Remote proxying how to

brcisna

Hello All,

pfSense-2.0.1

Our K-12 school for the upcoming school year is going to try and do a 'one-on-one", initiative to were a couple grades of kids will get tablets (not sure which spin) to have with them at all times. I am trying to think of a way that these tablets will be filtered when the kids have these tablets at home.

We are curretnly using transparent proxying at school, FYI.

Is this possible:?

To hard code a public ip address into the tablets web browser for a proxy number
Port forward an public ip address on port 80 (and 443) from the pfSense machine
2nd option
Alternate option , of doing an 'automatic vpn" to a server at school through each tablet then using actually this server's web browser as the web browser? This sounds like a very clunky setup for doing this.

If anyone has done this,,or can think of some way of streamlining this and making it very transparent,I would like to hear.

There are of course now all kinds of 'turn key" solutions to do this from various vendors,and I am sure,,not a one of them,will be exactly 'transparent' in it's usage. The downside ,,big time! is that the app has to be plopped onto each device that travels home with the youngins..

Thank You,
Barry

VPNs / tunnels would create more hassle then solve, you'd end up getting calls from parents on what's wrong and you end up providing at home support.

If you setup a proxy, I'd personally suggest having a separate box / virtual machine to handle it, since it can be compromised / attacked / overloaded. But a proxy would be the easiest solution.

Apple has an enterprise utility where you can create profiles for iDevices, you'd then just email or create a website for you or the kids to click and install the profile. Within the profile you can set and lock in proxy settings.

I'm sure you have an iPad (to support it, gotta have one), hopefully you have some time to sandbox it and iron out any issues.