In this article

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

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. 

1. From the DNSFilter dashboard, navigate to Policies and select Block Pages
2. Select Add Block Page
3. Enter the following details:
   1. Block Page Name: The internal name you assigned the Filtering Policy to your Site
   2. Organization Name: The display name of the organization responsible for blocking access to the domain
   3. 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
   4. Custom Logo: Display a Block Page logo
             Note: Leave this field blank to show no logo
4. 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.

1. From the DNSFilter dashboard, navigate to Policies and select Block Pages
2. Select Add Block Page
3. Select External Block Page
4. Enter the External Block Page URL
5. 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

As of Friday, October 11th 2024, the Block Page Bypass feature has been suspended indefinitely due to recently identified security concerns.

At DNSFilter, safeguarding your network is our top priority. While we work on a secure and enhanced solution, we recommend an alternative approach to ensure your operations continue smoothly. We will update this article when a new solution is in place.

In the meantime, you can create separate policies within the DNSFilter dashboard to handle necessary exceptions. Policy updates propagate across your deployment in just seconds, allowing you to quickly implement changes without disruption.

These resources can help create separate Filtering Policies for different groups in the organization:

• Create Collections of users, e.g. Marketing department; Support department
• Assign Users different policies, e.g. more or less restrictive
• Update Allow or Block Lists
• Utilize Zapier to connect policy review requests to your IT team's ticketing system for quicker resolution

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