"Disable proxy redirection..." problems

edited October 5, 2016
I do not want to access public-facing LibGuides on my library website using a proxy - I shouldn't need to log in to see those, but when I try to access them using Firefox with Zotero, it redirects through a proxy and asks for my login. I've tried using the "disable proxy redirection" feature to get around this, but no matter what I enter - I've tried "libguides" and my institutional domain both - it doesn't seem to work. How can I fix this? I can eventually get there by going through preferences and removing the libguides... hostname from my multi-site proxy list, but next time it just comes back again.
  • Can you give an example of the proxy scheme and URLs in question? You can 'x' out the name of your institution if you prefer.
  • Scheme: http://%h.X.idm.oclc.org/%p
    URL I am trying to access: http://libguides.lib.x.ca/az.php
    URL I end up at: https://login.x.idm.oclc.org/login/up?url=http://libguides.lib.x.ca/az.php
    If I log in there, I get stuck at https://login.x.idm.oclc.org/login
    To resolve and access normally, I can go into preferences, double click the scheme above and remove libguides.lib.x.ca from the hostname list.
  • If you remove it from the Hostname list, when exactly is it being added back? Zotero should only add it to that list if you log in to the proxy on the way to the site (e.g., if you try to get to the site via http://libguides.lib.x.ca.idm.oclc.org/, which if you're not logged in might take you to https://login.x.idm.oclc.org/login/up?url=http://libguides.lib.x.ca/az.php).

    If you can reproduce its being added back at a time when you wouldn't expect it, we can look at a Debug ID for the action that causes it.
  • edited October 25, 2016
    One instance in which it is added back occurs when I click on a link from a database via our institutional link resolver - this results in my institution's website being added to the hostname list. Debug ID D1239619045 .
  • I'm not quite sure what you mean. To clarify, Zotero associates a domain with an existing multi-host proxy when it sees an access to that domain via the proxy. So, in other words, if you click a link to libguides.lib.x.ca.idm.oclc.org, Zotero will see that it's going through EZproxy and redirect you through the proxy whenever you go to the unproxied domain (libguides.lib.x.ca). Basically, it assumes that, if a site is linked via the proxy, it needs to be accessed via the proxy.

    So the general solution here would be either not to try to load a public site through a proxied link or to disable "Automatically recognize proxied resources" and enable that only when you want to add a new proxied site (or just to enter such sites manually).

    (But also, the debug output you provided shows you accessing a Primo site and doesn't appear to show anything related to LibGuides, so I'm confused as to what that's supposed to demonstrate.)
  • So what you're saying is, there is effectively no way for me to tell Zotero "I never want to access Domain X through a proxy", other than disabling the whole feature? The problem is in essence that under some circumstances (such as moving from a proxied Primo link to the public site) we are unintentionally accessing a public link through a proxied link.
  • There's no way to blacklist domains, no, but this doesn't really come up as an issue — if your institution's site is linking to a public site through a proxy, that's a bug that should be reported to your site admins. Zotero just assumes — reasonably, I'd say — that a site that's accessed through the proxy should be accessed through the proxy in the future. Blacklisting could in theory be a feature, but this isn't something that people should have to manage manually, and it shouldn't be necessary for sites with proper links.

    In any case, until your institution fixes this, you'd only need to disable automatic addition of new sites, not the proxying feature itself.
  • Okay, thanks, I can speak to our tech folks about this. But what then is the function of the "Disable proxy redirection when my domain name contains" option that I see under Preferences -> Proxies?
  • That's referring to the domain name associated with the current IP address of your computer — basically, it attempts to determine whether you're on your institution's network, where presumably the proxy isn't necessary. It's not related to the domain of the site you're accessing.
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