MS Proxy Server and OCLC FirstSearch

[rpage at okway.okstate.edu]

   Hi! I am having a weird, frustrating problem and am (finally!) wondering if 
   any of you have run into this.
   
   We have a number of machines that we limit their access to the Internet to 
   a specified number of sites. We also have a number of others without these 
   restrictions. The ones that are limited are accessing the net through 
   Microsoft Proxy Server (v1.0) running on NT4SP3 and IIS (v3.0).
      In both cases, the clients are Netscape Navigator (v4.04) running on 
   Windows95B, with Fortres (v3.x), and Navigator (exe and resdll.dll) has 
   been altered to prevent access to certain functions.
   
   On both types of machines, accessing all of our fee-based (FirstSearch, 
   ProQuest, SearchBank, etc.) is possible. The ones that are not going 
   through the Proxy server cannot print, so most of our students use the 
   other machines.
      We also use a UNIX (AIX) workstation to run the OCLC WebScript (cgi) 
   program. Since we have two different licenses, we cannot move to IP 
   checking, but I don't think that this would help -- I have checked and if I 
   access the scripts directly from the UNIX server, everything works like it 
   should, but if I tell the client to do the same thing accessing the Proxy 
   server, I get the behavior I will describe below.
   
   On the limited machines, and only with FirstSearch, I am having a very 
   strange problem. After getting logged in, and the available databases are 
   showing, the pages never finish loading. This includes the initial screen 
   and every subsequent screen. I've checked on staff workstations, and if 
   they go through the Proxy server, with either Netscape (v3.x, 4.04, or 
   4.05) or MS IE (v4.01), they get the same behavior.
      I have spent much of today checking and playing with every possible 
   parameter for the Proxy server. I have updated the scripts to the very 
   latest version. I have even tried changing which port the service works 
   through, but nothing changes this behavior.
      It is very frustrating to our users. Although, after clicking on the 
   STOP button, searches can be performed. This happens on every page. About 
   the last thing I think I can do, is to try a different Proxy server.
   
   Has anyone seen this behavior? How were you able to resolve it? Any 
   pointers will be helpful.
   
   Thank you,
              Richard
   
   =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
    Richard M. Page                         | Voice      (405) 744-5347
    Head, Library Systems Department        | Fax        (405) 744-7579
    224A Library, Oklahoma State University | 
    Stillwater, OK 74078-1070               | E-Mail: rpage at okway.okstate.edu
   =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= http://el0455.lib.okstate.edu/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=