Shared Lists

Shared Lists can be created in the 'Lists' window, List Search, the List Migration window, or they can be converted from a Local List. They can then be added to Group/Policy Templates and used for filtering in a Group Policy. Shared Lists perform the same actions as Local or System Wide Lists. These actions include allow, deny, assign a Category, or rewrite a whole URL. It should be noted that all List under the Shared tab in the 'Lists' window are 'Shared Lists'. Lists that are 'System-Wide' Lists are designated in that way because they have been added to 'Processing Step'.

The advantage of using Shared Lists is that they:

·       Are shared and updated across multiple Groups

·       Can consolidate entries from multiple Local Lists

·       Are applied to Groups and through Group / Policy Templates

·       Are assigned to SysOps for administration

Creating a Shared List in the Lists Window

Shared Lists can be created in the 'Lists' window by clicking the Create tab. Enter the 'List Name' and select the 'Restrict Actions'. If no Actions are chosen, then all Actions are applied. For Shared List, the ‘List Assignment’ options are not required. Once done, click the Create List button.

New entries can be added or imported. These lists can be updated and are automatically applied to all Groups associated with the Shared List.

Depending on assigned permissions, they can be made available to all Group Policies

Adding a Shared List to a Group

Once a List is created in the 'Lists' window or converted from a Local List, you can use the URL Keyword Shared Lists tab to add the Shared Lists.

1.    Open the Group you would like to edit and click the Policies tab.

2.    Click the List tab and then click the Policy to open it.

3.    Click the URL Keyword Shared Lists tab and then the Manage Shared Lists button.

4.    Click the List you would like to share from the ‘Available Lists’ column to add it to the ‘Used Lists’ column. The selection is automatically saved.

Convert Local List to Shared

You can use the Convert Local List to Shared button to convert a Local List to a Shared List. This allows you to share lists with other members of your organization.

1.    In the Policy page, click the URL Keyword Local List tab.

2.    Click the Convert Local List to Shared button.

3.    In the pop up window, enter the name for your new Shared list and optional comments. Click Save.

4.    The List is automatically assigned to the selected Policy as a Shared List. It is also now available to other Policies.

Bulk Assigning Shared Lists to Policies

The Policies tab in the 'Lists' window 'Edit List' window allows you can bulk add Policies to Lists. Open the List and click the Policies tab. Select one or more Policies from the 'Assign to Policies' dropdown and click Submit to assign the List to the Policies.

The Shared List is assigned.

How Shared List are Checked

Shared Lists perform the same actions (allow, deny, assign a category, rewrite the whole URL) as Local or System Wide Lists. However, it is important to note that when Lists are checked, the System Wide Lists have a higher priority than the Local Lists and the Local Lists have a higher priority that the Shared Lists. It should also be noted that when a Category is denied by the System Wide List, the processing stops and Local and Shared Lists processing is ignored.

In this example, when a request is made, you can see in Example 1 that Facebook and YouTube are denied by the Category 'Social Networking'. In Example 2, Facebook is denied by the Shared List but allowed by the Group Local List and therefore it allowed for that Group. In Example 3, Facebook is still allowed by the Group's Local List but denied by the System-Wide List and Facebook is now denied.

Shared Lists and WebAdmin Templates

WebAdmin Templates can be assigned to multiple Groups. A WebAdmin Template contains aPolicy Template and a Policy Template contains Local and Shared Lists. Shared Lists are copied over to all Groups where the Template is applied.

When a new entry is added to a Shared Lists, the Shared List is automatically updated in all Groups were the Template is applied. The WebAdmin Template does not have to be re-applied to the Groups. It should be noted that if a new Shared List is added to a WebAdmin Template, it will have to be re-applied for all Groups for that new Shared List to be applied.