Smoothwall - Updates to the Category Hierarchy

[5tu]

Hi all

 

So we've received Smoothwall's updated category hierarchy and I'm reviewing our existing policies to see which ones require updating.... and there's quite a few!

 

Does anyone know if Smoothwall publish a recommended baseline Core Blocked policy? Looking at ours it has some holes, like Omegle.

Edited November 30, 2023 by gybe78

[timbo343]

I really was hoping this didnt kick in today as i'm meeting smoothwall next week and was going to ask about this major change, instead it's been pushed out.

 

Watching thread with interest.

[ibpalle]

Caught me a bit off guard as well.

 

A few tips regarding the new categorisation style.

 

[Depreciated] categories can be de-selected from policies and objects.

 

When you see a category that can be expanded like the News category. The top item in the expanded list covers the entire category - all other items are specific to a service, application and/or a site.

 

News 0/25

News

Aljazeera

Arirang TV News Korea

Axios

BBC

Bloomberg

Etc

 

Going to take a while to get used to - most categories are the named the same. Mainly the organisation is different.

[5tu]

So does that mean if I expand say "Gaming Resources" and select the top item (also named Gaming Resources), then all other items below are blocked whether they're selected or not?

 

[ibpalle]

Whether it's blocked or not depends on the policy the object is used in - just a clarification.

 

The top item should cover everything related to the category, as I understand it. The individual item categories are for specific allow or block policies. There may be exceptions but that is the general idea.

[Chrisauk]

So does that mean if I expand say "Gaming Resources" and select the top item (also named Gaming Resources), then all other items below are blocked whether they're selected or not?

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]70398[/ATTACH]

 

I rang support to ask the same thing as this didn't seem clear to me. Still awaiting an official response but by the sounds of it I think it does.

 

Seems like a bit of an oversight to roll this out without communication to customers!

 

If I hadn't seen this thread which made me then check the categories on our box, I would have panicked when I saw the new signature names and assumed that the applications/sites were not blocked, especially as some of them are clear safeguarding concerns!

[5tu]

Whether it's blocked or not depends on the policy the object is used in - just a clarification.

 

The top item should cover everything related to the category, as I understand it. The individual item categories are for specific allow or block policies. There may be exceptions but that is the general idea.

 

This seems really confusing!

[simpsonj]

Feels like this needed a bit of a GUI update to go alongside this change.

 

I've also got a fair few double categories, as what was once a custom group is now 'official' as well. It would be useful to have someway of knowing which one is 'official' (and therefore get updates) and which are custom categories when making a policy. Guess I'll just ended up renaming all my custom categories!

[ibpalle]

Here is a new KB about the recent category changes:

 

https://kb.smoothwall.com/hc/en-us/articles/11206334266268

 

Good reference when you have questions.

[synaesthesia]

Here is a new KB about the recent category changes:

 

https://kb.smoothwall.com/hc/en-us/articles/11206334266268

 

Good reference when you have questions.

 

I really, really wish Smoothwall would use proper indexing on their KB so just about every link ever made to articles don't go walkabouts, just like these categories did

[tom_newton]

Our help articles have been part of zendesk for a while now, rather than an indexing issue it seems that article has been archived.

What were you looking for particularly? I will ask why it has been archived but I am in Perth at the mo so may take a day or 2

[tom_newton]

Yes - the article was archived, as it was about a historic change, which should have long been reflected in users' policies.

However, the member of the docs team I spoke to thought there might be some value in there, so it will be reviewed. If you would like to report any docs issues, or arrange to talk to someone in the team [email protected] should get you there

[synaesthesia]

Cheers Tom. It's a bit of a peeve of mine courtesy nearly entirely of HP who's idea of a content management system is akin to a teenager's bedroom

[tom_newton]

The knowledge team are always happy to get feedback, and are generally a very tidy bunch!