Joeloman

Check DHCP-Global to make sure that your VLAN against AD is not ticket for DHCP. Normally it might be better to just use one DHCP (Smoothwall) and use Smoothwall as DNS and then only Conditional DNS forwarders for the internal domains. We also usually try to have BYOD on a completely separate network card, then you don't have to be afraid of VLAN spoofing.

When looking at different firewalls, you should make sure they have good features that will help keep your students safe. Layer 7 Application Classifications and blocking IDS/IPS Geoblocking Failover function in case of hardware failure Possibility of having several ISPs and fail over so that teachers etc. can get on the Internet even if it's only 4G Secure DNS which Google and others have Good and simple VPN if you have local resources Auth. of users via Google/Azure so that users only access what they should have access to Time server -In case of hacking, it is extremely important that all logs show the correct time Then it may not be a requirement, but it has speeded up surfing a lot. Internal DNS server, extremely good function that takes care of caching the DNS requests and only sending the local requests to the local DNS server. Then try using Cloudflare DNS which is free 1.1.1.1 and then compare with Google 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 and your ISP if they have Secure DNS. With Smoothwall, it is quite common to skip the Core switch and let Smoothwall manage all routing and authorization, often requiring many good network cards and a fast server, but easier to just manage the network in one place. I think it's hard to find a better firewall for school environments at that price.

We don't have this problem, but often you can find what is blocking and fix it by sitting on the client and using Running Cloud Filter Diagnostics https://kb.smoothwall.com/hc/en-us/articles/360016413920-Running-Cloud-Filter-Diagnostics Could guess that it is some cloud service for printing that is the problem. Good luck and hope it gets resolved soon.

To be able to do real tests, you need to test directly against the Internet. No problem if you have several IP addresses from your ISP, otherwise have a chat with them if they can lend you one temporarily.. Then you should consider that the external IP address Smoothwall uses today probably has much more hacking than a new address will have, so also look at that type of reports. Don't forget to then temporarily turn off Geoblocking in Smoothwall (extremely good feature) for a while before creating the reports, as Geoblocking only drops all requests from the countries/regions you selected. Then you use the same internal IP-range, etc. like on your Smoothwall and first test with just a few computers and then lift over the entire Vlan when you want to test sharply. If you are not yet using Smoothwall Cloud Filter, we recommend that you use it even if you run another firewall.

Chrome's updates can use Smoothwall Proxy. See settings Cache updates to reduce bandwidth https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/3168106?hl=en#zippy=%2Cuse-peer-to-peer-automatic-updates%2Cspeed-up-updates%2Ccache-updates-to-reduce-bandwidth

As long as Smoothwall is the man in the middle (certificate installed on the users), the content is read in HTTPS and then the cache is also used. Yes, that's right, we have a lot of bandwidth in Sweden... sometimes preschools with 20 children have 10 Gb... as that is standard in that municipality. Unfortunately, this means that everyone is extremely spoiled for bandwidth so everything from AP points to web filters must work without much delay. Which often means that the customer uses their own servers with a lot of memory and powerful CPUs. The ISP we cooperate with delivers at least 100 Gb to all new customers since 2019, however, the customer can choose a 10 Gb router. I have private 1.2 Gb at home, via the broadband and will soon be able to get 5 Gb for the same cost.. if I want 10 Gb it will cost extra.. We also have good 5G in our larger cities, usually at 700-900 mbit, many like me have free surfing amount and extra data card for Chromebook, iPad, router in the caravan, etc. for £1.45 per month (normal price about £7, but if you've been a customer since 1982 you have some extra benefits..)

I'll try to explain a little more:We in Sweden rarely have any problems today, as almost all schools have at least 10 Gb, but about 5-8 years ago 1 Gb more or less was standard. So then we often had to make settings so that everything would work better/faster. Today, the Proxy cache goes via RAM memory (previously via disk) RAM memory is probably always faster than downloading from the Internet. (We have the cache on in systems with 400 Gb). What can happen in a system if you increase all the values is that the RAM runs out and that's when the disk comes in again. When you only have 1 Gb and a lot of users, the proxy cache is very useful, but you have to keep an eye on the total RAM usage if you have a regular disk. Firstly, under Network settings, make sure that the ARP table size has the correct value (also consider phones and printers, etc.) If you have many users, it can often be worth increasing the SYN backlog queue size. The main thing that eats memory in Smoothwall is Guardian and the more different user groups, the more memory is used. The best feature Smoothwall introduced to make the Internet respond faster is the System internal DNS server extremely many problems are solved by using this.. Smoothwall has a lot of good reports that can help and see how it looks with the memory, is it possible to increase it, does it memory is cheap and maybe you can switch to faster memory? If we go back to the proxy: In a system with 1 Gb and many users, I would set Global cache size: to max (was previously 1500 Mbytes) Max and min object size that can be stored in the cache: Max object size: 20480 Kbytes (so that the cache is not filled by many large files)Min object size: 30 Kbytes (so that the cache is not filled with only small files) You have to test yourself when it comes to min and max, no system is the same. When we come to web pages that are not displayed correctly with the cache running, it is often home-made web pages today, the person who makes the page has "forgotten" to use "no-cache" in their code. Try putting these pages under Do not cache these domains

Then it's probably just a matter of running max cache, then you can try setting 10KB as the smallest object. To see if it gets better or worse.. Usually depends on the type of pages that are frequently visited and whether they are fast pages.

