Block Steam traffic on schedule? possible?

thecableguy

Has anyone successfully managed to block all Steam client and game traffic on a schedule?

I have tried everything listed on this forum, asked for assistance, searched the web for solutions without any success..

I have a teenageer with an internet addiction and we are getting counselling for this issue however we can not just stop the gaming altogether as per the professional advice given.

If someone could please assist, I would be happy to throw a Paypal donation if we can get something reliable in place.

Thanks :(

pfBasic

What you want to do in this situation is - stop paying for "professional counseling" to get your kid to stop playing video games all the time.

Then you want to sell the kid's Xbox/PS4/Wii/Alienware/GameBoy/etc. that you probably bought for him in the first place on Craigslist.

Next you're going to take all that money you recouped/saved and buy this book
Alternatively, you can just send all that money to my PayPal account in return for my "professional counsel" ;D.

Finally, (most important step) you're going to want to inform your child about the "outdoors" and "non-virtual reality", additionally there are "friends" one can make IRL instead of on IRC. As a side note - maybe provide a pair of sunnies, the sun is bright.

Now if you don't have the time or inclination for all that "raising your child" hassle, you can just block the ports on this webpage which is incidentally a top google hit for "block steam download". https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8571-GLVN-8711

:)

thecableguy

Not helpful.

I didn't ask for assistance in raising my teenager smartass.

I have tried to block the ports, the UDP session will not clear on the scheduled PASS rule above my block rule.

pfBasic

See my PM, bottom line - blocking Steam on a box isn't a really great way to stop your teen from playing video games, saying "no" is probably better… but it can be done.

the UDP session will not clear on the scheduled PASS rule above my block rule.

Reset the states - cron will do this on a schedule if you tell it to.

If your scheduled rule starts passing @ 11:30AM every day then.

31	11	*	*	*	root	pfctl -F state

Now all those blocked states are reset right after you start allowing them again. If the inverse problem arises (passed sessions during hours of blocking) then just write another cron job to flush the states right after you stop passing traffic.

thecableguy

Thanks for the PM and the technical advice.

I will give the state flush a go.

thecableguy

Is there a difference in CRON from /sbin/pfctl -k >IP< and pfctl -k >IP