IP Recognition/Password Option Software

[Donald Barclay]

(I looked for the following topic in the Web4lib archives but didn't find
it. My apologies if I'm bringing up something that has been discussed before.)

I work in a medical library that serves a consortium of medical schools and
hospitals. Our clients have IP addresses that are all over the map, which
makes it hard for us to offer proprietary databases over the web. When a
client tries to access one of our proprietary web databases from an IP
address that is not an in-library IP address, the client is denied access.
What we would like instead is for a form to pop up that gives the client the
option of entering an ID number. If the ID number matches a number in our ID
database, the client would then be allowed to access the proprietary database. 

There is a good example of such at system at the U. of Texas Libraries. (To
see it at work, go to http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Indexes/Online.html and then
click on any link to a proprietary database). Does anyone on Web4lib know
what kind of software allows U.T. to offer the password option? Do
commercial companies sell such software, or can you make your own using
Java?  I believe the UT software works by creating a pseudo IP address when
a valid ID number is entered, but that's just a guess.

Thanks for any help with this.








Donald A. Barclay                          always the beautiful answer
Houston Academy of Medicine-               who asks the more beautiful question
Texas Medical Center Library                        --e.e. cummings
donaldb at library.tmc.edu