The settings depend entirely on your hard drive and connection. If you use an nvme pci ssd, it is probably always max because it is so fast. But if you have a regular sata disk and have a very fast connection, it usually pays to reduce the size of the cache and also set the smallest object to at least 10KB, as it is often faster to download from the Internet. Today, web pages change very often and bandwidth increases, which reduces the need for a proxy for reduced need for bandwidth.

Our experience with Fortinet is that it is a very good firewall. However, the firewall from Smoothwall is usually sufficient and is fairly easy to maintain for e.g. a teacher. In Sweden, almost everyone uses their own hardware for Smoothwall, with a fast server the throughput is very good even for Smoothwall. Today most run Smoothwall Cloud Filter and the web filter in the firewall is only for BYOD. Our experience with Fortguard in school environments is that it is not really sufficient for a school environment at least about 1.5 years ago.... 1. Fortinet content filter does not work very well compared to Smoothwall. I don't know if the Fortinet today can handle several languages, often the students use another language to try to get past the filter. Very common to use Google translate for a whole page. We have experienced problems with Fortinet for e.g. forums, Youtube, social media etc. where the content changes quickly 2. Fortinet only makes a classification of a domain and often a very general classification such as business, shopping For example. this site httpX://www.screambox.com classifies Smoothwall as "Adult Sites, Audio and Video, Piracy and Copyright Infringement" I don't know what it is classified as in Fortinet... 3. Fortinet blocks drugs (medicines and fungi) very badly, at least about 1.5 years ago, when I last tried fortinet. Maybe they have gotten better today..A quick Google search found these that Smoothwall blocks. httpX://bestdealpills.com httpX://lundapotek.com httpX://gluckspilze.com httpX://tramadol-lakare.com I don't know what it looks like for Fortinet today, but in the past, almost all pages were released as business, shopping, which is not wrong, but we don't want the students to shop there! Summary: (About 1.5 years ago this applied) Fortinet good firewall, but the web filter is not enough for a Swedish school environment with many different languages I recommend trying several different products and comparing them in your own environment. Today, the firewall and the web filter do not have to come from the same supplier, as Cloud Filter is available from most companies and then the filter works even when the student is at home with his computer.

I'm answering the question about the firewall / Cloud Filter from Smoothwall, I don't know what Shophos and Fortigate can do, but I don't think they have support for e.g. Swedish. Safeguardning the alarm in Smoothwall takes place directly from the Cloud Filter. There are quite a few different categories in Smoothwall that create Safeguardning alarms. These categories also contain phrases and words in a number of languages, so the content filter will catch even these foreign languages and alert if it is a Safeguardian category. There are also very many domains and URLs from other countries that are also included in these Smoothwall categories. There is no extra setting that needs to be done in Smoothwall. As for the Smoothwall Monitor, I don't know much about them.

Safeguarding alarms work in foreign languages:) Do you write in e.g. Google "how to commit suicide" in Swedish "Hur begår man självmord" and there will be a Smoothwall Safeguarding alarm. As search is caught by the content filter, we do not block Self Harm, but of course take care of the alarms. We ourselves have created a category with URLs/domains for various helplines for either you yourself or someone in your immediate vicinity is unwell, or it is a school assignment. For example. this https://www.papyrus-uk.org So we follow up on this category as well… I hope that answered your question.

If you do not yet also have Cloud filter, I recommend that you contact Smoothwall. With Cloud Filter, you have the opportunity to use Smoothwall's own browser for iOS, which solves many problems. Here you will find more information about it: https://kb.smoothwall.com/hc/en-us/sections/4404006003346-Apple-iOS

If you don't find something blocked in the web filter log, you should probably look more at Chrome, as Edge works. (more or less the same code). When you get ERR Tunnel, it is often a DNS or proxy error, but if it works in Edge, the error may be in Chrome's own DNS cache. If you type chrome://net-internals/#dns in Chrome, you can easily empty the cache.

Spontaneously, it sounds like it is Chrome's home page that cannot be shown to the students. Have you tried opening a new tab? The easiest way to always find what is blocked is to look in the web filter log. I can personally strongly recommend using Cloud Filter.

