Remote access to databases

[Christopher Adams]

You can set up a proxy server at your site, which "masks" the incoming IP
and makes it appear to be coming from within your IP range. Unfortunately,
each user has to enter the Proxy server address in their browser each time
they access the site.

I know from personal experience that IAC provides a Perl script that you
customize for your site. When a user comes from a remote IP, the script
senses this and is directed to query a database of usernames/passwords,
patron id #, etc. That database has to be an ascii text file. We use
password authentication since I already have a database with that
information. The file lives on the same Unix machine that the script lives
on. When the user is authenticated, they are directed to IAC.

Each vendor seems to be using a different remote access scheme, if they
offer it at all.

There are some sites that are using scripts (written in Perl, C, etc) that
act as Proxy servers, without actually requiring the purchase and setup of a
Proxy server. The work comes in keeping the script updated so that it knows
all the links on the remote site that it is pointing to. This way, all the
links are mapped to the local IP, and the "masking" or URL "rewriting" takes
place and it appears that the remote user is coming from a local IP.

Alan Bogage wrote:

> We have a number of web based periodical databases (IAC, SIRS, etc.) to
> which we need to provide remote access for our students and faculty.  I
> understand that somehow we need to create a database of our users which
> can be based on their library barcodes.  Since the vendors are
> authenticating via our ip addresses, how can a remote user "grab" one of
> our ip addresses and send that to the vendor?  Where can I learn about
> how to do this?
>
> --
> *************************************************
> Alan Bogage
> Carroll Community College
> 1601 Washington Rd.
> Westminster, Md. 21157
> *************************************************



--
Christopher Adams
Oregon State Library
503.378.4246
chris at opac.osl.state.or.us