Cisco Cisco Web Security Appliance S360 Troubleshooting Guide

Contributed by Jaki Hasan and Siddharth Rajpathak, Cisco TAC
Engineers.
Aug 12, 2014

How do you redirect URLs using the Cisco Web Security Appliance?

The Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) running any AsyncOS version.

In addition to using the Cisco Web Security Appliance to monitor and block traffic to certain websites, you
can also use it to redirect users to a different website. You can configure the appliance to redirect traffic
originally destined for a URL or website to a location you specify by using custom URL categories. This
allows you to redirect traffic on the appliance instead of the destination server redirecting it.

Create a Custom URL Category (GUI > Web Security Manager > Custom URL Category) and
include the URL that you wish to redirect.

1. 

Include this new Custom URL Category in the relevant Access Policy (GUI > Web Security Manager
> Access Policies > URL Categories).

2. 

In the Custom URL Category .. section, select the relevant Custom URL category, select Include
under the Setting column, and then select the Redirect option for the concerned custom URL
category.

3. 

Once the Redirect option has been selected, a text box will appear under the Custom URL Category
name. In this text box, enter the URL that you wish the requests to be reidrected to.

4. 

By default, the HTTPS URLs cannot be redirected like the HTTP URLs. In order to redirect HTTPS URLs,
they must be decrypted first (GUI > Web Security Manager > Decryption Policy). Once the HTTPS URL has
been decrypted, it will then be subjected to Access Polices. The HTTPS URL can then be redirected under the
Access Policy.