About SmartFilter control files

About this section

SmartFilter control files include lists of Web sites that contain HTTP content that match the SmartFilter categories. This section describes the SmartFilter control files, discusses how you obtain control files initially, and makes recommendations for how often you need to update the control files.

SmartFilter 3.0.1 requirement

The SmartFilter control file version 3.0.1 requires a NetCache appliance with a minimum of 512 MB of memory. Therefore, it cannot be used on the NetCache C1100 and C720S2 appliances.

The SmartFilter control file

The SmartFilter control file (sfcontrol) contains a list of URLs that match SmartFilter categories. Users can access sites for categories that you have blocked if they include an IP address rather than a host name in the URL. For example, if you block the Nudity category, a user who includes the IP address that maps to www.playboy.com in the URL can access the site. NetCache provides an option called SmartFilter IP Address Blocking, that blocks access to all content by IP address, regardless of category

Types of entries in a SmartFilter control list

The sfcontrol file contains the types of entries that are shown in the following table. This variety in entry type enables you to block access to Web content at various levels, as the following table shows.

Entry type	Example	The entry blocks...
Site	www.aabbcc.com	The entire Web page and all of its content
URL	www.aabbcc.com/pics/	A specific directory on a Web page
Path	www.aabbcc.com/pics/001.jpg	A specific object (picture or document) in a directory on the Web page

Entire sites are not blocked because of content that is in a specific directory. For example, the following entry does not block the entire site www.abcinc:

www.abcinc.com/jobs/jobs.html

Determining whether a particular site is in a control list

SmartFilter control lists are in a format that only the SmartFilter software can use. You cannot view them. However, you can use the SmartFilterWhere tool on the Secure Computing Web site to check whether a specific site is contained in the current SmartFilter control list. To access the SmartFilterWhere tool, go to http://www.smartfilterwhere.com.

Obtaining SmartFilter control files

After you purchase SmartFilter or when you request a SmartFilter evaluation, you will receive a user name, password, and FTP address that you need to use to obtain control files. Go to the NOW Web site at http://now.netapp.com/ to request a user name, password, and FTP address to use for SmartFilter.

Expiration of SmartFilter control files

Because content on the Web changes rapidly, the SmartFilter control files expire after one month. Starting one week before the files expire, NetCache sends an e-mail message to Autosupport recipients every day warning that the files are about to expire.

Caution
When the SmartFilter control files expire, NetCache blocks all Web requests because it is unable to determine which requests to allow or deny. For this reason, be sure to replace your SmartFilter control files before they expire.