How does GFI WebMonitor count users?

The information in this article applies to:

• GFI WebMonitor 2009 (Standalone Proxy Version)
• GFI WebMonitor 2009 for ISA/TMG

Article ID: KBID003528

Query keywords: count, User, users

GFI WebMonitor counts either users or IP addresses for licensing purposes. This would depend if the traffic being processed by GFI WebMonitor has been authenticated or not. 

For authenticated connections, GFI WebMonitor records the username of the user making the connection.
For unauthenticated connections, GFI WebMonitor records the IP address of the computer making the connection.

There are situations where authenticated and unauthenticated connections are performed within the same network. In such a scenario, the following should be noted:

• When an authenticated and unauthenticated connection is made from the same machine, only one license is consumed.
• When 2 users each initiate an authenticated connection from the same machine, 2 licenses will be consumed.
• When an authenticated user makes 2 connections from different machines (and thus different IPs), only one license will be utilized.

Should GFI WebMonitor detect that the number of users is greater than the licensed number of users, all additional users / IPs above the license limit are not protected by GFI WebMonitor. A notification email is sent to the administrator stating that the licensed user count has been exceeded. This information is also displayed under the licensing node in the GFI WebMonitor configuration.
 
The GFI WebMonitor licensing count is reset daily at midnight. You can also manually reset the GFI WebMonitor license by restarting the Microsoft Firewall service when using GFI WebMonitor for ISA/TMG or the GFI Proxy service when using GFI WebMonitor Standalone Proxy version. When the license count is reset, GFI WebMonitor will start to count users from 0 once again.

Notes:

• Connections from whitelisted users or IP addresses will not consume any licenses. 
• You can configure Microsoft ISA server to enforce authentication for all connections. More information can be found at KBID002526.
• GFI WebMonitor (Standalone Proxy Version) can be configured to enforce authentication. To enable enforced authentication, perform the procedure below:
   
1. Open the GFI WebMonitor configuration. 
2. Expand the 'Configuration' node and select 'Proxy Settings' 
3. Under the 'Authentication method', select which authentication method you wish to use:
    
• Basic authentication: This method is used if the user has to enter the username and password when launching a new Internet session. When launched, the Internet browser will prompt the user to provide valid login credentials.
• Integrated authentication (Recommended): This method of authentication is used if proxy authentication is done using the client machines' access control service. Users will not be required to enter login credentials to access the Internet.