Finding the new drop connection feature in the Smoothwall UI
In the Leeds-12 update, a new option was added which allows the Smoothwall to drop a connection to the web filter, rather than displaying a blockpage. This can be useful in BYOD networks, where devices might try to access blocked resources continuously. Often apps in the background will try to perform status updates or similar which might result in a large amount of traffic getting blocked, causing performance issues on the network.
Smoothwall has added a new tool to use in those situations, the option to drop a connection rather than showing a blockpage. By identifying destinations or sources that are getting blocked excessively and configuring a drop connection instead of showing a blockpage, will prevent resources being consumed by the blockpage server.
To configure a drop connection blockpage, use the policy wizard in "Guardian - Blockpages". The action step has the option to drop connection instead of showing a specific blockpage:
