URL (version 2)

Learn how to use the URL (version 2) config.txt directive to to access a remote web server based on EZproxy communicating with a remote server.

This version of URL is a non-proxied method for accessing a remote web server based on EZproxy retrieving some information from the remote web server and passing it unedited to the remote browser or else redirecting a user to a URL that is hidden from unauthorized users. This method can be used to create public URLs that hide URLs that contain usernames and passwords.

In this form of URL, the URL used to reference this database stanza is formed by adding /login/label after the main URL for the EZproxy server, such as http://ezproxy.yourlib.org/ login/label.

If a user accesses a /login/label U RL from an IP address that requires user authentication (as opposed to an ExcludeIP address), and the user has not authenticated to EZproxy already, then the user will be challenged to authenticate before being allowed to proceed.

When an authenticated user or a user accessing from an ExcludeIP address accesses a /login/label URL, EZproxy will provide access as follows:

URL can be used only once per database stanza and interacts with database stanzas, groups, interface directives and IP ranges. The scope of URL is the current database stanza. It is a position-dependent config.txt directive.

Qualifier

Qualifier Description
label Label to use when building EZproxy URLs that refer to this database stanza.
url URL to retrieve or to which to redirect users.

Options

Option Description
-Refresh Specify that authorized users should be sent to the remote URL using a browser refresh. This option is preferred when the remote server should see the referring URL as the EZproxy server.
-Redirect Specify that authorized users should be sent to the remote URL using a HTTP redirect. This option is faster, but the destination web server may not see the referring URL as the EZproxy server.
-Append Specify that any text that appears after label and a slash should be appended on to url.
-Encoded Must be with -Append and specifies that the text is being appended should be encoded as URL safe first.

Syntax

URL [-Refresh] [-Redirect] [-Append] [-Encoded] label url

Examples

Enable a URL similar to http://ezproxy.yourlib.org/login/somedb to be used to redirect authorized users to http://www.somedb.com/login.asp?inst= secret.

Title Some Database
URL -Redirect somedb http://www.somedb.com/login.asp?inst=secret

Authorize a URL similar to http://ezproxy.yourlib.org/login/otherdb to be used to reroute users to the specified U RL, and allowing a query value to be included at the end of the U RL such as http://www.otherdb.com/login/otheredb/ history which would redirect the user to
http://www.otherdb.com/search?q= history.

Title Other Database
URL -Redirect -Append -Encoded otherdb http://www.otherdb.com/search?q=

See also

ExcludeIP, URL (version 3)