Note
The
IP address can be replaced by a DNS name if one has been assigned.
Once the network and
browser configurations have been completed in Section 2 above, CensorNet Pro
may be used without any further configuration.
It is also possible
to run CN Pro without importing users and workstations, although this will not
allow access to all of CN Pro’s functionality.
With only a few
exceptions, all CN Pro’s advanced functions can be accessed via the CensorNet Control
Panel.
To access the
CensorNet Control Panel, enter the address “http://<IP Address of CN Pro>/censornet” into the browser. This will
open the Login Panel (see Figure 3.1).
|
|
Note The
IP address can be replaced by a DNS name if one has been assigned. |
Figure 3.1 – CN Pro Login Panel
The default login,
immediately after installation, is Username = admin and Password = password.
The password should be changed once access to the CensorNet Control Panel has
been gained.
Figure 3.2 - CN Pro Overview Page
Figure 3.2 shows the
Overview page, which will be displayed
after a successful login.
The Overview page is divided into several
areas. Across the top are the main menus. Placing the mouse over these menus
(hovering) will cause submenus to drop down. These submenus are covered in
later sections of this guide.
At the top-left of
the screen is a small RSS link. Click on this link to access the latest news
relating to CN Pro. In the same area as the RSS link is an indicator to show if
there are any important notices. For Figure 3.2, this notice shows that CN Pro
is running in online lookup mode.
Click on the What does this mean? link
to display more information as shown in Figure 3.3 below.
Figure 3.3 – Expanded Information from the Important
Notice
Below the RSS link
is the Services Monitor. This details
which services are online.
If a sub-system
should fail, these lights will turn from green to red and show offline.
To the right of each
service is a small, circular button. The services can be restarted by clicking on
these buttons. This is useful, for example, if a new license file has been
installed, when the filtering proxy service will need to be restarted.
To the right of the Service Status is information relating
to the overall state of the system. Values shown include Uptime, One Minute Load
Average, Available RAM and Free Disk Space.
To the right of these
are two indicators, one displaying any outstanding unblock requests and the other showing the number of Active Clients connected to the proxy.
The graph in the
centre shows recent activity. A green bar indicates the number of visits made to
permitted pages. A red bar indicates the number of attempts to visit a banned
site. A pie-chart to the right of the graph gives a breakdown of the red bars
and shows which modules were triggered over the last hour.
Towards the bottom
of the screen is the URL Database Update
status bar.
Figure 3.4 – The URL Database Update Status Bar
Figure 3.4 shows the
status bar following a successful download and update cycle. In this state, CN
Pro is running on its own internal CSRV (Category Server) rather than relying
on CensorNet’s external servers. This speeds up the decision-making process.
The Update Status field can take on a number
of values as described below:
(Status not available): This message is displayed if CN Pro has
just been installed or the package has been recently updated.
Downloading: x of y bytes (z% complete): This indicates that CN Pro is currently
downloading an update packet.
Download in progress: CN Pro is downloading but no status is
available.
Updating database: The worker
process is post-processing the downloaded update packet.
Database update complete: This is the status in Figure 3.4 above. A
successful update cycle has been completed.
Download failed: The download either did not start or failed
to complete. This may be related to an incorrect username or password, or
network problems. Contact CensorNet technical support for assistance if the
problem persists.
Update failed: The worker
script failed. This means that a download occurred but the post-processing
cycle failed. Possible causes include low memory or insufficient disk space. Try
restarting the CSRV and if the problem persists, contact CensorNet technical
support for assistance.
Below the URL
Database Update status bar is the License
status bar, see Figure 3.5 below. The License
bar shows which modules are licensed and their expiry dates.
Figure 3.5 – The License Status Bar