OCLC-Hosted EZproxy Troubleshooting Tips

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1 OCLC-Hosted EZproxy Troubleshooting Tips EZproxy Problems/Issues This is a list of frequently asked questions and issues you may encounter when managing your Hosted EZproxy server. It provides information about how to resolve them or where to go for help when needed. User reports getting an error of Oops! It looks like you have attempted to view a page that has not been configured for access. If you are using a proxy-prefixed URL and you get an error that looks like the following, contact OCLC with a request to add this resource. This usually means that this specific URL was not configured for access through EZproxy. It is helpful if you include the information from this message (specifically the part with Host followed by the URL) or a screenshot when contacting us. User reports getting an error of EZproxy Server Error. If your users are seeing this error, please follow the steps listed below: You may also be able to temporarily fix this yourself by logging into the admin page of your Hosted EZproxy server. Once there, click on View Server Status. 1

2 Next, click on Host Maintenance to see if there are any unused hosts you can clear. You will see how many virtual hosts you are currently using, as well as how many sessions and transfers. If you are receiving a MaxVirtualHosts error, you can click to remove X number of hosts that have not been used in over 30 days. And click Process. 2

3 You will be taken to a screen and told to restart EZproxy. Click on restart EZproxy and type restart into the box and click on the click here. Wait 5 seconds and EZproxy will have restarted, removing those hosts. Once you ve done this, support@oclc.org and ask to have your MaxVirtualHosts increased (or Max Sessions as this can also sometimes produce an error). You subscribe to a new resource First, test to see if it may already be configured for proxying. You can test by adding your proxy prefix to the beginning of the resource URL, like so: If you can reach the resource, you do not need to notify OCLC. You can simply add the resource to your website and make sure the vendor has the IP address of your hosted EZproxy server, in addition to your on-campus IP addresses (this is particularly important if you have ExcludeIPs set up in EZproxy, as traffic from those IP addresses will not go through EZproxy so the vendor must have all of your on-campus IP addresses on file). 3

4 If you receive a message stating you need to add a host (i.e., in the first bullet point of this document), you ll need to contact OCLC. You follow a proxied link to a resource, log in through EZproxy (or bypass logging in if you re on campus), and get to the resource, but the vendor asks you to log in, or you do not see a message indicating the resource is recognizing your IP (e.g., there is no Access provided by YOUR LIBRARY message) and/or you cannot access content to which you know you should have access instead being asked to pay This is due to the vendor not having the IP address of your hosted EZproxy server on file. You will need to either contact your vendor rep or vendor tech support and ask them to add the IP address of your hosted EZproxy server, or you may be able to add this yourself in an admin interface. You follow a proxied link to a resource, log in through EZproxy and get to the resource, and see a message stating that access is registered to another institution (e.g., Access is provided by the University of Limpopo. ) This happens when a vendor registers (or a library asks a vendor to register) an entire range of IP addresses instead of just the one IP or group of IPs they actually own. Vendors sometimes do this to make sure their bases are covered and all of a library s users are getting access. However, sometimes these extra IP addresses actually belong to a different library (like yours!) and so it needs to be corrected. This cannot be corrected by using a vendor s admin interface. You will need to call or and explain that you are seeing that your IP is registered to a different institution. If a vendor challenges you or needs proof, you may cc implementation@oclc.org on your communications with the vendor, and we can confirm your Hosted EZproxy server IP is yours and yours alone. We cannot contact the vendor for you, but we can answer their questions if you broker the conversation. Your IT department adds or changes the external IP ranges for your campus and you allow on-campus users to access resources without logging in via EZproxy Contact support@oclc.org and ask us to make changes to your ExcludeIP ranges. These are the IP addresses from which EZproxy will not require users to log in. You will also need to be sure to contact your vendors and ask them to add (or subtract) the new/old IP addresses. 4

5 EZproxy Issues related to Authentication If you are using LDAP authentication with your EZproxy server, and you receive patron reports that they cannot login and are receiving a message that username or password was incorrect. Verify that the user is logging in with the correct format for their username. If it is just a very occasional problem, you may need to refer the patron to your IT department to check on their LDAP credentials. If this is not the problem, the user may be trying to access EZproxy from behind a firewall, which will not work well. (This most frequently happens if a patron is using a computer at their workplace or a worksupplied laptop.) Ask them to try again from their personal computer. If the problem seems widespread, first verify that you can get to your EZproxy server in a browser (for example: If you can do so, your EZproxy server is NOT down. There is most likely a problem with your LDAP server. These problems would require you to first contact your IT department to find our more information. It is possible that your LDAP server is down in which case you would need to wait for your IT department to bring it back up. OR, they may have made a change and not informed you. Any of the following changes made to the LDAP server will require you (or your IT department) to contact support@oclc.org so that we can reconfigure your LDAP authentication for EZproxy based on the new information: A change to the bind user name or bind password A change to the IP address or server name or a change to the port number A change to the firewall blocking the IP address of your hosted EZproxy server A change to the search base in which users are located in LDAP If it is a firewall issue, your IT department will just need to reopen the firewall to the IP address of your hosted EZproxy server. We can help you diagnose that problem if you support@oclc.org. For the other three cases, OCLC will need the new information from your IT department. If you are using text file authentication with your EZproxy server: Each new upload will completely replace the previous file of users and passwords and will NOT append to an already existing file, so please upload the full list of users and passwords every time. The first line of file must always be user:password (or just user if you are using a text file without passwords) If you are having issues with another authentication method not listed here that you have setup with your hosted EZproxy server, please contact support@oclc.org. 5