How "Noise" Works

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This article is for all School Manager users.

What is the Noise feature and how does it work?

The Noise feature controls whether data that are displayed are not critical to understanding the information generated by School Manager about users' activities on the school network. These non-critical data may include network security services (antivirus), software updates, connections made by hardware on the network  (printers, wi-fi signal boosters), and other traffic that are essential to existing services (synchronizing data, file sharing). 

Can I enable or disable Noise?

You can enable or disable this feature by selecting or deselecting the Noise checkbox next to the date selector on the toolbar.  

When Noise is enabled (checked), then the Content Delivery Networks (CDN), advertising and tracking data included in School Manager reports and charts.  In the following example, noise data from CloudFront, a content delivery service owned by Amazon, is included in the Apps and Websites chart. For example, you can hide or show the "Noise" in the Apps and Websites report.

Hide or show advertising and content delivery network noise in School Manager

When Noise is not selected, then advertising, trackers, and CDN data are removed from the charts and calculations. 

Sources of Noise

The following table includes the list of sites, protocols, and services that School Manager identifies as noise.

NAME DESCRIPTION
Advertising and Trackers Advertisements, media, content, and banners.
NOTE: Some websites will not function correctly if Ads are blocked.
Aerohive Aerohive is a wireless networking equipment vendor offering cloud-managed wireless services
Akamai Akamai is a content delivery, cybersecurity, and cloud service provider
Amazon (AWS) AWS is a subsidiary of Amazon and provides cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals and organizations.
Apple Main websites and traffic needed to run all products and services from Apple inc.
Apple File Sharing Apple File Sharing allows authorized users to access shared files and folders.
Apple iCloud iCloud is a cloud storage and cloud computing service from Apple Inc.
Apple Updates Updates for all products and services from Apple.inc
Avast Antivirus Antivirus
Bitdefender Antivirus
Bootstrap Content Delivery Network (CDN) A content distribution network which delivers CSS, JavaScript and images remotely to users  
CDN and Infrastructure Servers that store and deliver web content to users based on their location, web-site origin, and content type. They are typically used in conjunction with other web servers to optimize content retrieval speeds.
Certificate Authorities Third-party entities that issue digital certificates
Client Email (IMAP, POP3, SMTP) SMTP, POP3 and IMAP are email reading protocols. Selecting this Category will block incoming emails.
CloudFlare CloudFlare is a free global CDN and DNS provider that can speed up and protect any site online
CloudFront A content delivery network operated by AWS
Download.com A download directory website, also known as CNET Downloads
Dropbox Dropbox is a service that keeps your files safe, synced, and easy to share.
Easyshare File sharing service
Facetime/iMessage Apple’s video and instant messaging service
Family Zone Infrastructure Linewize
Family Zone Login Services Formerly Linewize Login Services
Flurry Measures, tracks and analyzes app performance, user acquisition and activity with Flurry Analytics.
Google Analytics Website traffic and content analytics service
Gravatar Or “globally recognized avatar,” is a unique image or avatar that a user  creates or uploads to their public profile,  which they in turn use when they post public comments, participate in online forums, or post blogs. 
IPSec VPN Encrypted VPN connection using Internet protocol security (IPsec)
ITunes/App Store iTunes is a media player, media library, Internet radio broadcaster, mobile device management utility, and the client app for iTunes Store, developed by Apple Inc.
Mature Media Content Enforces the use of YouTube Restrict Mode
Mature Search Content Enforces the use of safe search on Google and Bing
Meraki A Cisco-owned IT company providing wireless, network security, and switch technologies.
OpenVPN VPN service
Peer-to-Peer This includes sites that distribute software and facilitate the direct exchange of files between users. Software that enables file searching and transferring across a network independent of a central server as well as web based sites of this nature are included.
Proxies and VPNS Proxy servers and other methods to gain access to URLs in any way that bypasses URL filtering or monitoring. Web-based translation sites that circumvent filtering.
Psiphon Psiphon is a free and open-source Internet censorship circumvention tool that uses a combination of secure communication and obfuscation technologies.
Pusher Realtime application development framework
rapidshare.io Online file hosting and distribution service
SIP VOIP communication protocol.
Symantec Antivirus
Tor Traffic The Tor Browser is a web browser that anonymizes your web traffic using the Tor network, making it easy to protect your identity online.
Updates Updates
Vidible Video exchange platform
Windows File Sharing Windows file sharing platform
Windows Updates Windows software updating platform

 

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