This article applies to:

• WebMarshal

Question:

• How do I block specific sessions from reporting, especially banners or advertising sites?
• How do I block sessions that are constantly open due to continuous updates?
• How do I exclude The Weather Channel's Desktop Weather application from WebMarshal reporting?
• How does the 'Exclude site from reporting' action work?
• Can I exclude a session or site from WebMarshal reports?

Symptoms:

• Error: 'The exclude from reporting action can not be combined with the category matching condition'.

Comments:

Your objective may be to block specific sessions from the WebMarshal reports so the data is not skewed.  For example, you may want to block banners or advertising sites that keep a constant browsing session open due to continuous updates.  Another example of this type of constant connection is The Weather Channel's Desktop Weather application. 

Resolution:

• In WebMarshal 6.0 and above, you can use the Rule Action Exclude the site from reporting (do not log browsing). In this version, you can use this action in Standard and Content Analysis rules. You can exclude any URL Category or User Group from reporting. You can also include other conditions in the same rule.
• In WebMarshal 3.X and below, you cannot exclude a specific site from WebMarshal reports.  In these versions, the Exclude the site from reporting action does not work in combination with the Where the URL is a member of Category Rule condition.  The wording is misleading because it implies the desired action is available.  If you try to use the incorrect combination, then you will get the following error when trying to create the rule:

"The exclude from reporting action can not be combined with the category matching condition".

In these versions, the Exclude the site from reporting  action only works with the Where the User is a member of UserGroup User Matching condition.  In effect, you can only exclude a user from being reported on entirely, not a specific site. 

This article was previously published as:

NETIQKB35970