Question

When using a link in Primo or the Alma Link Resolver, I am initially prompted to log into my proxy, but the final URL is not proxied, so I am not authenticated into the resource. How can I tell where the proxy is being dropped?

Answer

If Alma support staff have access to your proxy credentials, we can trace through the browser's traffic to see if the proxy is getting dropped along the way. This happens when the browser is redirected to a URL (such as from an http URL to an https URL) that is not accounted for in your proxy's configuration. The vendor may have made a recent change that requires a stanza update. Ex Libris can't help with those proxy configuration changes, but this method can at least identify where the problem exists.

If you cannot supply proxy credentials or you would prefer to trace this yourself, you can follow these steps:

1. Copy the link address from Primo or your link resolver to the resource in question
2. Open a new browser tab. 
3. Open the Inspection panel (F12 in Chrome, right-click and Inspection Firefox). You may want to arrange the panel on the side of the windor for easier reviewing.
4. Switch to the Network tab in the panel. In Chrome, turn on the Preserve log option. In Firefox, use the Gear menu to Persist Logs. You may wish to clear any rows currently displaying.
5. Paste your copied URL into the browser's address bar. It should look like https://institution.primo.exlibrisgr...resolveService.... Log into your proxy if necessary. Wait until you land on whatever final page.
6. Scroll to the top of the list in the Inspection panel, which now displays each URL retrieved by your browser. The first line should show the URL you pasted like above.
7. One of the next few lines should show your proxy's URL (like login.proxy.library.edu) plus the URL of the resource in question (url=https://resource.vendor.com/path/to/resource). If you click the line, you should be able to see the full URL in a side panel.
8. The following lines should show the proxied URL (like https://resource-vendor-com.proxy.li...th/to/resource) sometimes scattered among lines calling javascript, images, and stylesheets from outside domains like Google. Those outside sources can be ignored. Look at the ones that show the vendor URL.
9. Review each line in sequence until you see a line that no longer includes your proxy URL. These are often labeled as redirects. The previous line may have a 300 status (redirect) and gives the new address for your browser to use. The subsequent line to the new address has dropped the proxy. Note the domain name and access method (http or https) of this non-proxied URL.

With this domain name (like resource.vendor.com or auth.vendor.com) review your proxy configuration file(s) to see if this address appears, presumably in the stanza for the vendor you are trying to access. Check this vendor on OCLC's Database Stanzas page to see if a recent update has been published. If you are a self-hosted site, you can add this domain to your configuration/vendor stanza, probably as a HJ directive (like HJ https://auth.vendor.com). If you are hosted, you'll have to ask OCLC to make the change for you.

• Article last edited: 14-Oct-2021