Using Squid Proxy to Block Multimedia Streaming

Often multimedia streaming is not good for the office environment. It will dry out the bandwidth of our network, thus slows it down. We can block the multimedia streaming using squid filter. Below is the example of how I did it using squid:

In the /etc/squid/squid.conf :

<—–snipped—–>
# streaming download
acl fails rep_mime_type ^.*mms.*
acl fails rep_mime_type ^.*ms-hdr.*
acl fails rep_mime_type ^.*x-fcs.*
acl fails rep_mime_type ^.*x-ms-asf.*
acl fails2 urlpath_regex dvrplayer mediastream mms://
acl fails2 urlpath_regex \.asf$ \.afx$ \.flv$ \.swf$
acl deny_rep_mime_flashvideo rep_mime_type -i video/flv
acl deny_rep_mime_shockwave rep_mime_type -i ^application/x-shockwave-flash$
acl x-type req_mime_type -i ^application/octet-stream$
acl x-type req_mime_type -i application/octet-stream
acl x-type req_mime_type -i ^application/x-mplayer2$
acl x-type req_mime_type -i application/x-mplayer2
acl x-type req_mime_type -i ^application/x-oleobject$
acl x-type req_mime_type -i application/x-oleobject
acl x-type req_mime_type -i application/x-pncmd
acl x-type req_mime_type -i ^video/x-ms-asf$

acl x-type2 rep_mime_type -i ^application/octet-stream$
acl x-type2 rep_mime_type -i application/octet-stream
acl x-type2 rep_mime_type -i ^application/x-mplayer2$
acl x-type2 rep_mime_type -i application/x-mplayer2
acl x-type2 rep_mime_type -i ^application/x-oleobject$
acl x-type2 rep_mime_type -i application/x-oleobject
acl x-type2 rep_mime_type -i application/x-pncmd
acl x-type2 rep_mime_type -i ^video/x-ms-asf$
http_reply_access deny deny_rep_mime_flashvideo
http_reply_access deny deny_rep_mime_shockwave
<—–snipped—–>
<—–snipped—–>
#streaming files
http_access deny fails
http_reply_access deny fails
http_access deny fails2
http_reply_access deny fails2
http_access deny x-type
http_reply_access deny x-type
http_access deny x-type2
http_reply_access deny x-type2
<—–snipped—–>

And of course, you have to force your users to use your squid proxy server.