Allow access to instant messenging software and webmail sites
July 19, 2011 • Customer Services
Synopsis
Allow access to instant messenging software and webmail sites (such as MSN Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Hotmail, Yahoo)
Article
Generally, web based mail sites such as MSN, Google or Yahoo use one or more domains and some of those use HTTPS. The general solution is to add certain URLs to a Custom URL category and ensure that that category is set to allow in your policy.
We provide a ready-made category for MSN so you simply need to activate it in your policy. Below are partial urls that you need to add for various popular webmail sites.
AOL Instant Messenger
205.188.9.*
login.oscar.aol.com
Windows Update
cdm.microsoft.com
download.microsoft.com
ntservicepack.microsoft.com
update.microsoft.com
windowsupdate.microsoft.com
wustat.windows.com
Yahoo Mail
akamai.net:443
login.yahoo.com:443
mail.yahoo.com
atdmt.com
yimg.com
217.146.182.*
Yahoo Instant Messenger
login.yahoo.com
shttp.msg.yahoo.com
scs.msg.yahoo.com
us.data.toolbar.yahoo.com
Google Mail
mail.google.com/mail
Hotmail
65.55.*
login.live.com
login.live.com:443
mail.live.com
accountservices.msn.com
Windows Live Messenger
207.46.111.*
live.com:443
c.msn.com
g.msn.com
messenger.hotmail.com
rad.msn.com
login.live.com
nexus.passport.com
loginnet.passport.com:443
msn.com:443
Windows Live Messenger 2009
207.46.110.*
Note: If you use SSL Intercept mode, you may need to disable verification in order for MSN Messenger 2009 to connect. Please contact Technical Support for information.
Note that the numeric IP addresses shown may vary from location to location since the networks use clever load balancing to point you to the topologically nearest connection. We have shown the ones that work for us, which we obtained by running the Web-site Visits report whilst trying to connect.
We also recommend that you go through your policy configurations and ensure you have categories such as "Web Mail, English" configured as ALLOW if you
want to permit use of these sites.
MSN Messenger note
If you continue to have problems with MSN Messenger it is most likely due to your firewall. Please see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article on firewall ports:- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927847
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