Website barring

(Requires use of Mailtraq Proxy for Internet connection)

URLs Tab
This tab, which appears on the Content Barriers dialog, controls the whitelisting and blacklisting of web URL (Uniform Resource Locator). When specifying URL, the protocol identifier is not required, for example 'http://www.mailtraq.co.uk' should be entered as 'www.mailtraq.co.uk'. IP address specifications, partial or complete, of web sites may also be entered instead of host names. For example, an entry of 192.168.*.* prevents web sites with IP addresses from 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255 being accessed.

The blacklist file should contain a series of URL, one per line, to which access is barred. The whitelist file should contain a series of URL, one per line, to which access is permitted. If the same entry, or partial entry, appears in both blacklist and whitelist files, the whitelist file entry takes precedence. This feature can be used to deny access to all but selected pages on a web site.

Website barring Enable URL Blacklist/Whitelist
Check this option for Mailtraq to compare the contents of the specified blacklist and whitelist files against web data.

Excluded URL File (Blacklist)
The default blacklist file is \database\configuration\cbar\blacklst.txt.

You should manually create a text file called blacklst.txt
using Notepad, and save it to the folder:
\database\configuration\cbar\

Create that folder if Mailtraq has not done it for you.
You may create multiple blacklist files for different barriers.

The blacklist file can then be selected in the drop-down and then edited within the Console by clicking on the button.

Exception URL File (Whitelist)
The default whitelist file is \database\configuration\cbar\whitelst.txt

You should manually create a text file called whitelst.txt
using Notepad, and save it to the folder:
\database\configuration\cbar\

Create that folder if Mailtraq has not done it for you.
You may create multiple whitelist files for different barriers.

The whitelist file can then be selected in the drop-down and then edited within the Console by clicking on the button.

Banning mode
Select the required banning modes when barred content is detected, Ban the entire web site, Ban the entire directory (the default) or Ban just the given URL.

View Ban Cache
Click on the Ban Cache button to view the current contents of the ban cache in an external window which can be edited while Mailtraq is running. From that window, the contents of the ban cache can be refreshed, individual entries may be deleted from the cache or moved to the Whitelist.

Note that it is also safe to use external editors to modify .ban files, for example during remote administration sessions.

Tip
There are numerous free and commercial URL Blacklists available - see here however in a commercial setting it is usually only necessary to block a few obvious sites. In a very restricted setting it is usually best to work with a specific whitelist to control what sites are accessed.

You simply need to copy and paste the URLs from your desired list into the barrier in the Mailtraq console.