Suggestions for web filtering solution

[jayemm]

The secondary school where I work is looking to pulling out of our Local Authority provided internet connection, for several reasons including cost and reliability.

 

We are looking at connecting directly to our RBC, and would like to have a filtering soultion on site and wondered what other people use/suggest.

 

We at least would like the ability to block anonymising proxies on the fly.

 

Jayemm

[CyberNerd]

smoothwall, obviously...

[plexer]

What he said

 

Seriously though Guardian3 has a lot of improvements in the web interface over it's earlier counterpart currently testing it and liking it so far.

 

Ben

Edited February 11, 2011 by plexer
typo

[jayemm]

The LA provided solution was Smoothwall and I cant say I was that impressed with it!

 

Very clunky and slow, and a pain to setup in the first place "yes it will work as a VM" then "no it wont". Combined with the fact that the load balancing part of it didnt work at all and sent all traffic to one of the 4 servers at the LA.

 

Anyone use anything other than Smoothwall, (sorry I know they sponsor this forum)

[bodminman]

Been using smoothwall here for just over a year and to be honest I think it's great. Yeah there's a fairly steep curve to get used to how it works but that not a problem. Other than that I've on had experience of the RM Smartcache offering which wasn't too bad!

[CyberNerd]

Had no issues at all with the load balancing but when we have had issues, the support has been second to none. Best filter I've seen/used.

[bodminman]

Had no issues at all with the load balancing but when we have had issues, the support has been second to none. Best filter I've seen/used.

 

I'll second the quote re support. It's been fantastic!

[plexer]

The LA provided solution was Smoothwall and I cant say I was that impressed with it!

 

Very clunky and slow, and a pain to setup in the first place "yes it will work as a VM" then "no it wont". Combined with the fact that the load balancing part of it didnt work at all and sent all traffic to one of the 4 servers at the LA.

 

Anyone use anything other than Smoothwall, (sorry I know they sponsor this forum)

 

I'm sorry to hear of your previous experiences with a smoothwall product but I have to say that it doesn't sound like the norm it just sounds like misconfiguration and poor spec by your LA team.

 

Ben

[jayemm]

I'm sorry to hear of your previous experiences with a smoothwall product but I have to say that it doesn't sound like the norm it just sounds like misconfiguration and poor spec by your LA team.

 

Ben

 

To begin with, and due to all the issues, I would agree, but having had as many problems as our LA did, and having sampled the support from SW first hand, I am looking at alternatives first, if there are any.

[ifallon]

Lightspeed. Been using it for over a year now great, AD integration, virus protection built in to also logs email etc.

Well worth a look.

[tom_newton]

The LA provided solution was Smoothwall and I cant say I was that impressed with it!

 

Very clunky and slow, and a pain to setup in the first place "yes it will work as a VM" then "no it wont". Combined with the fact that the load balancing part of it didnt work at all and sent all traffic to one of the 4 servers at the LA.

 

Anyone use anything other than Smoothwall, (sorry I know they sponsor this forum)

 

Don't be sorry, just coz we sponsor the place, doesn't mean we get to be irritated by negative comment. I must say i'm disappointed though - I am sure we can make it work a whole bunch better - talk to me monday - my DDI is in the 'sig... And I don't know who told you it won't work on a VM.. it will, but the VM needs a LOT of grunt under it.

[tom_newton]

To begin with, and due to all the issues, I would agree, but having had as many problems as our LA did, and having sampled the support from SW first hand, I am looking at alternatives first, if there are any.

 

..and if you've had bad experiences with support I need to know! TBH, we have had to add a few bodies, because we don't like to have the phone answered by people who can't fix stuff this occasionally leads to waiting, but you should get stuff sorted when you get there.

[jayemm]

Ok Tom, I will call you on Monday to discuss and to obtain pricing. I have to admit that now setup and working it is good, but it took the LA from September to November to get it working properly

[tom_newton]

I look forward to your call - Monday's actually the only day I am in this week, so if you don't get chance, call 0113 3874160 (main number) and ask for Rob F or Craig F.

 

Sometimes when there's an LA between us and the end user, things get lost -not the La's fault, they're new to our game but I'd urge anyone who has any smoothwall issues they think aren't being solved for whatever reason to pick up the phone, and call me, or one of the chaps mentioned above. Whilst we aren't tech support types per-se, we all know where to find the right people for any issue, from price to support, anything.

 

Also we have tea and biscuits for the terminally irritated