Time restriction rules

[JustInterested]

Hi

Am new to the forum! I'm doing a search for a firewall (home usage) and am in the process of comparing various products - ClarkConnect, Astaro, Untangle and IPFire. I've used IPCop and Smoothwall before but my recent hardware upgrade will mean I cannot use IPCop and Smoothwall.

I've had a read of the Untangle web site and doco but can't seem to find an answer for my search. Just wondering if Untangle can do the following: Restrict Network usage by time for given IP (packet filter rules)? That is, I want to have different rules for each day for certain IPs to allow/deny ANY network traffic going OUT and IN from the IPs.

Basically with kids in the house on their own PCs I want to block restrict the times they are allowed network access.

I know Astaro can do this fully and have tested this.
ClarkConnect can only do this for HTTP traffic (unless I write my own iptables rules controlled by cron).
IP.
Not sure about IPFire - web site is a bit scant on all features and forums are in German (English forum exists but less frequented).

Can Untangle do this?

Thanks in advance.

MC

[mdh]

Yes, its called Advanced Policy Management. It is fee-based, and you can get it by itself or as part of Professional Package. Welcome to the forums!

[JustInterested]

Thanks for the quick reply, at least I know the forum support is on the ball here! :-)

I have to pay for such a feature? Hmmm... I thought a feature of this kind would be included off-the-shelf.

Thanks for the info.

MC

[JustInterested]

Hi

In reading about the Policy Management from your website I am a bit confused. The doco mentions the "Default Rack" for having some policies and adding "Virtual Racks" to do more.

So can time based restrictions based on IP not be done with the Default Rack? Is it because one can't add any more rules/policies to this? From reading about the policy management and use with virtual racks it sounds like overkill for home usage.

MC

[mdh]

The Default Rack is what you would use in conjunction with custom racks. People are usually in a default rack and you would shift to a custom rack for your time-based policy.

[sky-knight]

Policies are used to control the flow of network traffic in and out of different racks. So what you end up doing is configuring a different virtual rack each with the settings you want for different times of the day. Then, the policy itself triggers on the time of day and directs traffic into whatever rack you want. The mechanism is a bit confusing, but insanely powerful.

[JustInterested]

Ahhh ok - thanks for the explanations mdh and sky-night.

Just had a look at the cost for the Policy Management add-on... Meh, not too bad at $5 a month.. That would be US $ I assume... hmmm, not a good time at the moment to be converting local $ to US $... But still not too much of a cost.

Thanks again - might have to give UT a try.