Allowing Access to Minecraft Using Smoothwall Filter & Firewall

This article applies to our On-Premise Appliance Filter and Firewall product only, not to Cloud.

 

This article explains how to allow access to play Minecraft, without allowing access to all Online Games/Computer Games through Smoothwall. This is done by setting up a custom category with URL/Domain.

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

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

Step 1: Create the category

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

    1. 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
      • odc.officeapps.live.com
    4. Click Save.

Step 2: Create the policy

    1. Go to Guardian > Web Filter > Manage Policies > Create new Policy.
    2. Create a policy with the following based on your own needs:
      • Who: Everyone*
      • What: Minecraft Allow
      • Where: Everywhere*
      • When: Always*
      • Action: Allow
    3. 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.

Step 3: Add Firewall Rules

You will also have to allow access through certain ports on your firewall for Minecraft to work by adding to a Service Group.

  1. Go to Network > Firewall > Firewall Rules > Add Rule Above/Below.
  2. Add:
    • 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
  3. Once you have the initial rule created you can then go back to the Network > Settings > Service Object Manager.
  4. Select the Minecraft rule that we just created and Edit > Add new service > UDP: 19132.
  5. 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.