gone.

 

When I asked SchoolsBroadband if they were going to keep any Lightspeed filters they told me they were not and had only upgraded them as part of their update procedures.

[peej2k]

Looks like I'll be looking through our contract for a change of service clause that allows us to go elsewhere then!

They really should honour what is on existing contracts, and then look to move people at contract change time. Sunset it properly over a multi-year period.

 

Lightspeed was one of the reasons I went for them, after such a terrible time using Netsweeper in the past.

Edited May 11, 2018 by peej2k

[SchoolsBroadband]

We've a lot of work going on at the moment and we'll have some more official communication soon so watch this space for some more positive news

 

FYI did I say we've had 100% uptime on the new Netsweeper platform since its inception ?!

 

Dave