Smoothwall Express 3

[DAZZD88]

At the moment our Internet connection is provided by the local authority and is filtered using Websense. This then comes into our school via (I believe) a Cisco router that I believe shares the connection between about 10 schools and then is sent up to our core switch. The core swich has an ISA server (not administered by us) hanging off of it like a client machine.

 

So basically:

 

Internet---> Cisco---> Core switch---> ISA server---> Clients

 

Ideally what I'm looking for is a way for the Smoothwall Express box to sit (like a client machine, as our ISA server does) and log all internet traffic and provide necessary filtering until we are satisfied that it does a sufficent job and then remove the ISA server.

 

So:

 

Internet---> Cisco---> Core switch---> ISA server---> Smoothwall Express---> Clients

 

Then eventually:

 

Internet---> Cisco---> Core switch---> Smoothwall Express---> Clients

 

 

Just to complicate matters, we have a Ranger Guardian box thathopefully the Smoothwall box will replace as well. The reason I haven't mentioned it untilnow is because it uses a client programme to check on screen text and filter the urls before they get to the ISA server.

 

We I can get all this sorted then we may well look at getting our own dedicated line in for internet, with the Smoothwall box also acting as a firewall.

 

So would be something along the lines of:

 

Internet---> Smoothwall Express---> Core switch---> Clients

 

 

If I'm talking utter tripe, please let me know. The main part of this, is the first step of getting the traffic to pass through the Smoothwall box and then to the ISA server (without interrupting things if possible).

 

EDIT: Must mention thatif the Smoothwall Express box is successful and easy enough to use then we'd probably upgrade to a Paid for Smoothwall box (Schoolguradian maybe?).

Edited March 15, 2011 by DAZZD88

[tom_newton]

Seems vaguely unlikely as you're asking the Smoothwall to act as a bridge, and it is a NAT firewall. However your ISA is probably doing NAT. It may be possible to run them in parallel and switch machines between them slowly.

 

Also, Express does no filtering by default - it has to have 3rd party add ons enabled.

 

Finally... what are you actually trying to achieve by this, if I understood that more clearly I may be able to propose how to get it to fly

[DAZZD88]

Third party addons are in place so that shouldn't be a problem. So you're saying i need something to sit between the Smoothwall box and the internet connection to act as a bridge and do NAT?

 

Baically at the moment, the bit I want to get working is the folliwing:

 

Internet---> Cisco---> Core switch---> ISA server---> Smoothwall Express---> Clients

 

So would this bit be doable? By that I mean, is it feasable to point the clients to the Smoothwall Box and then point the Smoothwall box to the ISA server so that the traffic passes through? Hope that makes things clearer. Things are making sense in my head but I'm not sure whether I'm conveying my thoughts properly, seems the brain to keyboard interface is malfunctioning.

 

I believe dgsmith might have their Smoothwall Express box set up in the manner I am initally looking for, minus the ISA server of course.

[plexer]

Clients proxy settings will be the smoothwalls ip and the smoothwall upstream will be the isa servers ip?

 

Ben

[DAZZD88]

Clients proxy settings will be the smoothwalls ip and the smoothwall upstream will be the isa servers ip?

 

Ben

 

Might be a dumb question but which of the Smoothwall IPs should it point at and how do I point Smoothwall at the current ISA server?

[DAZZD88]

LATEST UPDATE: After Having Ofsted leave, I now have time to get back onto working with my Smoothwall Express box. I've pointed The box at our ISA server (using it as an upstream proxy). I then pointed IE8 at the smoothwall box using port 800 and the smoothwall box's green IP addres because I seem to have A DNS problem.

 

Basically I don't know what entries (if any) need putting into our DNS for the name to resolve. Any ideas where I've gone wrong?

 

First impressions are pretty good, especially seeing as it's an express box and not a full blown Smoothwall Box (i.e. paid-for). If we get this all working then I can't see why we wouldn't upgrade to a paid-for system.

[DAZZD88]

Have now resolved the DNS issue (basically I hadn't checked a box to create a PTR record).

 

Is anyone with the URL Filter plugin for Smoothwall Express 3 willing to provide me with their ULR Filter backup file so that I can see what other people's setups are like?