Allow Password Access to Certain Sites
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Allow Password Access to Certain Sites

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Allow Password Access to Certain Sites

Procedure for configuring URL category administrator override, which allows authorized users password access to sites in otherwise blocked URL categories
In some cases there may be URL categories that you want to block, but allow certain individuals to browse to on occasion. In this case, you would set the category action to
override
and define a URL admin override password in the firewall Content-ID configuration. When users attempt to browse to the category, they will be required to provide the override password before they are allowed access to the site. Use the following procedure to configure URL admin override:
  1. Set the URL admin override password.
    1. Select
      Device
      Setup
      Content ID
      .
    2. In the
      URL Admin Override
      section, click
      Add
      .
    3. In the
      Location
      field, select the virtual system to which this password applies.
    4. Enter the
      Password
      and
      Confirm Password
      .
    5. Select an
      SSL/TLS Service Profile
      . The profile specifies the certificate that the firewall presents to the user if the site with the override is an HTTPS site. For details, see Configure an SSL/TLS Service Profile.
    6. Select the
      Mode
      for prompting the user for the password:
      • Transparent
        —The firewall intercepts the browser traffic destined for site in a URL category you have set to override and impersonates the original destination URL, issuing an HTTP 302 to prompt for the password, which applies on a per-vsys level.
        The client browser will display certificate errors if it does not trust the certificate.
      • Redirect
        —The firewall intercepts HTTP or HTTPS traffic to a URL category set to override and redirects the request to a Layer 3 interface on the firewall using an HTTP 302 redirect in order to prompt for the override password. If you select this option, you must provide the
        Address
        (IP address or DNS hostname) to which to redirect the traffic.
    7. Click
      OK
      .
  2. (
    Optional
    ) Set a custom override period.
    1. Edit the URL Filtering section.
    2. To change the amount of time users can browse to a site in a category for which they have successfully entered the override password, enter a new value in the
      URL Admin Override Timeout
      field. By default, users can access sites within the category for 15 minutes without re-entering the password.
    3. To change the amount of time users are blocked from accessing a site set to override after three failed attempts to enter the override password, enter a new value in the
      URL Admin Lockout Timeout
      field. By default, users are blocked for 30 minutes.
    4. Click
      OK
      .
  3. (
    Redirect mode only
    ) Create a Layer 3 interface to which to redirect web requests to sites in a category configured for override.
    1. Create a management profile to enable the interface to display the URL Filtering Continue and Override Page response page:
      1. Select
        Network
        Interface Mgmt
        and click
        Add
        .
      2. Enter a
        Name
        for the profile, select
        Response Pages
        , and then click
        OK
        .
    2. Create the Layer 3 interface. Be sure to attach the management profile you just created (on the
      Advanced
      Other Info
      tab of the Ethernet Interface dialog).
  4. (
    Redirect mode only
    ) To transparently redirect users without displaying certificate errors, install a certificate that matches the IP address of the interface to which you are redirecting web requests to a site in a URL category configured for override.You can either generate a self-signed certificate or import a certificate that is signed by an external CA.
    To use a self-signed certificate, you must first create a root CA certificate and then use that CA to sign the certificate you will use for URL admin override as follows:
    1. To create a root CA certificate, select
      Device
      Certificate Management
      Certificates
      Device Certificates
      and then click
      Generate
      . Enter a
      Certificate Name
      , such as RootCA. Do not select a value in the
      Signed By
      field (this is what indicates that it is self-signed). Make sure you select the
      Certificate Authority
      check box and then click
      Generate
      the certificate.
    2. To create the certificate to use for URL admin override, click
      Generate
      . Enter a
      Certificate Name
      and enter the DNS hostname or IP address of the interface as the
      Common Name
      . In the
      Signed By
      field, select the CA you created in the previous step. Add an IP address attribute and specify the IP address of the Layer 3 interface to which you will be redirecting web requests to URL categories that have the override action.
    3. Generate
      the certificate.
    4. To configure clients to trust the certificate, select the CA certificate on the
      Device Certificates
      tab and click
      Export
      . You must then import the certificate as a trusted root CA into all client browsers, either by manually configuring the browser or by adding the certificate to the trusted roots in an Active Directory Group Policy Object (GPO).
  5. Specify which URL categories require an override password to enable access.
    1. Select
      Objects
      URL Filtering
      and either select an existing URL Filtering profile or
      Add
      a new one.
    2. On the
      Categories
      tab, set the Action to
      override
      for each category that requires a password.
    3. Complete any remaining sections on the URL Filtering profile and then click
      OK
      to save the profile.
  6. Apply the URL Filtering profile to the Security policy rule(s) that allows access to the sites requiring password override for access.
    1. Select
      Policies
      Security
      and select the appropriate Security policy to modify it.
    2. Select the
      Actions
      tab and in the
      Profile Setting
      section, click the drop-down for
      URL Filtering
      and select the profile.
    3. Click
      OK
      to save.
  7. Save the configuration.
    Click
    Commit
    .

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