Easy Remote Access to Any Database: A New OPLIN Service Don Yarman OPLIN Stakeholders’ Meeting October 28, 2005

OPLIN Stakeholders’ Meeting The Bottom Line OPLIN can provide remote access to any database you have subscribed to. to get

October 28, 2005OPLIN Stakeholders’ Meeting Two Sides of the Authentication Coin 1. Identify authorized user 2. Communicate authorization to vendor

October 28, 2005OPLIN Stakeholders’ Meeting OPLIN’s Challenges What we do, we do statewide. And yet, 251 independent public libraries (very independent). Some libraries can (and want to) do this on their own -- we mustn't step on their toes. Common, vendor-preferred mechanism (referring URL) doesn't work statewide. No statewide standard for library cards.

October 28, 2005OPLIN Stakeholders’ Meeting The view from Mount Oplin 8 million library patrons Each library card has a library’s name on it More than 3/4 of Ohio’s libraries have unique library card patterns, making it simple to match library card to library

October 28, 2005OPLIN Stakeholders’ Meeting Not without its problems… The very largest & the very smallest 14 characters is a lot to type Existing security holes now easier to find Promiscuous library patrons Multiple libraries Multiple user categories (Patron? Student?) Compare to KnowItNow

October 28, 2005OPLIN Stakeholders’ Meeting My own perspective shift Yes, we need to keep unauthorized users from accessing subscription content, but it’s more important to ensure that authorized users can get to it. Remote access can be MY responsibility, not the vendors’.

October 28, 2005OPLIN Stakeholders’ Meeting I ♥ EZProxy Eight year battle; simple solution. One server, 260 IP interfaces Akron Public Library = OH0002 Akron Public Library Akron EZProxy = oh0002.oplin.org Proxied IP = Lots of administrative work up front, but the elimination of future administrative tedium.

October 28, 2005OPLIN Stakeholders’ Meeting How does it work? Hostname-based rewriting Instead of DNS entries associate proxy with IP EZProxy requires authentication EZProxy only works with certain domains

October 28, 2005OPLIN Stakeholders’ Meeting Whoa. 260 configurations? Largely identical. An “include” line in the configuration files can pull database entries from another text file. I edit that common file, changing all proxies. But I can customize the configuration of a specific proxy to add individual databases.

October 28, 2005OPLIN Stakeholders’ Meeting Remote access for anything (if you’ve licensed it) Tell OPLIN what database you want OPLIN edits your ezproxy.cfg file and adds your login information to our “Find A Library” database Tell the vendor to add your proxy IP address ___ Change your database link to OPLIN Future Development:

Any questions? Don Yarman Library Services Manager