Christopher

Hi Ben, That post took me ages to write - Fancy someone ruining all my hard work by suggesting that it was forum gossip Seriously though, the information in my post was definitely accurate, as you have seen from the SWGfL website. I will drop you a PM with some more information about smartcache.proxy.swgfl.org.uk. Many thanks, Chris

Hi All, I noticed this thread and thought that it might help if I gave a brief overview of the SWGfL filtering solutions/proxy servers. Standard SWGfL Filtering Using the standard SWGfL Filtering, which is accessed via cache.swgfl.org.uk or cache. (where is the school's domain name) you have the option to manage the level of filtering that is applied to the school, via the SWGfL Filtering website https://admin.filtering.swgfl.org.uk The SWGfL filter lists, that can be enabled/disabled by ticking or unticking the box next to the filter list are: Content SWGfL Drugs and Substance Abuse List SWGfL Intolerance List SWGfL Violence List SWGfL Pornography and Illegal or Age-Restricted Activity List SWGfL Proxy Bypass List Services SWGfL Web-Based Chat List SWGfL Web-Based Mail Services List SWGfL Mobile Phones/SMS/Ring Tones List SWGfL Web-Based Social Networking List SWGfL Non-Educational Games List Download SWGfL Banned .exe Download List SWGfL Banned .mp3 Download List In addition to this, you have the option to create additional permit or deny rules for both URLs and search terms, which override the above filter lits. From within https://admin.filtering.swgfl.org.uk, the other available options are to enable or disable the school's filter lists and to enable or disable access to Staff Proxy. These options can be found under 'Local admin details': Your Filter List Enabled Allow Use of staff Proxy until Under 'User Management' you can create and manage Staff Proxy users. As has been mentioned in an earlier post, it is possible to disable all filter lists within the SWGfL Filtering Administration website, which would give you an almost entirely unfiltered internet connection but this is not advisable as this is a global change (per establishment) which would mean that all users in the establishment would have an unfiltered internet connection. SWGfL Unfiltered Access Users browsing via unfiltered.cache.swgfl.org.uk or staffproxy.swgfl.org.uk will be routed via the SWGfl Staff Proxy servers. This is a filtered proxy service with the additional option of logging in to Staff Proxy to gain unfiltered access. This is done by entering login.staffproxy in the address bar of your web browser and then entering valid username and password for a user who has been granted access to login to Staff Proxy. Note that unfiltered access does not mean unmonitored access and all unfiltered access via Staff Proxy is logged in the same way as access by the SWGfL filtered proxies. In addition to Staff Proxy, the SWGfL has proxy server (smartcache.proxy.swgfl.org.uk) which has historically been used to provide an unfiltered upstream connection to SWGfL content delivery and caching servers (SmartCache 2) with SafetyNet Universal installed. This is to ensure that only one level of SafetyNet Filtering is applied, to ensure that schools have full control over their filtering solution without the risk of upstream filtering overriding rules applied to the local filtering solution. Access to smartcache.proxy.swgfl.org.uk is using an IP access list, which is designed to permit access from only 1 IP address within a SWGfL establishment. Due to the recent removal of the SWGfL unfiltered proxies, a decision has been made to allow other local filtering solutions access to smartcache.proxy.swgfl.org.uk, for the same reasons as access is granted to SWGfL content delivery and caching servers. As a responsible educational ISP the SWGfL are doing as much as possible to ensure that the smartcache.proxy service is not abused, as such, access will only be granted to a single IP address and only following confirmation that the IP address has been assigned to a local filtering solution such as SmartCache 2, WebSense, Equiinet, Blox etc. If you are in a position whereby you have a local filtering solution that requires an unfiltered upstream connection, you can request access to smartcache.proxy.swgfl.org.uk by logging a call with the SWGfL help desk and then arranging for the school head to send a signed fax, on school headed paper, stating that you agree to abide by the terms applied to usage of the service. I hope this helps to clarify the options available - Please feel free to drop me a PM if you have any questions. Chris