Policy Management and Filtering Features
How can I block all subdomains of a specific domain?
To block all subdomains of a certain domain, you should add the specific record to your Denylist. You must add the domain without the leading WWW to ensure the block is effective. For instance, if your goal is to block subdomains of the https://www.google.com domain, you would simply enter google.com into the Denylist.
What is NAT DNS, and is it included in my plan?
Network Address Translation over DNS (NAT DNS) is a specialized feature used for identifying and filtering traffic in specific network environments. However, this feature is not included in all service tiers; it is not available for the Safe Home and Basic plans.
How can I create a custom schedule for blocking content?
SafeDNS provides a Schedule feature that offers more granular control than standard filtering systems. While many systems utilize simple schedules that completely block internet access during set times, the SafeDNS system allows for content filtering schedules. This allows administrators to adjust what types of content are blocked at different times of the day without cutting off internet access entirely.
How do I configure the block page that users see when a website is filtered?
The block page is the landing page displayed to a user whenever they attempt to access a website that is restricted by your active filtering rules. The documentation includes a dedicated Block Page Setup guide to assist administrators in configuring this interface.
How can I use the same list of domains across multiple policies?
To avoid manually entering the same information multiple times, you can use the Allow/Denylists and Named Lists feature. This feature is specifically designed for situations where you need to apply the same list of domains to different policies across your network, streamlining the management of multiple user groups or filtering levels.
How can I prevent users from bypassing web filtering?
To maintain the integrity of your network policies, SafeDNS offers several Web Filtering Bypass Prevention recommendations. A primary recommendation is to block the "Proxies & Anonymizers" category, which prevents users from accessing external services designed to circumvent DNS-based filters.
Additionally, administrators should block specific browser settings or "flags" in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox that enable DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) or DNS-over-TLS (DoT) directly within the browser. Because these browser-level settings can sometimes bypass system-wide DNS configurations, disabling them is a critical step in ensuring all traffic remains filtered.