About Primary Actions

A primary action specifies the principal action that Clearswift Gateway performs on traffic on a policy route, or when a 'What To Look For' clause triggers a 'What To Do' action in a content rule.

Primary Actions on Policy Routes

Each policy route specifies a default primary action of either:

Allow the communication

On policy routes where the primary action is Allow the communication, you can specify exceptions where the communication is not allowed. For example, the Clearswift Gateway starter policy includes a policy route that allows traffic between your 'Everyone' Machine List and the 'Web Mail' Internet Zone except where the communication includes potentially harmful content, such as viruses, spyware, tracking cookies, executables, and unknown file types.

Block the communication

On policy routes where the primary action is Block the communication, you can specify a policy reference to a block page. Block pages inform users when the Clearswift Gateway blocks a communication and provide an explanation.

Primary Actions in Content Rules

The 'What To Do' clause of each content rule specifies a primary action. Depending on the 'What To Look For' clause that triggers the action, it can be:

Allow the communication

If any of the conditions defined by the 'What To Look For' clauses are met, Clearswift Gateway allows the communication.

Block the communication using a specified block page

If the conditions defined by the 'What To Look For' clauses are met, Clearswift Gateway blocks the communication using a specified block page.

Remove the cookie

If the 'What To Look For' clause is looking for, and finds, a tracking cookie, Clearswift Gateway allows the communication after it has removed the tracking cookie.

Continue to the next rule

If any of the conditions defined by the 'What To Look For' clauses are met, Clearswift Gateway allows the communication and continues to the next content rule.

Bypass content checks

If any of the conditions defined by the 'What To Look For' clauses are met, Clearswift Gateway bypasses all content analysis checks.

DO NOT filter search results

If any of the conditions defined by the 'What To Look For' clauses are met, Clearswift Gateway will not filter search results.

Filter explicit images and video from search results

If any of the conditions defined by the 'What To Look For' clauses are met, Clearswift Gateway filters explicit images and video.

Filter explicit text, images and video from search results

If any of the conditions defined by the 'What To Look For' clauses are met, Clearswift Gateway filters explicit text, images and video.