Note: This feature only applies to HTTP.
This option enables you specify those URLs which are either specifically forbidden or specifically allowed. By default, or if the URL being retrieved is not specified in either of the "Allowed" or "Forbidden" lists, then the URL is processed. If the URL is found in the "Allowed" list, then the URL is processed. If the URL is found in the "Forbidden" list, a message is sent to the client and an entry is placed in the log file to this effect. The standard message simply displays "Access is Forbidden" but this can be changed if required.
URLs are only filtered if the port's definition is specifically set to the "HTTP" protocol.
URLs exclude the leading protocol identifier ("http://" or "ftp://" etc) . A URL typed into the address field of the browser as "http://www.alpharand.com" is reduced to "www.alpharand.com" for comparison purposes.
Search arguments can contain wild cards.
#: Any single digit
&: Any single alpha character (a-z or A-Z)
?: Any single character
*: Any number of characters (any character)
^: Compare using the next character. eg ^# will look for a '#' in the URL and not a single alpha character. ^^ will look for a single ^
| URL being accessed by the browser | Search argument in the "Allowed" or
"Forbidden" fields. |
Result |
| www.someplace.com | www.someplace.com | Matched |
| www.someplace.com | someplace.com | Not Matched |
| www.someplace.com | *someplace.com | Matched |
| www.someplace.com | www.someplace | Not Matched |
| www.someplace.com | www.someplace* | Matched |
| www.someplace.com | someplace | Not Matched |
| www.someplace.com | *someplace* | Matched |
| www.badsite.com | www.*.com | Matched |
| www.thisurl/*ss/%5/extra | www.*^*ss/%#/extra | Matched |
| www.thisurl/*ss/%5/extra | www.*%??&&&&& | Matched |
| www.thisurl/*ss/%5/ext99 | www.*%??&&&&& | Not Matched |
Argument order
Arguments are searched in the order they appear in the list. As soon as a match is made, the web site is allowed/forbidden depending on the match. You can move the web sites relative to each other for different effects.
To forbid access to only www.badsite.com but allow access to all others, you would specify the following:
To allow access to only www.goodsite.com and forbid all others you specify the following in order
Add a new URL to the end of the list
Place the cursor on the URL to delete and press this key
Change the URL at the cursor location
Move the URL to a position higher up in the list
Move the URL to a position lower down in the list
Save the data.
Cancel changes