Cheapest content/web filtering for small network

[cheeseslice]

Hi,

 

I have been asked to provide a solution for a small training facility who want their internet filtered and I am wondering if anyone can suggest a cheap and easily managed option, the network comprises of 20 computers in a 2008 r2 enviornment.

 

There is no IT support on site so it would be best if this could be easily maintained by them. I have no real experience with with this so I am open to suggestions. Would it be possible to pick up a hardware firewall with decent filtering built in for a few hundred pounds or is that wishful thinking?

 

I have been reading through the posts and I see a lot of people recommend dansguardian but by the time he paid me to set it up I think there would be cheaper options.

 

Any help would be very much appreciated.

[adhutton]

Smoothwall Express Express Open Source Firewall Project

 

Andrew

[pete]

OpenDNS

[MYK-IT]

OpenDNS - Create and manage account online (cloud) and just change the DNS settings on router

[cheeseslice]

OpenDNS - Create and manage account online (cloud) and just change the DNS settings on router

 

Thanks for the replies.

 

have you used opendns before? I see that they offer free access to establishments with less that 50 students, does this apply for UK based schools too?

 

Thanks again

[FN-GM]

Smoothwall Express Express Open Source Firewall Project

 

Andrew

 

Smoothwall express doesnt have a built in filter

[GrumbleDook]

You don't say who would be using this training facility? Adults? Children? Age Range? How much supervision?

[DAZZD88]

Smoothwall express doesnt have a built in filter

 

While thats true, there are plenty of free add-ins that you can download and there's a fair bit of documentation on how to do it all.

[cheeseslice]

there are training staff and young adults. the really want to block social media sites to stop all of the time wasting and they want to block adult sites.

 

opendns seems like a very good option as it only requires me to change the dns forwarders on the server, does anyone know what the pricing is like if they weren't accepted for the free school option?

 

ideally they would like to be able to have two policies, staff with full access and students being filtered but if opendns only offered the ability to have filtered access for all then I think they would still be happy with it.