The first step in setting up your network is to add it to the DNSFilter Dashboard, which is located at app.dnsfilter.com for most customers. (If a different link was provided in your welcome email, use that one.)
Adding a network to the dashboard is essential, because DNSFilter operates a customer-only, closed resolver. Until your site is added, we won’t recognize the queries and respond to them.
Add your external IPs to the dashboard before making changes to your network
The first step in configuring DNSFilter is adding your IP information as a "Site" on our dashboard. Otherwise, we will not expect traffic from your location and will deny DNS requests until the site is added. However, if you've accidentally reversed this order and made changes to your network before adding them in the dashboard, we always Allow app.dnsfilter.com so that you can easily correct this
Adding Your Site
A Site is considered a single, physical location (or “network”), which usually has one <> address, but may have more if utilizing multiple internet connections, or if you’re a larger organization with an IP subnet.
Adding a Site is the quickest and most comprehensive way to be protected with DNSFilter.
Each Site can only have one Policy or Filtering Schedule assigned, unless utilizing the NAT IPs feature (which allows you to assign separate policies by LAN subnet).
When you sign-in for the first time, you will be automatically placed in the Deployments -> Sites section of the Dashboard.
Add the following information to your Site:
- Name (ex: NYC Office)
- Physical Address (If you do not enter a physical address here, it will not be represented in your Geo Activity Map)
- Latitude and Longitude (If you do not have a physical address, please enter your Latitude and Longitude)
- IP Address(es) or Dynamic DNS Hostname (see notices below). If your site has more than one IP address (multiple WAN links, failover links, Cloud VoIP PBX etc) you should add these additional IPs as well.
If you have only one WAN IP address, you can use the Fill Current IP button to add the IP address of your current location.
Dynamic IP Addresses / Dynamic DNS
If your Site has a dynamic IP address, which is common with consumer-grade internet connections, Dynamic DNS must be utilized to ensure DNSFilter always has the correct IP address for your network. If the IP address should change and Dynamic DNS is not utilized, it will result in DNS downtime, as DNSFilter does not serve DNS requests to unknown IP addresses for security reasons.
IP Subnets / CIDR Blocks
The Dashboard accepts IP subnets up to /24. You may enter the block directly into the IP address field (ex: 45.66.23.0/24). For large blocks, contact support and we can add them to your account on the backend.
Create and Assign a Filtering Policy
Creating a Policy
The final step to add your site to the dashboard is to create a Filtering Policy and assign it to that location. This will determine what is allowed/blocked on your network, as well as what the users on that network see when they surf to a blocked website.
Begin by adding a name to the policy, then use the tabs at the top to set filtering categories, safesearch settings, threat categories, and Allow list/Block list entries. When you click on a category, it will turn red and show an 🚫 icon to show that blocking is active for that category. Once you are content with your settings, you may save your policy.
Assigning a Policy
Up to this point, you have added your network and a policy in the dashboard. All that remains is to assign your newly-created policy to your network.
Navigate to the Deployments -> Sites section on the dashboard. Then along the line for the site there will be a dropdown for “Policy/Schedule”. Click to select your desired policy.
Congratulations, your DNSFilter account is now setup to receive and filter traffic from your network!
At this point, we recommend setting one of your PCs to point to us in order to test your connection.
Bulk Import Sites
You can bulk import sites by importing a CSV file through your dashboard on the Sites view under Deployments. In order to successfully import with a CSV, you will need your Policy ID and Block Page ID.
To find your Policy ID, select Policies, then click on the policy that you need the ID of. You will find the Policy ID in the URL as seen in the screenshot below:
To find your Block Page ID, select Policies then Block Pages, then click on the block page that you need the ID of. You will find the Block Page ID in the URL as seen in the screenshot below:
Once you have your Policy ID and Block Page ID, simply create a CSV formatted like the example that is found here.
Once you have filled out your CSV, navigate to Deployments -> Sites and select Import CSV as seen in the screenshot below.
The CSV must be formatted correctly!
If the CSV is not formatted exactly like the sample provided above, the upload will fail. There should be no header values, no extra columns and no extra rows.
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