4.2

Whitelist

The Whitelist is a list of sites, users and IP addresses approved by the administrator to be excluded from all policies configured in GFI WebMonitor. Besides the Permanent Whitelist, there is also a Temporary Whitelist that is used to temporarily approve access to a site for a user or IP address.

IMPORTANT: In GFI WebMonitor, the Temporary Whitelist takes priority over the Permanent Whitelist. Furthermore, both Whitelists take priority over the Blacklist. Thus, if a site is listed in any of the Whitelists and that same site is listed in the Blacklist, the site will be allowed.

4.2.1

Preconfigured items

By default, GFI WebMonitor includes a number of preconfigured sites in the Permanent Whitelist. These include GFI websites to allow automatic updates to GFI WebMonitor and Microsoft websites to allow automatic updates to Windows. Removing any of these sites may preclude important updates from being automatically effected.

4.2.2

Adding items to the Permanent Whitelist

Screenshot 27 - Permanent Whitelist view

To add an item to the Permanent Whitelist:

1. Navigate to the Whitelist node and select the Permanent Whitelist tab.

2. From the drop-down list, select the User(s), Client IP(s) and/or Site(s) which will be added to the whitelist and click Add. Repeat for all the required user(s), IP(s) and/or site(s).

NOTE: When adding a User to the whitelist, specify the username in the format DOMAIN\user.

NOTE: When adding a Site to the whitelist, you can use wildcards (e.g. “*.website.com”). For more information, refer to the Using wildcards section in this chapter.

3. Click Save Settings to finalize setup.

NOTE: Failing to click Save Settings means that you will lose settings as soon as you leave the view to move to another section in GFI WebMonitor.

4.2.3

Deleting items from the Permanent Whitelist

To delete an item from the Permanent Whitelist:

1. Navigate to the Whitelist node and select the Permanent Whitelist tab.

2. Click the delete icon next to the item you want to delete.

3. Click Save Settings to complete deletion of whitelist items.

NOTE: Failing to click Save Settings means that you will lose settings as soon as you leave the view to move to another section in GFI WebMonitor.

4.2.4

Adding items to the Temporary Whitelist

Screenshot 28 - Temporary Whitelist view

To add an item to the Temporary Whitelist:

1. Navigate to the Whitelist node and select the Temporary Whitelist tab.

2. Click Add.

Screenshot 29 - Temporary Whitelist: Granting Temporary Access dialog

3. From the Grant to: drop-down list, select whether a User or an IP will be added to the temporary whitelist and provide the user or IP to be granted temporary access as well as the URL of the site and the number of hours.

NOTE: When granting temporary access to a user, specify the username in the format DOMAIN\user.

NOTE: When adding a Site to the whitelist, you can use wildcards (e.g. “*.website.com”). For more information, refer to the Using wildcards section in this chapter.

4. Click Add to add the new item to the list.

5. Click Save Settings to finalize setup.

NOTE: Failing to click Save Settings means that you will lose settings as soon as you leave the view to move to another section in GFI WebMonitor.

NOTE: The number of hours during which the user or IP has access to a site become applicable from the moment Save Settings is clicked.

NOTE: Time remaining before access is revoked can be viewed in the For (hours) column in the Temporary Whitelist view.

4.2.5

Deleting items from the Temporary Whitelist

To delete an item from the Temporary Whitelist:

1. Navigate to the Whitelist node and select the Temporary Whitelist tab.

2. Click the delete icon next to the item you want to delete.

3. Click Save Settings to complete deletion of whitelist items.

NOTE: Failing to click Save Settings means that you will lose settings as soon as you leave the view to move to another section in GFI WebMonitor.