Quick Turnaround from CheckPt - Category issue fixed

So I got the confirmation email today and I was able to get on to the site from work:

From: no-reply@checkpoint.com [mailto:no-reply@checkpoint.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2016 6:51 AM
To: ME!! (Contractor)
Subject: [Non-DoD Source] Check Point URL Categorization Request [2d7a9254-10f5-4862-b04e-67ee50f32767]

Dear Customer,

Check Point updated its URL categories.

Current categories: Business / Economy,Computers / Internet Former categories: Uncategorized

Request Details
--------------------
ID: 2d7a9254-10f5-4862-b04e-67ee50f32767
URL: http://gravitysedge.com
Suggested categories: Business / Economy,Computers / Internet
Comment:

In case you are not pleased with the resolution of your request or would like to escalate the issue, please open a Service Request with Check Point Support <https://usercenter.checkpoint.com/usercenter/portal/media-type/html/role/usercenterUser/page/default.psml/js_pane/supportId%2CCreateServiceRequestId>  and include the following information:
1. URL
2. Current category
3. Requested category
4. Reference ID of your request (as submitted in this page)

For more information please refer to sk98489 <https://supportcenter.checkpoint.com/supportcenter/portal?eventSubmit_doGoviewsolutiondetails=&solutionid=sk98489> .

Regards,
Check Point Technical Support

CheckPoint URL Category submission

I decided to do checkpoint too. I know I have never done this one because they require an account to submit requests.

https://www.checkpoint.com/urlcat/main.htm

And because they require an account. You get a confirmation!

Hurry up Friday! (In so many ways!)

Way to go SolarWinds

So ten years ago I was helping a small to mid size company evaluate some remote management and ticketing software.  We looked at several things including SolarWinds, SMS, SpiceWorks and a few others.  Because of the size of the company, budget nad required features we went with SpiceWorks. (yes they wanted cheap!)

A few year later I was working for the Commissary and they were using TIVOLI NetCool to monitor their equipment.  It worked really well because they had a technical admin who really knew his UNIX and custom scripting.  It did a lot of cool stuff if you were willing to take the man-hours to configure what you needed. Their online support left something to be desired.

Last year I changed over to another federal agency that was using SolarWinds for remote monitoring.  I was nervous at first a large 20,000 device network can be unwieldy. Ah SolarWinds again, I really hoped it had been improved from 10 years ago I thought.  Holy Cow, had it!  It does all the really cool monitoring with polls, traps, logging , config management and other great features that are completely intuitive and work inside an easy to understand GUI. We use NCM (network Config monitor) and NPM (network performance monitor) to track devices on the network. You do not need a small team of dedicated UNIX engineers to make it work.  It seems to do a wonderful job with its modules right out of the box.  I have been using for it again now nine months and love the interface and information I have access to.  The only reason I cannot monitor something is usually because I fat fingered an IP or credential.  We use the IPAM module to keep us honest in that regard, if IPAM can find it, I just have to make sure I can poll it!

Unlike some other venders they have a great support community called Thwack. Find em at:  thwack.solarwinds.com  You can download the software or modules you want to try out.  The updated manuals are online as well as really good geeky tutorials, labs and tuning videos.  Way to go SolarWinds, you have made this easy for our network engineers to keep an eye on the network and me as an auditor to collect the information I need.  I am looking forward to getting my SCP cert while I continue to learn about the software!

Submitting for categorization

So in this case we want to make sure McAfee web filters are updated for gravitysedge.com. EasyPeasy!

Now we wait...

I will keep ya posted on any new info!

Uncatagorized DB in conflict...

On the #Mcafee site it is uncategorized.  So the databases have a conflict and the one we are reading at work is where the block comes from. Seen below:

To correct this, request a categorization from this site...
We will continue this next time

Uncatagorized Website Catch 22

OOoo, this was kinda cool.  On BlueCoat, the site was catagorized!

These means the uncatagorized rating comes from a different db.  The categorizations have not merged.  Lets look at the other site...