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This article explains what a Block Page is and how to add a Block Page in the DNSFilter app.
A Block Page is what users see when they attempt to visit a domain that is not allowed by the policy assigned to their network or Roaming Client.
From the DNSFilter dashboard you can customize a Block Page’s appearance, behavior, bypass passwords, and notifications.
See the Block Page administrator guide for troubleshooting and email notification details.
There are two types of Block Pages: hosted and external.
Hosted Block Pages are customizable and present the user a page with organizational information and options to enter a bypass password or notify the administrator via embedded form.
Hosted Block Pages can be displayed in several languages, depending on the browser language of the end-user device. We currently support English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Ukrainian, Italian, Russian, French, Czech, German, and Hebrew.
External Block Pages send the user a 302 redirect to a set location. This allows you to completely customize the Block Page appearance. The External Block Page URL contains the IP address, blocked domain, filtering policy, and categories as an identifier.
This can be a local-only resource–e.g. http://office.local/block.html –or a public resource–e.g. http://validdomain.com/block.html
Global Block Page
Both Hosted and External Block Pages can be set as a Global Block Page to share across sub-organizations. During setup, toggle the Enable this Block Page as Global Block Page switch on to set the global page.
Below is a video demonstration of creating a Block Page:
Add a Block Page
To make sure this feature works with websites over HTTPS, install our SSL Certificate. If the SSL Certificate is not installed, HTTPS sites will return error pages but will still be blocked by the Filtering Policy.
Customized Hosted Block Page
Follow these steps to customize a Hosted Block Page.
- From the DNSFilter dashboard, navigate to Policies and select Block Pages
- Select Add Block Page
- Enter the following details:
- Block Page Name: The internal name you assigned the Filtering Policy to your Site
- Organization Name: The display name of the organization responsible for blocking access to the domain
-
Notice Email: The email address to receive user notifications. Typically this is a request via embedded form to unblock or review the domain
Note: Leave the field blank to disable user feedback -
Custom Logo: Display a Block Page logo
Note: Leave this field blank to show no logo
- Select Save
The Block Page is now available to add to a Site via the Assigned Block Page drop down menu.
External Block Page
Follow these steps to add an External Block Page.
- From the DNSFilter dashboard, navigate to Policies and select Block Pages
- Select Add Block Page
- Select External Block Page
- Enter the External Block Page URL
- Select Save
The Block Page is now available to add to a Site via the Assigned Block Page drop down menu.
Test a Block Page
After applying a Filtering Policy and Block Page to your Site you can test the Block Page in two ways:
- Use our test domains
- Attempt to browse to a blocked category or domain added to the Block List
Block Page Bypass
This feature allows an administrator to specify a password to quickly bypass blocked sites without creating a ticket with IT or altering the Filtering Policy.
Warning
Once a Bypass Password is used, it bypasses all blocked categories, domains, and security categories for the duration of the browser session. There is no granularity about what is or isn’t allowed or how long it’s allowed: the password will always be valid for that Policy unless changed.
Many recent browser updates impede the bypass from working as intended. Some websites that do not work include YouTube, Facebook, and ESPN.
We recommended utilizing our Roaming Clients for granular content filtering.
Follow these steps to set a bypass password.
- Create a Hosted Block Page following the instructions above
Open the Block Page or complete the next steps during initial setup - Tab to Bypass Password
- Toggle Display Block Page Bypass Option on
- Enter the password
- Select Save
The bypass password is now available to distribute as needed.
Related resources
- Troubleshoot issues with Block Pages not loading in the Chrome browser
- Adjust Ad and Tracker settings to prevent NODATA responses
- Learn about block page admin settings and potential block notification errors
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