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Policies sometimes are not applying when using WPAD

Author: Luis Fernandes

Answer

PROBLEM

Policies sometimes are not being applied when using WPAD.
 

ENVIRONMENT

  • GFI WebMonitor
  • All supported environment
 

SOLUTION

  1. Browser to the main directy of GFI WebMonitor
  2. Find the file proxypac.pac and make a backup
  3. Open the file proxypac.pac with Notepad or another text editor
  4. Search the files for "GetStandardProxy()" function, then
  5. Locate the following line: return "PROXY %PROXY_IP%:%PROXY_PORT%; DIRECT";
  6. Change the above line to: return "PROXY %PROXY_IP%:%PROXY_PORT%";
  7. Save changes
  8. Restart the WebMonitor services

NOTE: Make sure client machines get the WPAD settings again (should happen anyway latest in couple of minutes by default).
 

CAUSE

The file proxypac.pac which is used for WPAD proxy discovery, is shipped with the option to try to use the Internet directly in case browsers fail to connect to the GFI Proxy. If the WebMonitor policies block HTTPS sites, the HTTPS connections will be dropped by the GFI Proxy. Such connection drops can be seen by some browsers as connectivity problems with the proxy and the browser may decide to fall back to the direct internet connection. In such cases traffic will not pass anymore through the GFI Proxy.  Removing the above option will force the browser to always use the proxy and never try to fall back to direct internet connection.