Allowing Access to Minecraft Using Smoothwall Filter & Firewall

Summary

This article explains how to setup your Smoothwall so that you are able to play Minecraft through the Smoothwall with a supported device.

Note: If you have an iOS device you can follow these instructions but be aware that there are intermittent connection issues when doing so.

Problem

You may want to allow Minecraft on certain devices, but not allow the full Online Games/Computer Games categories. You can do this with the instructions shown below.

Devices Supported for this fix:

  • Minecraft - Windows 10 Java Client (May work with previous versions of Windows)
  • Minecraft - Windows 10 App Store Client (May work with previous versions of Windows)
  • Minecraft - Android App
  • Minecraft - iOS App

Solution

The following will outline the procedure of how to setup a custom category with URL/Domain Filtering:

    1. Create a new category, go to Guardian > Policy Objects > Categories
    2. Under Manage Categories enter the name of the new category, for example, Minecraft Allow
    3. Add the following to the Domain/URL Filtering box:
      • Mojang.com
      • minecraftprod.rtep.msgamestudios.com
      • Minecraft.net
      • xboxlive.com
    4. Click Save
    5. Now the category is created you can add the policy. Go to Guardian > Web Filter > Manage Policies > Create new Policy.
    6. Create a policy with the following attributes:
      • Who: Everyone*
      • What: Minecraft Allow
      • Where: Everywhere*
      • When: Always*
      • Action: Allow

*You should change these based on your own needs.

Make sure the Enabled Policy check box is selected and click Confirm.

The above policy is a sample policy used to allow Minecraft on supported devices.

Firewall Rules

You will also have to allow access through certain ports on your firewall for Minecraft to work, the ports are below:

  • TCP Port: 25565
  • UDP Port: 19132

For iOS devices you will additionally need to ensure the following TCP ports are open:

  • 16384 - 16472

These can be added to a Service Group on your Firewall by going to Network > Firewall > Firewall Rules > Add Rule Above/Below.

  • Name: Minecraft*
  • Source IP Addresses: As required
  • Inbound Interfaces: As required
  • Destination IP Addresses: As required
  • Outbound Interfaces: As required
  • Services: New Service > Minecraft > Protocol: TCP > Port: 25565
  • Action: Accept

Once you have the initial rule created you can then go back to the Network > Settings > Service Object Manager. Select the Minecraft rule that we just created and Edit > Add new service > UDP: 19132. If using iOS devices repeat this process for TCP port range 16384-16472. Click Save Changes.

After completing the configuration shown above, you should be able to play Minecraft through the Smoothwall with a supported device.