EZproxy for Linux install

Ability versus right

EZproxy allows you to extend access to your databases beyond your library walls to remote users. However, your licensing agreement with database vendors may not authorize you to provide remote access. As an implementer of remote access, it is your responsibility to verify licensing agreements and only permit remote access as authorized.

Install EZproxy for Linux

EZproxy is a completely standalone application. It does not require nor use any existing web server that is already installed on your server.

If you are already running a web server on the system where EZproxy is running, do not attempt to install EZproxy within directories that are used by that web server.

1. Create a directory for EZproxy and make it your current directory with the commands:

   mkdir /usr/local/ezproxy
   cd /usr/local/ezproxy
   

2. Download ezproxy-linux.bin and ezproxy-linux-sha256.sum into the directory where EZproxy is installed. To verify the integrity of the downloaded ezproxy-linux.bin file, run the following command line script.

   sha256sum -c ezproxy-linux-sha256.sum
   

• Successful sha256sum command line comparisons should state:

  EZproxy-linux.bin: OK

 Note: If you download this file on a different system and use FTP to move it to your EZproxy server, be sure to perform the transfer using binary.

3. Rename the download file from ezproxy-linux.bin to ezproxy to make it executable with the commands:

   mv ezproxy-linux.bin ezproxy
   chmod 755 ezproxy
   

4. To create the default version of most of the files mentioned above, issue the command:

   ./ezproxy -m
   

   The -m stands for "missing file replacement," and this command can be used at any time to reconstruct any missing files without overwriting the existing files that you have changed.

   If you are installing EZproxy on a 64-bit Linux distribution, you may receive a file not found error. If this occurs, you need to install ia32-libs (Debian), glibc.i686 (RHEL), lib32z1 (Ubuntu 13.04 and later), or ia32-libs (Ubuntu 12.04) to resolve the issue.
   If you receive any errors during this step, please contact OCLC Support.

5. To verify whether EZproxy can automatically detect your host name correctly, as well as to check whether firewalls may interfere with your ability to use EZproxy, issue the command:

   ./ezproxy –c
   

   This command will make your server connect to an OCLC server. Your server will provide its name and IP address, then the OCLC server will attempt to verify this information. Your server will then display various messages to let you know what changes may be required for EZproxy to function properly.

    Note: If you do not like the idea of your server connecting to an OCLC server, you may omit this step.

   If you network requires the use of a standard proxy server to connect out to the Internet, this test will fail. In this case, you will need to configure EZproxy to use your outgoing proxy server using the Proxy directive, and then you can complete the network connectivity test by finishing the installation of EZproxy and using a browser installed either on the same server or within your network to log in to the EZproxy Administration page, where you can use the Test network connectivity option. This performs a more thorough network test, including offering the option to incorporate your outgoing proxy server in the test.

6. Use a text editor to edit the config.txt file. If suggested from the previous step, manually specify your hostname in this file.

7. Use a text editor to edit the user.txt file. To create an administrative user, add the following line to the file, changing someuser to the username you want to use for testing and admin access, and somepass to the password you want to use for testing. In this example, admin should appear literally as shown:

   someuser: somepass: admin
   

8. Copy and paste your WSKey (obtained by following the instructions at How to Request a WSKey) after the key command as follows, substituting your WSKey for 123456789101112:

   ./ezproxy -k 123456789101112
   

9. Start the server with the command:

   ./ezproxy
   

10. Using your web browser, connect to your server on port 2048. If your EZproxy server was named ezproxy.abclib.org, you would use the following URL:

    http://ezproxy.abclib.org:2048/admin
    

11. Enter the username and password that you created when you edited the user.txt file. This should bring you to the main server administration page.
    If you are not taken to the menu page, and you are taken to a page indicating that the EZproxy cookie was blocked, see EZproxy Cookie Blocked for information on why this happened and how to address it.

 Note: The options presented and how effectively they work will depend on how well you customized your config.txt file. As you make additional changes to config.txt, you will need to stop and restart EZproxy to make the changes take effect.

After you have completed your installation and are able to log in to the administration page, you can find the database stanzas necessary to configure resources on the Database Setup page and information about different authentication methods on the Authenticate users page.

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