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They are types of rewritten links handled by the ‘Navigation Manager’ web context. A) Example of ‘Type 1’ rewritten URL: http://navigationManagerHost:navigationManagerPort/com/site/?MuseProtocol=ProtocolValue&MuseHost=some.site.com &targetSiteParameter1=targetSiteParameterValue1 ... &targetSiteParameterN=targetSiteParameterValueN &MuseCookie=CookieValue&MuseReferer=RefererValue &MuseAuthorization=AuthorizationValue &MuseAuthorizationScheme=AuthorizationSchemeValue &MuseProxyHost=ProxyHostValue&MuseProxyPort=ProxyPortValue &MuseProxyPac=ProxyPacValue &MuseProxyAuthorization=ProxyAuthorizationValue &MuseProxyAuthorizationScheme=ProxyAuthorizationSchemeValue &MuseCharset=CharsetValue&MuseUID=UIDValue &MuseProxyAuthenticationToken=ProxyAuthenticationTokenValue &MuseNavigationManagerMode=NavigationManagerModeValue&MusePath=PathValue A rewritten link is of ‘Type 1’ format if it contains the Muse Navigation Manager authentication markers (MuseCookie, MuseReferer, MuseProxyHost etc. as CGI parameters) and if it does not contain the MuseSessionID marker in the path part of the URL. The ‘Type 1’ URL can be manually created, automatically generated from a different application or can be generated using the “Utilities >> Rewrite URL” section from the Muse Proxy Administrator console. The latter is available only if the “Enable Type 1 Links” option is enabled in the Muse Proxy License Key File. B) The ‘Type 2’ rewritten URLs are dynamical URLs associated with a navigation session managed by Muse Proxy. The ‘Type 2’ rewritten URLs are valid only for small periods of time (by default 30 minutes after they are last accessed), while the navigation session associated with them is still valid. Example of ‘Type 2’ rewritten URL: http://navigationManagerHost:navigationManagerPort/MuseSessionID=SessionIDValue /MuseProtocol=ProtocolValue/MuseHost=some.site.com/MusePath /targetSitePathPart1/.../targetSitePathPartN/? &targetSiteParameter1=targetSiteParameterValue1 ... &targetSiteParameterN=targetSiteParameterValueN A rewritten link is of ‘Type 2’ format if it contains the MuseSessionID marker in the path part of the URL. The ‘Type 2’ rewritten links cannot be manually generated. They are generated by Muse Proxy in the following cases: – when a user navigates on a ‘Type 1’ rewritten link there is generated automatically a redirect to a ‘Type 2’ rewritten link; – when a user logs into a Muse Proxy application and navigates on a Muse Proxy source link there is generated automatically a redirect to a ‘Type 2’ rewritten link; – all the rewritten links inside a rewritten page are rewritten links of ‘Type 2’.
Categories: General, Muse Proxy

The Flash and Java Applets resources are binary files which cannot be processed by any re-writing proxy, including Muse Proxy.

Flash and Java Applets may load in pages re-written by Muse Proxy as long as there are no absolute pathnames in URLs inside them or if there is an object parameter of the Flash or Java Applet, accepting its base URL. However, if the Flash or Java Applet contains links inside them, they will not be re-written.

In other words the Flash and Java Applets may display correctly in Muse Proxy re-written pages, but when an end-user clicks a link hidden inside the Flash or Java Applets it is possible it will go straight to the provider and may appear unauthorized.

Categories: General, Muse Proxy

The version of muse proxy can be found via putting in the following URL in an address bar on a browser such as FireFox or Internet Explorer:

http://PROXY_HOST:PROXY_PORT/ProxyInformation

In the above URL, PROXY_HOST is the server that is hosting Muse Proxy. PROXY PORT is the port that is running proxy. The default port for Muse Proxy is 9797.

The response is a XML message which is rendered raw by the browser. To correctly see the proxy version, view the source of the page (this is done differently in each browser) and search for the value of the field.

Please note that a dialog box may pop-up for entering UN/PW unless the IP where the request is coming from is allowed under the default section of the hosts.xml file under $MUSE_HOME/proxy/hosts.xml .

Categories: General, Muse Proxy
Tags: proxy, version

In Muse, there are 2 types of proxy chaining:

a) “ProxyChaining” happens when the MNM chains with the proxy used for source authentication. In a Muse application where we have configured a MNM_HOST to re-write the record links and a PROXY_HOST to use for authentication we have the following scenarios:

1) If the MNM and PROXY fields have different values then at runtime when the end user navigates on a rewritten link the following happens:
– enduser makes HTTP request to MNM_HOST
– the MNM_HOST makes the HTTP request to PROXY_HOST, thus chaining.
– the PROXY_HOST makes the HTTP request to the native data source.

