Network considerations

Applies to

Web Filter v7.6

Web Security v7.6

Web Security Gateway v7.6

Web Security Gateway Anywhere v7.6

Network considerations

To ensure effective filtering, Web Filter and Web Security must be installed so that:

u	Filtering Service can receive HTTP requests from Websense Content Gateway; an integrated firewall, proxy server, caching application; or Websense Network Agent.

In a multi-segmented network, Filtering Service must be installed in a location where it can both receive and manage Internet requests from the integration product and communicate with Network Agent.

u	Network Agent:

Must be deployed where it can see all internal Internet traffic for the machines that it is assigned to monitor.

Can be installed on a dedicated machine to increase overall throughput.

Must have bidirectional visibility into Internet traffic to filter non-HTTP requests (such as instant messaging, chat, streaming media, and other Internet applications and protocols).

Multiple instances of Network Agent may be required in larger or distributed networks. Each Network Agent monitors a specific IP address range or network segment.

Using multiple Network Agents ensures that all network traffic is monitored, and prevents server overload. The required number of Network Agents depends on network size and Internet request volume.

For more information, see Deploying Network Agent.

As a network grows and the number of Internet requests increases, components can be deployed to additional, non-dedicated machines to improve processing performance on the dedicated machines.

You can deploy multiple Filtering Service instances, connected to one Policy Server. This is useful for remote or isolated sub-networks.

Multiple Policy Servers may be necessary, because it is a best practice to have a maximum of 10 Filtering Service instances per Policy Server (see Filtering Services per Policy Server).

 

Note  Network Agent can be deployed with the filtering components or on a separate machine. Network Agent should not be deployed on the same machine as response-critical components. For more information, see Deploying Network Agent.

Important  Do not install Websense components on a domain controller or on a firewall machine.