How to Allow a single YouTube video through a bluecoat ProxySG

Problem

My company does not allow YouTube or streaming media. However, there is one video we want our users to view. How do I allow that one video through while denying all other YouTube content?

Solution

The ProxySG can be configured to allow a single YouTube video to pass through the proxy while blocking all other YouTube content. This policy can be created and placed into the local policy file.

Open local policy file using the following procedure

1. Launch and log into the Management Console on your ProxySG. The URL for the Management Console is https://:8082/ .
2. Click on the Configuration tab > Policy > Policy files > Policy files tab.
3. There is an “Install policy” section where you can install policy from a local file, forward file, and central file.
4. Select “Text Editor” from the drop down list to the right of “Install Local file from:” text. Click on the Install button to the right of that drop down box.
5. If this is a new proxy deployment, your local policy may be blank. If this is an established proxy with local policy, scroll down to the bottom of the data contained in the text editor.
6. Copy and paste the CPL text that you received from your support person. Click on the Install, OK, and Close buttons in that order. Click on the Apply button. Your new policy has been installed.

Example

We need to allow only youtube URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snkEXxCwpMA

After opening local policy file copy and paste the one of the following and click on install

Method 1

When used in conjunction with an existing deny rule either in local or visual policy, the above configuration will allow access to the Blue Coat corporate video in the example above. When working with the video you want passed through your proxy, be sure to copy the section from the URL after “/watch?v=” and paste into the above substring section.

url.domain=//c.youtube.com/ allow
url.domain=//ytimg.com/ allow
url.substring=snkEXxCwpMA allow

Method 2

In some cases, a YouTube video is embedded within another URL. Assuming the other URL is allowed by policy, but the video is denied based on your YouTube or streaming video deny rule, we can edit the above local policy slightly to allow the embedded video:

After opening local policy file copy and paste the one of the following and click on install

url.domain=//c.youtube.com/ allow
url.domain=//ytimg.com/ allow
url.substring=kioiUPBgOOM allow
url.substring=crossdomain.xml allow

Note the additional line allowing ‘crossdomain.xml’. This is used to allow the video to play from a domain other than youtube.com

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