This scenario is described in the Muse Advanced Configuration.pdf document, chapter “Data Services IP Authentication” and applies in all ASP Muse environments where IP authentications are used. For example, this type of proxy chaining is used in all our hosted Muse instances.

2) If the MNM is the same as the PROXY_HOST then the proxy chaining does not occur anymore.

Note that the proxy chaining feature works only if the com.edulib.muse.proxy.filter.ProxyChain filter is enabled in the $MUSE_HOME/proxy/MuseProxy.xml configuration file.
Also note that the proxy chaining feature works with other proxies than Muse Proxy used for source authentication, e,g, when PROXY_HOST is other proxy than Muse Proxy .

b) Another type of proxy chaining is when the Muse Proxy is configured to use another proxy, meaning that it will forward all HTTP requests to the configured proxy. This happens when the following fields from the "$MUSE_HOME/proxy/MuseProxy.xml" file are configured:

</PROXY_PORT>

Type a) of proxy chaining is the most encountered in the Muse installations.

Categories: General, Muse Proxy

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There are several methods for adding new resources into the Muse Proxy Application for handling the rewriting of vendor platforms, the recommended method is by using the Muse Proxy Administrator Console. The rewriting definitions for a vendor platform are stored in XML files, which we call Muse Proxy Sources.
Mainly the steps for adding a new Muse Proxy Source are:

  1. Identify the source profile in the existing repository from the EduLib website by accessing this link:
    https://www.edulib.com/products/muse-proxy/support/muse-proxy-sources-profiles/
    Make use of the search functionality to narrow the results. Any term entered in the search box is searched in the source’s identifier and in the following field values from the source profile: NAME and DESCRIPTION.
    Once identified, click on the name link and a popup window will open with the details of the source’s profile. Click the Download Profile link to download the XML file.
  2. Access your Muse Proxy Administrator Console, the URL should be of the form:
    https://proxy.domain.com/admin
    Login with the administrator user and the password that you configured during the setup.
  3. Navigate to the left menu Aplications item, Manage Applications link. Locate the Muse Proxy Application in use and click on the Sources button to access the list of installed sources.
  4. In the Sources page, click on the Create source from an existing profile icon, next to the Quick Filter search box.
  5. In the new page, upload the XML file downloaded at step #1. Upon succesfull upload, you are requested to specify the Source Identifier value, place here the file name without the .xml extension. Also you can change the default name and description values for the source. When done, click the Create button.
  6. The next step is to add the new source profile into a sources group. For doing this, in the Sources page click the Edit Sources Groups icon, next to the Quick Filter search box. In the new page click on the Sources icon from the Actions column, corresponding to the group in which to add the new source. By default only one group exists.
  7. In the new Sources Groups page, click on the plus (+) icon found next to the new source in the List of available sources column.
  8. Test by accessing a proxified link for the newly added resource. E.g. https://proxy.domain.com/applicationID?url=vendor_URL, where replace the hostname, applicationID and vendor_URL with the appropriate values.
Categories: General, Muse Proxy

The short answer is Yes, Muse Proxy support TLS 1.2.

Muse Proxy runs on Java, hence it uses the Java Virtual Machine security settings, it does not rely on anything from the Operating System in this regard. Also it is not compiled with any specific SSL libraries versions like other software is.

Starting with Java 6 update 115, TLS 1.2 is available, and in Java 7 and 8 it is enabled by default.

Hence Muse Proxy supports TLS 1.2, and to be more precise, TLS 1.2 is supported since 2014 when we added support in the Muse Proxy configuration file to specify the SSL protocols that can be used both on the server end and on the client end (requests
against the sources).

Categories: General, Muse Proxy

A complete set of manuals on Muse Proxy is available in your installation in the following path - $MUSE_HOME/proxy/doc, where $MUSE_HOME is the location on disk where you installed it:

– Muse Proxy Install.pdf. This is the installation manual.
– Muse Proxy.pdf. This is a manual with general information on Muse Proxy, describing its features.
– Muse Proxy Advanced Configuration.pdf. Manual with technical information on advanced configuration of Muse Proxy.
– Muse Proxy Sources Profiling.pdf. This document describes how to profile a Muse Proxy Source.
– Muse Proxy Administrator Console.pdf. Manual describing the Muse Proxy Administrator Console features.
– Muse Proxy Monitoring and Management using JMX.pdf. Advanced monitoring tools and techniques for monitoring Muse Proxy.
– Muse Proxy Release Notes.pdf. Release notes of Muse Proxy.

