FAQ

The hosts.xml files are used to allow/deny access to different products from some IPs or classes of IPs. The client’s IP is tested against the rules in the hosts.xml file and the first one that matches is applied – all the following rules are ignored.

When getting the hostname related to a given IP the Java mechanism has a spoof protection that, sometimes, will not give optimal results.

The following situation will not give the expected results:
1. Java asks the DNS server for the hostname related to an IP address (reverse DNS)
2. When the DNS server replies with the hostname, Java asks the same DNS server for the IP address of that particular hostname
3. If the initial IP address and the one returned as the result of request #2 above do not match, then Java returns the initial IP address.

This process may interfere with the way we compare the client IP address against the ones stored in the hosts.xml file. Due to the above Java protection, some IP addresses will not match against a given domain even if their reverse DNS name belongs to that particular domain.

If there is no proxy defined (Proxy Host field) in either the application level or Source Package level, then no proxy will be used, no matter the other proxy related settings (Proxy Port, Proxy PAC also) from either level.

Secondly, if there are proxy settings both at application level and at the Source Package level, then the Source Package ones will have priority over the application level ones.

MuseGlobal provides three methods for search and retrieval of EBSCOhost content.

• Z39.50
• HTTP
• EBSCO Integration Toolkit (EIT)

Where applicable, the preferred method of access is via EIT. This is a SOAP-based Web Service approach which provides the optimal combination of performance and completeness. You can find the EIT Source Packages by searching in your Muse Console’s “Add Sources” section in the “IDs Containing” field for the term EIT. EIT SPs have Source IDs which start with the string EBSCOEIT.

URLs:

The HTTP Source Packages for EBSCO search on the URL
http://search.ebscohost.com/. The EIT Source Packages use
http://eit.ebscohost.com/Services/SearchService.asmx as the Home URL and Search URL.

AUTHENTICATION:
Authentication for the EBSCOEIT Source Packages is two-fold.

1) Authentication for search and retrieval can done by user/pw (with the USER_NAME and USER_PASSWORD fields of the profile) or IP (with the CUSTOM_PARAMETERS field of the profile).

For search/retrieval authentication by IP, a value must be placed in the CUSTOM_PARAMETERS tag from the EBSCOEIT* source profile. Again, this is used to connect to and search a certain database. Using this IP authentication, you may be authenticated to a number of databases.

Example :
<CUSTOM_PARAMETERS>AUTH_TYPE=ip;IP_PROFILE=eit;
IP_ADDRESS=1.2.3.4</CUSTOM_PARAMETERS>
where : IP_ADDRESS=your IP which authenticates to EIT.

Please note that your EBSCO account must be specifically enabled in order to use of EIT. The user/pw used for connecting to http://search.ebscohost.com/ will not work for EIT. Also note that the IP_PROFILE will be either eitor eitws; — this string matches the 3rd section of your 3-part EIT authentication string (ex. s123456.main.eit or s123456.main.eitws). Please check with EBSCO if you are not sure which it is.

2) The aforementioned authentication by IP or user/pw gives us access to the EBSCOEIT API, but it does not provide successful link navigation on the record links obtained.

For this, the PROXY_HOST and PROXY_PORT in the profile must be configured. IMPORTANT: authentication to EBSCO for link navigation is only done by IP.

Example :
<PROXY_HOST>proxy.you.com</PROXY_HOST>
<PROXY_PORT>9797</PROXY_PORT>

So, in conclusion, 2 IP authentication settings are needed: one (user/pw or IP) for accessing and searching the EBSCOEIT database desired and the other one (proxy IP) to successfully navigate on the record links obtained.

Questions about your EIT account status should be referred to Gregory Julien [GregoryJulien@ebscohost.com].