Can Windows Server 2008 block websites in a GPO or otherwise?

This topic seems to be a question that many are asking on the internet, but not getting the answers that they want. Before we dive into this, I would consider using a third party filtering service for blocking web sites. One of the purposes of Group Policy is to make life easier for Network Administrators. By taking on the responsibility of choosing what are appropriate websites, you are opening up yourself for a lot of work. By using a filtering service, you are paying someone else to do the grunt work. Also, many will filter your email. Should you lose your email server, these services will cache your email and deliver it once your server is back online.

The following article tells you how to use group policy to control website access. This is not necessarily for server 2008, but it gives you guidance.

http://www.chrisse.se/MAQB.asp?ID=17

Others are utilizing ISA server. I have even found some that are using a HOST file that points websites that they want to block to 0.0.0.0. This technique will require the replacement of the HOSTS files on all your clients and a way to update them. Again, think about using a third party for your web filtering.

Comments

Adding a Comment to a GPO with PowerShell

As I'm writing this article, I'm also writing a customization for a PowerShell course I'm teaching next week in Phoenix. This customization deals with Group Policy and PowerShell. For those of you who attend my classes may already know this, but I sit their and try to ask the questions to myself that others may ask as I present the material. I finished up my customization a few hours ago and then I realized that I did not add in how to put a comment on a GPO. This is a feature that many Group Policy Administrators may not be aware of. This past summer I attended a presentation at TechEd on Group Policy. One organization in the crowd had over 5,000 Group Policies. In an environment like that, the comment section can be priceless. I always like to write in the comment section why I created the policy so I know its purpose next week after I've completed 50 other tasks and can't remember what I did 5 minutes ago. In the Group Policy module for PowerShell V3, th

Return duplicate values from a collection with PowerShell

If you have a collection of objects and you want to remove any duplicate items, it is fairly simple. # Create a collection with duplicate values $Set1 = 1 , 1 , 2 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 1 , 2 # Remove the duplicate values. $Set1 | Select-Object -Unique 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 What if you want only the duplicate values and nothing else? # Create a collection with duplicate values $Set1 = 1 , 1 , 2 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 1 , 2 #Create a second collection with duplicate values removed. $Set2 = $Set1 | Select-Object -Unique # Return only the duplicate values. ( Compare-Object -ReferenceObject $Set2 -DifferenceObject $Set1 ) . InputObject | Select-Object – Unique 1 2 This works with objects as well as numbers. The first command creates a collection with 2 duplicates of both 1 and 2. The second command creates another collection with the duplicates filtered out. The Compare-Object cmdlet will first find items that are diffe

How to list all the AD LDS instances on a server

AD LDS allows you to provide directory services to applications that are free of the confines of Active Directory. To list all the AD LDS instances on a server, follow this procedure: Log into the server in question Open a command prompt. Type dsdbutil and press Enter Type List Instances and press Enter . You will receive a list of the instance name, both the LDAP and SSL port numbers, the location of the database, and its status.

Jason Yoder, MCT

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