LANCOM Content Filter Installation Guide
- June 9, 2024
- LANCOM
Table of Contents
Content Filter
Installation Guide
Content Filter
Copyright
© 2022 LANCOM Systems GmbH, Wuerselen (Germany). All rights reserved.
While the information in this manual has been compiled with great care, it may
not be deemed an assurance of product characteristics. LANCOM Systems shall be
liable only to the degree specified in the terms of sale and delivery. The
reproduction and distribution of the documentation and software supplied with
this product and the use of its contents is subject to written authorization
from LANCOM Systems. We reserve the right to make any alterations that arise
as the result of technical development.
Windows® and Microsoft® are registered trademarks of Microsoft, Corp. LANCOM,
LANCOM Systems, LCOS, LANcommunity and Hyper Integration are registered
trademarks. All other names or descriptions used may be trademarks or
registered trademarks of their owners. This document contains statements
relating to future products and their attributes.
LANCOM Systems reserves the right to change these without notice. No liability
for technical errors and / or omissions.
Products from LANCOM Systems include software developed by the “OpenSSL
Project” for use in the “OpenSSL Toolkit”
(www.openssl.org).
Products from LANCOM Systems include cryptographic software written by Eric
Young (eay@cryptsoft.com).
Products from LANCOM Systems include software developed by the NetBSD
Foundation, Inc. and its contributors.
Products from LANCOM Systems contain the LZMA SDK developed by Igor Pavlov.
The product contains separate components which, as so-called open source
software, are subject to their own licenses, in particular the General Public
License (GPL). If required by the respective license, source files for the
affected software components are made available on request. To do this, please
send an e-mail to gpl@lancom.de.
Introduction
The LANCOM Content Filter enables you to filter certain content from your
network, so preventing access to Internet pages with content that is illegal
or offensive. It also enables you to stop private surfing on specific sites
during working hours. This not only increases staff productivity and network
security but also ensures that the full bandwidth is available exclusively for
your business activities.
The use of the LANCOM Content Filter may in certain countries be subject to
certain restrictions by data-privacy laws or directives, and/or to company
guidelines. Before activating the LANCOM Content Filter, please be sure to
check the relevant laws, directives or agreements.
As of LCOS 10.70, the BPjM module is a component of the Content Filter. The
BPjM module is published by the German Federal Agency for the Protection of
Children and Young People in the Media and blocks domains that may not be made
accessible to children and young people in Germany.
Safety advice
To maximize the security available from your product, we recommend that you
undertake all of the security settings (e.g. firewall, encryption, access
protection) that were not already activated when you purchased the product.
The LANconfig Wizard ‘Security Settings’ will help you with this task.
We would additionally like to ask you to refer to our Internet site www
.lancom-systems.com for the latest information
about your product and technical developments, and also to download our latest
software versions.
Information symbols
Important instruction that should be observed
Additional information that may be helpful but is not essential
Activating the LANCOM Content Filter
This chapter informs you how to activate the LANCOM Content Filter on your
LANCOM device. Activation takes place in four steps:
- Ensuring that the prerequisites for installation are fulfilled
- Online enrollment
- Entry of the activating code
- Checking the activation
Installation requirements
The use of the LANCOM Content Filter may in certain countries be subject to
certain restrictions by data-privacy laws or directives, and/or to company
guidelines. Before activating the LANCOM Content Filter, please be sure to
check the relevant laws, directives or agreements.
System requirements
Please ensure that you have met all of the requirements to successfully
operate the LANCOM Content Filter:
→ LANCOM device with the option to activate the LANCOM Content Filter.
→ Proof of license for the LANCOM Content Filter.
Package content
Please ensure that the option package includes the following components:
→ Proof of license with a printed license number
→ Manual
Configuration PC with Windows operating system
To install the LANCOM Content Filter with LANconfig, you require a computer
with the Windows operating system. Alternatively, activation can be performed
via WEBconfig.
