Enable Specific YouTube Channel or Video and Block Rest of YouTube in SWA

Introduction

This document describes how to allow specific YouTube channels or videos and block the rest of YouTube in Secure Web Appliance (SWA).

Prerequisites

Requirements

Cisco recommends knowledge of these topics:

• Access To Graphic User Interface (GUI) of SWA

• Administrative Access to the SWA

Components Used

This document is not restricted to specific software and hardware versions.

The information in this document was created from the devices in a specific lab environment. All of the devices used in this document started with a cleared (default) configuration. If your network is live, ensure that you understand the potential impact of any command.

Configuration Steps

Use these steps in order to allow a specific YouTube channel while access to YouTube is blocked:

Step 1. Create Custom and External URL Categories for the channel to which you want to grant access. (In this example, this URL category is called channel.)

Step 1.1. From GUI, navigate to Web Security Manager and choose Custom URL and External Categories.

Image- Choose Custom and External URL Categories

Step 1.2. Choose Add Category and set the Category Name.

Step 1.3. Add these two URLs in the Sites section.

ytimg.com, .ytimg.com

Step 1.4. In this example, the Channel URL is Cisco Secure Web Appliance YouTube Channel. Add this Regular expressions for the channel:

\.youtube.*UCsl9s\_etl\_i6Hb2ilAl71Bw

Step 1.5. Add these Regular Expressions, which are general and not specific to your Channel URL.

youtube\.com/videoplayback
www\.youtube\.com/crossdomain\.xml
youtube\.com/generate

Step 1.6. Submit changes.

Image- Configure Channel Custom URL Category

Step 2. Create Custom and External URL Categories in order to block YouTube. (In this example, the category was named YouTube.)

Step 2.1. In the Custom URL and External Categories choose Add Category and set the Category Name.

Step 2.2. Add these two URLs in the Sites section.

.youtube.com, youtube.com

Image- Configure Category to Block Access To YouTube

Step 2.3. Click Submit.

Image- Custom URL Category Order.png

Step 3. Create Identification Profiles for the users that are permitted to access the YouTube channel.

Step 3.1.From GUI, navigate to Web Security Manager and choose Identification Profiles.

Step 3.2. Choose Add Identification Profile.

Step 3.3. Enter the Profile Name.

Step 3.4. Choose the user(s) or define the members by IP Subnet.

Step 3.5. Click the Advanced section and choose URL Categories.

Image- Create ID Profile

Step 3.6. Add both URL categories which were created in Step 1. and Step 2. and click Done.

Image- Add URL Categories 

Step 3.7. Submit changes.

Step 4. Create a Decryption Policy in order to decrypt the YouTube traffic. (In this example, the policy name is Decrypt Youtube.)

Step 4.1. From GUI, navigate to Web Security Manager and choose Decryption Policies.

Step 4.2. Choose Add Policies and enter the policy Name.

Step 4.3. Choose the Identification Profile that you created in Step 3.

Image- Create Decryption Policy

Step 4.4. Submit the changes.

Step 4.5. On the Decryption Policies page, click Monitor in the URL Filtering section.

Image- Click on URL Filtering

Step 4.6. Choose Decrypt for both URL categories and Submit.

Image- Choose Decrypt

Step 5. Create an Access Policy in order to configure YouTube Channel access. (In this example, the policy name is Allow YouTube.)

Step 5.1. From GUI, navigate to Web Security Manager and choose Access Policies.

Step 5.2. Click Add Policy and enter the policy name.

Step 5.3. Choose the Identification Profile that you created in Step 3.

Image- Create Access Policy

Step 5.4. Submit changes.

Step 5.5. On the Access Policies page, click Monitor in the URL Filtering section.

Image- Configure Access Policy

Step 5.6. Choose Allow for Channel category.

Step 5.7. Choose Block for the YouTube category.

Image- Set Category Action

Step 5.8. On the same page, scroll to Exceptions to Blocking for Embedded/Referred Content and Enable Referrer Exceptions.

Step 5.9. Choose All embedded/referred content.

Image- Enable Referrer

Step 5.10. From Set Exception for Content Referred by These Categories, choose the YouTube custom URL category.

Image- Configure Embedded Content

Step 5.11. Submit and Commit changes.

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User Guide for AsyncOS 15.0 for Cisco Secure Web Appliance - GD(General Deployment) - Troubleshooting [Cisco Secure Web Appliance] - Cisco

Cisco Technical Support & Downloads

Revision History

Revision	Publish Date	Comments
2.0	27-Oct-2026	Recertification - Updated Formatting.
1.0	01-Mar-2024	Initial Release