This has been possible for a long time in Smoothwall using regex, but since a few years there has been a default category called "YouTube Allowed Videos and Playlists". It is of course fine to create your own category if you want different lists for different ages. Just press "Advanced" and enter "Video ID filtering".Add the video ID. For example, for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60y64uSkWws, you would add 60y64uSkWws My advice is to use an Excel file, with files for the different filters and a link to the video, so that it is easier to keep track of the different videos and who requested that it be allowed. Use the RIGHT function and the = sign to get the ID from a URL.

I highly recommend using "System internal DNS server" in Smoothwall and letting everyone (clients and BYOD) query Smoothwall for DNS. Then your internal DNS will only respond to their domains. This is what it says in Smoothwall: "To achieve a faster service, set the resolver to System internal DNS server and configure forwarders and conditional forwarders below. Forwarders and conditional forwarders will only be used for local queries if the resolver is set to System internal DNS server." It is extremely helpful on slow systems! It may also be worth trying your ISP DNS as well as others e.g. 1.1.1.1 and see if they have better response times than Google 8.8.8.8 You test which is the fastest at slightly different times and redo the test a couple of times as the first test is often slower as he has to find the way to the DNS server. You will find the test function SYSTEM-Diagnostics-Functionality tests-Basic Connectivity

I don't know how many students you have and whether they are also allowed to connect their own devices. But I personally would increase the ARP table size.. This is what it says in the manual"If the number of directly connected devices, or IP addresses, is more than the value shown for the ARP table size, from the list, select the maximum number of remembered hosts in the ARP table." We have faced this problem when the students had about 3 devices connected. The school computer, own iPad and a smart watch.. Then you mustn't forget all printers+AP points etc. which also have their own IP. Doesn't hurt to try increasing the ARP table size to 8192 or more

A little explanation regarding Smoothwall Cloud Filter. To get started quickly, everything is done from the cloud. This means that everyone has the same rules and that you can not get any reports. This was what Smoothwall offered schools for free in the early days of Covid-19. You can then install a local Smoothwall as a firewall and / or web filter for BYOD etc. (If you already have a local Smoothwall, it is quick to get the Cloud Filter up and running with the same rules.) If you do not need a local Smoothwall, you can install it virtually with yourself or a local ISP, as we at least in Sweden do not want this information lying in large clouds. Everything that is done is replicated between the local Smoothwall and the Cloud Filter. It is in the local Smoothwall that you enter links to the Google account and groups so that you can have different filters for different ages. We allow e.g. not students who are 10 years old to have a fake facebook account. It is also in the local Smoothwall that you set up reports and warnings via SMS and e-mail if someone is looking for e.g. suicide. As for the price, I do not know what it costs in the UK.

Today it works again! What I have been told is that even if Microsoft Azure goes down, the web filter works in the clients. Clients save the logs until Azure is up again. The update of the URL filter should also work as it goes directly from Smoothwall. What does not work is to make changes to the web filter rules. If you do it in your local Smoothwall, it obviously works for those who use it and when Azure comes online, the changes are synced there as well.

It depends on how you filter the traffic, leave it as it is if everything works. What the Idex agent (Not iDex client) does is just this:Agent software installed on Active Directory domain controller sends login information to the Smoothwall. The agent does not send logout information. With that said, it's much better to run on with the iDex client that works perfectly, as it always tells Smoothwall who's logged in. See Idex agent more for BYOD. We want to keep an eye on these, so the student (and teachers) must go to a technician who installs the certificate and locks it to a fixed IP in DHCP and names the student in DHCP. Ie. we do not use Idex agent, as it can be the wrong student in the logs and in the Safeguardian.

I would recommend talking to Smoothwall if you are short on time, mainly because they have a very good product for Chromebooks but also the simplicity of the GDPR. This is because it is at least very difficult in Sweden to get through a company that is outside the EU, even if they say that they comply with the GDPR on students' data, it is also a matter of having support for the system outside the EU. As well as the harsh sanction that American companies must have a back door to their authority.

A few things to look at as this are a fairly common problem. 1. Bad Ethernet Cables This is one of the easiest fixes, just replace the Ethernet cables and start monitoring again. 2. Old e1000e network drivers How up to date is your system? With the Leeds-48 have new driver. 3. The system is overloaded The error then occurs only when there is a lot of traffic but never during the night etc. May be due to incorrectly set up system such as scanning everything for viruses or that the hardware is not intended for a new bandwidth. Take a look at the logs and the load on the system, as the problem arises. 4. Failing NIC Swap the NIC for a new one, If you have any unused in the system. If you have your own hardware, change the NIC. 5. Failing Switch Port Try is to change the switch port where this failing Nic is connected to. 6. There are a few different things you can turn off if the system is overloaded, but it should never be needed in a normal set. But may be worth doing if you need to change hardware, but we can take it then.

Talk to Smoothwall there is now a great Cloud Filter for iOS. https://kb.smoothwall.com/hc/en-us/sections/4404006003346-Apple-iOS

Have you tried this? [h=1]Removing Doodles/Adverts/Translation & Videos from Google[/h]https://kb.smoothwall.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003550360