The computer must have access to the LANCOM device that is to be configured.
Access may be via the LAN or via remote access.
Up-to-date LANconfig
The latest version of LANconfig and LANmonitor are available for download from
the LANCOM Systems homepage under www.lancom-
systems.com/download/. We recommend
that you update these programs before continuing to the installation.
Up-to-date firmware in the LANCOM device
The latest firmware updates are available for download from the LANCOM Systems
website under www.lancom-systems.com/download/. Select your device from the list and download the
firmware onto your computer.
Detailed information about updating the firmware is available in the
documentation for your LANCOM device.
Online enrollment
To activate the LANCOM Content Filter in the LANCOM device, you need an
activation code.
Please note: The activation code is not included in the package. It will be
sent to you on online registration.
The LANCOM Content Filter is supplied with a proof of license. This has a
license number printed on it. This license number gives you one opportunity to
register with LANCOM Systems and to receive an activation code.
After successful online registration, the license number of your LANCOM
Content Filter becomes invalid. The activation code that is sent to you can
only be used with the LANCOM device as identified by the serial number which
you provided at registration. Please ensure that you really only want to
install the LANCOM Content Filter on the corresponding device. It is not
possible to change to another device at a later date.
Necessary registration information
Please have the following information at the ready for your online
registration:
→ Precise designation of the software option
→ The license number (from the proof of license)
→ Serial number of your LANCOM device (to be found on the underside of the
device)
→ Your customer data (company, name, postal address, e-mail address).
Registration is anonymous and can be completed without specifying personal
data. Any additional information may be of help to us in case of service and
support. All information is of course treated in the strictest confidence.
Online entry of registration information
- Start a web browser and access the LANCOM Systems website under www.lancom-systems.com/router-options/.
- Enter the required information and follow the further instructions. After entering all of the data, you will be sent the activation code for your device and your customer data. If you submit an e-mail address you will receive the data including the activation code via e-mail. Online registration is now complete.
Make sure you store your activation code safely! You may need it at a later date to activate your LANCOM Content Filter again, for example after a repair.
Help in case of problems
If you have problems with registering your software option, please contact us
by e-mail at optionsupport@lancom.de.
Entry of the activating code
→ In LANconfig, mark the appropriate device (simply click on the entry with
your mouse) and select the menu item Device > Activate Software Option.
→ Under WEBconfig select the menu command Extras > Activate Software Option.
In the following window, enter the activation code that you received with your
online registration. The device will then restart automatically.
→ When using the command line interface
(e.g. SSH), enter the command feature followed by the activation key: feature
Configuring the LANCOM Content Filter
How it works
The LANCOM Content Filter is an intelligent website filter that works
dynamically. It contacts a rating server that evaluates Internet sites
reliably and accurately in accordance with the categories that you select. The
LANCOM Content Filter operates by checking the IP addresses behind the URLs
that are entered. For any given domain it is possible to differentiate
according to the path, meaning that specific areas of a URL may be rated
differently.
It is not possible for users to avoid the LANCOM Content Filter website rating
simply by entering the website’s IP address into their browsers.
The LANCOM Content Filter license you purchase is valid for a certain number
of users and for a specific period (for one or three years). You will be
informed of the expiry of your license in advance. The number of current users
is monitored in the device, with the users being identified by their IP
address. You can configure what should happen when the number of licensed
users is exceeded: Access can either be denied or an unchecked connection can
be made.
The included BPjM module is not user-limited, regardless of the number of
licensed Content Filter users.
You can test the LANCOM Content Filter on any router that supports this
function. All you have to do is to activate a 30-day demo license for each
device. Demo licenses are generated directly with LANconfig. Click on the
device with the right-hand mouse key and select the context menu entry
‘Activate software option’. In the dialog that follows, click on the link to
the demo license. You will automatically be connected to the website for the
LANCOM registration server. Simply select the required demo license and you
can register your device. 
