Getting NxFilter up and running

[dwelc...@gmail.com]

I am new to NxFilter, and having some problems setting everything up. I am trying to use the service on a single system. I have installed the Windows version and login to the configuration GUI. When editing the default policy categories, lets say I choose sports. I save the changes but a site like ESPN can still be visited. I'm not sure where I went wrong. I have the DNS set up in my TCP/IPv4 to 192.168.0.101 like the tutorial document says. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Jahastech]

On CMD, do this,

  nslookup espn.com

and show me the capture image. If you get blocked, you get your NxFilter address as the response.

[dwelc...@gmail.com]

This is displayed

[Jahastech]

192.168.0.101 is your NxFilter? And you blocked it on your default policy. Then try 'Category > Domain Test'. Which category espn.com falls in? And see the number on 'Classifier > Jahaslist'. How many domains you have on there?

[dwelc...@gmail.com]

See, that's where I'm confused. I'm not sure what address my NxFilter needs to be. I only added 192.168.0.101 based on the tutorial document.

[Jahastech]

192.168.0.101 is just an example. It doesn't matter which address you use. Just make it to be your only DNS server.

[dwelc...@gmail.com]

So can I use the Google 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4 and just block TCP UDP port 53 in firewall?

[Jahastech]

No. Use your NxFilter IP address as your client DNS IP address. In your case, 192.168.0.101. You can use 8.8.8.8 as the upstream server of your NxFilter. NxFilter already uses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 as its upstream servers though.

[dwelc...@gmail.com]

Sorry if these questions may seem trivial, but I'm not sure what my NxFilter IP address actually is. It's not 192.168.0.101.  Is it something I need to configure in the GUI?

[Jahastech]

No. What's the IP adress of your system on which you installed NxFilter? And see 'Config > Setup > Block redirection IP'. Is it the IP address NxFilter running on?

[Jahastech]

Or how do you access your NxFilter GUI from another PC? http://some-ip-address/admin? That should be the IP address of your NxFilter.

[dwelc...@gmail.com]

So this address should be the one used in the DNS settings

[Jahastech]

Yes. And don't use other DNS servers as your secondary DNS server. NxFilter should be the only DNS server.

[dwelc...@gmail.com]

Ok I have made those changes, and no sites are accessible.

[Jahastech]

Try nslookup google.com on your CMD then.

[dwelc...@gmail.com]

[Jahastech]

Then try this one as well,

  nslookup block.nxfilter.org

  nslookup login.example.com

[dwelc...@gmail.com]

Same timeout message, putting 192.168.1.21 in the DNS settings halts all internet access.

[Jahastech]

That means there's something between NxFilter and your clients. Could be a firewall issue. Those 2 domains are for internal use. On NxFilter machine,

  cd c:/nxfilter/bin

  shutdown.bat

  startup.bat

Then you see NxFilter running. If you enable debugging that'd be better.

  http://www.nxfilter.org/tutorial.html#enable-debug

You will see how NxFilter deals with each DNS request. If the timeout is from your Windows firewall, you could try to disable your Windows firewall temporarily. We add some firewall rules when you install it, but on some systems, it doesn't work.

Anyway, you need to find out if your NxFilter gets anything from your nslookup queries. You could try it on another PC and you could try it on the same machine you installed NxFilter.