Also some general information is further below.

Muse Proxy has a multi-tenant architecture, capable of hosting in the same installation multiple client implementations, each having their own set of resources available and authentication methods.

In Muse Proxy terminology we have Muse Proxy Applications, which are a logical and physical bundle of all items specific for a customer implementation:

– the end user interface (HTML/JS/CSS files). The end-user interface can be easily customized as they are implemented with the Apache FreeMarker templating engine. An end-user interface for a Muse Proxy Application is optional. Each Muse Proxy installation comes by default with two Muse Proxy Applications Templates which you can use as base for creating your customers’ Muse Proxy Applications.
– the resources available;
– the authentication method(s).

By default Muse Proxy comes with 2 template applications, both containing a list of sources configured for demo purposes only.
– Muse Proxy Foundation.
http://Muse_Proxy_Hostname:Port/MuseProxyFoundation

where replace Muse_Proxy_Hostname with the fully qualified domain name of your Muse Proxy installation and Port with the value of the port on which you installed Muse Proxy (default 9797).

– Anonymous
http://Muse_Proxy_Hostname:Port/Anonymous

We do not recommend using the template applications in production as they will be overwritten by future Muse Proxy upgrades. New Muse Proxy applications must be created for production by copying an existing template.

You can use MuseProxyFoundation for tests in which you can add new Muse Proxy Sources from the EduLib repository :
https://www.edulib.com/products/muse-proxy/support/muse-proxy-sources/
or you can create new sources profiles by following the profiling rules from the “Muse Proxy Sources Profiling.pdf” manual.
The Muse Proxy Sources are XML files which store all necessary information about a resource, from the URL to access, to rewriting rules for rewriting its content and administrative information such as name, description, etc.
For ProQuest we already have about 80 source profiles for the various databases.

There are several ways of connecting to Muse Proxy:
1) Via the Muse Proxy Application interface. The Muse Proxy Application is a web application which presents to the end-user the collection of subscribed resources under a nice interface with several features like:
– Alphabetical View;
– Grouped view by Subject and/or Type;
– The possibility to have a description for each resource;
– The possibility to have a logo for each resource;
– Pagination options;
– Sorting options.

2) Via “proxified” URLs placed in your website, or constructed dynamically by your discovery/federated search implementation, URLs of the form:

http://Muse_Proxy_Hostname:Port/ApplicationID?url=Publisher_URL

where Muse_Proxy_Hostname is the hostname of your Muse Proxy instance; Port is the port on which it runs (default 9797); ApplicationID is the ID of the Muse Proxy Application; Publisher_URL is the URL to the publisher platform.

For example:

http://proxy.domain.com/myApplication?url=http://search.proquest.com/

When accessing such URL, if not already authenticated, Muse Proxy will authenticate the end-user through the configured authentication method, and upon authentication will present the end-user the publisher website in a rewritten form.

Categories: General, Muse Proxy

The Muse Proxy Application UI is based on skins.
If you want to customize the look and feel for a Muse Proxy Application we recommend the following approach:
– copy the existing skin with a different name. The skins folder is located on disk in the following location:

%MUSE_HOME%\proxy\webcontexts\Applications\
APPLICATION_ID\www\static\skins

where replace the APPLICATION_ID with the actual ID of the Muse Proxy Application.
– make the desired changes in the new skin;
– configure the Muse Proxy Application to use the new skin. This is done by editing the file:

%MUSE_HOME%\proxy\webcontexts\Applications\
APPLICATION_ID\www\application.inc

and changing the value of the variable applicationSkinId with the name of the new skin;

In the Muse Proxy.pdf manual, chapter Customize Muse Proxy Application Interface you can find information for how to customize the Muse Proxy Application UI.

Categories: General, Muse Proxy

The version of muse proxy can be found via putting in the following URL in an address bar on a browser such as FireFox or Internet Explorer:

http://PROXY_HOST:PROXY_PORT/ProxyInformation

In the above URL, PROXY_HOST is the server that is hosting Muse Proxy. PROXY PORT is the port that is running proxy. The default port for Muse Proxy is 9797.

The response is a XML message which is rendered raw by the browser. To correctly see the proxy version, view the source of the page (this is done differently in each browser) and search for the value of the field.

Please note that a dialog box may pop-up for entering UN/PW unless the IP where the request is coming from is allowed under the default section of the hosts.xml file under $MUSE_HOME/proxy/hosts.xml .

Categories: General, Muse Proxy
Tags: proxy, version

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