All settings relating to categories are stored in category
profiles. You select from predefined main and sub-categories in the LANCOM
Content Filter: 75 categories are divided into 16 subject groups such as
“Pornography, Nudity”, “Shopping” or “Illegal Activities”. You can activate or
deactivate each of the categories that these groups contain. Sub-categories
for “Pornography/ Nudity” are, for example, “Pornography/Erotic/Sex” and
“Swimwear/Lingerie”. When configuring these categories, administrators have an
additional option of activating an override. When the override option is
active, users may still access the forbidden site for a particular period of
time by clicking on a corresponding button, but the administrator will be
notified of this by e-mail, Syslog, or SNMP trap.
The category profile, whitelist and blacklist can be used to create a Content
Filter profile that you can assign to particular users by means of the
firewall. For example you can create a profile called “Employees_department_A”
and assign this to all of the computers in that department.
When you install the LANCOM Content Filter, basic default settings are created
automatically. These only need to be activated for the initial start. You can
subsequently customize the behavior of the LANCOM Content Filter to match your
own requirements. Sensible default settings are also set up automatically for
the BPjM module.
Thus, a default firewall rule exists in the IPv4 or IPv6 firewall with the
system object “BPJM” as the target station. Define as source stations the
networks that are to be protected by the BPjM module. Activating the rule
starts the BPjM module.
Requirements for operation
The following requirements must be met before you can use the LANCOM Content
Filter:
- The firewall must be activated and an appropriate firewall rule must select the Content Filter profile.
- The Content Filter profile must specify a category profile and if desired a whitelist and/or blacklist for each part of the day. A Content Filter profile can consist of several different entries to provide different levels of protection during different parts of the day.
If a certain time span during the day is not covered by an entry, then access to the Internet goes unchecked during this period.
If the Content Filter profile is subsequently renamed, the firewall must also
be modified.
Quick start
After installing the LANCOM Content Filter, all the settings have been made to
get it up and running quickly.
The operation of the LANCOM Content Filter may be restricted by your country’s
data protection regulations or by company guidelines. Please check any
regulations that may apply before putting the system into operation.
You activate the LANCOM Content Filter by:
- Start the Setup Wizard for the device.
- Select the Setup Wizard for configuring the Content Filter.
- Select one of the pre-defined security profiles (basic, work, parental control):
• Basic profile: This profile mainly blocks access to the categories pornography, illegal, violent or discriminatory content, drugs, SPAM, and phishing.
• Work profile: In addition to the settings for the basic profile, this profile also blocks the categories shopping, job search, gaming, music, radio, and certain communications services such as chat.
• Parental control profile: In addition to the settings for the basic profile, this profile also blocks nudity and weapons/military.
Should the firewall be deactivated, the Wizard will switch the firewall on.
The Wizard then checks if the firewall rule is set correctly for the Content
Filter and, if necessary, will take corrective measures. After activating the
Content Filter with the steps outlined above, all stations in the network are
being filtered according to the settings of the selected Content Filter
profile and the as-yet empty blacklist and whitelist. You can adapt these
settings for your purposes, if necessary.
Detailed information about manually configuring the content filter is
available in the LCOS reference manual available as a PDF download from www
.lancom-systems.com.
LANCOM Systems GmbH
Adenauerstr. 20/B2
52146 Würselen | Germany
info@lancom.de
www.lancom-systems.com
LANCOM, LANCOM Systems, LCOS, LANcommunity and Hyper Integration are
registered trademarks. All other names or descriptions used may be trademarks
or registered trademarks of their owners. This document contains statements
relating to future products and heir attributes. LANCOMSystems reserves
theright to change
these without notice. No liability for technical errors and / or omissions.
08/2022
References
- Business network solutions "engineered in Germany": LANCOM Systems GmbH
- Business network solutions "engineered in Germany": LANCOM Systems GmbH
- Business network solutions "made in Germany": LANCOM Systems GmbH
- Router options: LANCOM Systems GmbH
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