Websense vs. GFI Webfilter

[Asha'man X]

Hi fellow admins

I've just got a question here for those of you who may have used either of the products in my title.

Our school is looking to migrate our systems, and if we do, I'll end up using ISA Server on site. Now ISA server needs extra filtering software, hence this appeal. I've never used either producy before, and it's a bit tough to cut through sales talk and salesman trying to sell me on ridiculous offers.

Are the products fairly easy to use? How effective are the filters? How detailed is the reporting?

I've done my research as best I can but I would like to hear from some fellow admins out there who have experience with the products.

Thanks

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Why not cut through all this and use Dansguardian instead?

or URL Filter?

And use SARG to draw reports on web usage.

Must it be Microsoft stuff?

 

[syntax]

Hi fellow admins

I've just got a question here for those of you who may have used either of the products in my title.

Our school is looking to migrate our systems, and if we do, I'll end up using ISA Server on site. Now ISA server needs extra filtering software, hence this appeal. I've never used either producy before, and it's a bit tough to cut through sales talk and salesman trying to sell me on ridiculous offers.

Are the products fairly easy to use? How effective are the filters? How detailed is the reporting?

I've done my research as best I can but I would like to hear from some fellow admins out there who have experience with the products.

Thanks

I have used Websense and bluecoat.
Both have excellent filtering and enough reports to do whatever you require.
Depending on your requirements you could even try websense express to save money.

Both have appliance versions which are amazing, they can act as a proxy and have pretty good caching ability.

The bluecoat is harder to configure but has many more features whilst websense is fairly straightforward.

Maintenance on them is null, once your policies are defined you literally do nothing.

If you need any info let me know

 

[Asha'man X]

Why not cut through all this and use Dansguardian instead?

or URL Filter?

And use SARG to draw reports on web usage.

Must it be Microsoft stuff?

Hey Libs

I've used all of the things you mentioned, and while I like them, I've found them to be lacking in one way or another. For once I'd like to use something a little more corporate.

Also, if my proposal wins, the network will run on Active Directory, and I want products that tie in well to that.

@tau1z

Thanks for your reply. It sets my mind to ease. I've been bombarded by sales people and it hasn't been easy to get real information.

 

[gregmcc]

+1 for Websense and Bluecoat. They are market leaders. Not cheap but you pay for what you get.

What kind of policies are you looking to implement. With the free stuff it will work and do the basics. For more complicated setups I'd recommend going websense/BC.

 

[Asha'man X]

Today we finally got the decision on which way our migration is going. While the core of the system is Windows based, for some reason management decided that they want us to use Squid, Danguardian for filtering. Not my choice by a long shot, but I didn't want to put up a fight.

Ah well, I'll still learn ISA in my spare time, and maybe find some filtering software to play with and learn.