2 Getting Started
The Sophos Web Appliance is designed to function as a web proxy that provides HTTP security
at the gateway. Potentially risky content is scanned for various forms of malware. URL requests
are compared to the Sophos site list, in which sites are assigned a risk class and a site category.
Access to sites can be blocked on the basis of degree of risk or by site category.
Instead of blocking access to URLs that violate your organization’s acceptable browsing policy,
you can, as the administrator, allow access or allow access after a warning is displayed to users,
which they can acknowledge and continue or cancel the request to view. User access to such
URLs is recorded. Also, as the administrator, you can extend or override the Sophos site list by
adding URLs to a local site list. In the case of sites already in the Sophos site list, you can override
the default handling by changing the risk class or site category.
Only approved and scanned content is passed to users. It may be cached to increase performance.
If users attempt to access blocked URLs or download blocked content, message pages are
displayed, informing users of the problem and optionally providing a user-feedback form that
allows them to request changes to the handling of the blocked URL or file type. Similarly, requests
for large files can cause the Web Appliance to display a patience page (if you have chosen to
enable this option), advising the user that downloading and scanning is in progress and will take
some time.
This section introduces the role of the Sophos Web Appliance and the Sophos Management
Appliance in your network. It describes the compatible platforms and the administrative web
interface. It provides an overview of the appliance’s major capabilities and configurable behavior
and a general description of the appliances’ software and security data updating features. Finally,
this section provides information on contacting Sophos Technical Support .
2.1 Appliance Hardware
There are certain hardware differences between the various appliance models, which are
summarized in the following table or discussed in the sections below.
SM5000
SM2000
WS5000
WS1100
WS1000
WS500
WS100
Feature
quad-core,
high-capacity
quad-core,
high-capacity
quad-core,
high-capacity
quad-core,
high-capacity
dual-core,
high-capacity
dual-core,
medium-capacity
dual-core,
light
capacity
Processors
8 GB
8 GB
16 GB
8 GB
4 GB
2 GB
2 GB
Memory (RAM)
No
No
Yes
Optional
Yes
Optional
No
Bridge card
See
following note
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Replaceable
Power Supply
Sophos Web Appliance | Getting Started | 11
