SnapComms and iPrism security devices

When running the SnapComms client on a machine protected by an iPrism security appliance, iPrism might be blocking access to the SnapComms server and thus the client cannot correctly receive content. Even though the data is blocked the client believes it has received a response from the SnapComms server and proceeds to interpret the response, and thus fails to display new content. This is due to iPrism returning a minimal HTML page instead of the content under the guise of successful response from server (HTTP status 200).

This issue can be solved by exempting the SnapComms client traffic from passing through the iPrism appliance, the solutions available depend on whether iPrism has been set up in Transparent Bridge Mode or Proxy Mode.

More information on Transparent Bridge Mode vs Proxy Mode here:
http://resources.edgewave.com/docs/guide/iprism/help_6-4/iPrism/Bridge-Proxy/IP0149.htm

1. In both configurations it is possible to resolve the problem by exempting the domains/URLs used by SnapComms from on the iPrism device. The domains/URLs that need to be exempted are:
   content.snapcomms.com
   svc.snapcomms.com
   www.snapcomms.com

2. If you're running iPrism in Proxy Mode you can also configure the SnapComms client to connect directly to the destination server, rather than proxying through the iPrism appliance. In Transparent Bridge Mode we believe that it is not possible to bypass iPrism in any way and therefore option 1 must be used.

In Proxy Mode we believe that it is possible to bypass iPrism by changing the SnapComms client to connect directly to the server instead of going via a proxy.

Settings of an individual SnapComms client can be changed by opening the SnapComms Message History, clicking on Settings and opening the Proxy Server tab as shown below. Change the option to Do not use a proxy server and click OK to save the settings.

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Additionally, a SnapComms client MSI package can be generated with the proxy server setting pre-configured to the Do not use a proxy server option. This can be done from the Management >> Client Provisioning section of the SnapComms Content Manager.

Click on the Show Advanced Settings button to display the advanced client settings and scroll down to the Proxy Server Settings. Change the Proxy Configuration to No Proxy (direct connection) as shown below:

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Clicking on the Create button will produce the SnapComms client MSI file with the selected proxy setting pre-configured. Download and install this MSI file on the relevant client computers.