EZproxy
EZproxy is the Library’s web proxy server. Most links from the Library website
to fee-based websites pass through EZproxy. These subscription websites contain e-journals,
e-books and databases. The benefits of EZproxy
differ depending on whether you are off campus or on campus.
Off campus
On campus
Technical details
Frequently asked questions
Off campus
EZproxy enables access to fee-based websites
to which the Library subscribes. If you access these sites directly,
they may ask you to pay money, take out a subscription, or
log in with a username and password specific to their site.
When you access these sites using links from the Library website, the connection
passes through EZproxy. The website trusts
that any access via EZproxy is from a member of the University or its
Library. For this reason, you must log in for EZproxy access.
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On campus
For students on campus, EZproxy allows full speed access without traffic
counting against data allowances.
For undergraduate and masters students:
- Access through EZproxy is at full speed for all students, even when their data allowance has been exceeded.
- Traffic passing through EZproxy does not count against data
allowances for students.
Access to some other sites also does not count against data allowances, even though access does not pass through
EZproxy. These include sites accessible through the KAREN network (many
university sites) and a few other sites.
For more information about student internet plans, see internet access for
students.
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Technical
details
EZproxy is a URL-rewriting proxy server. A proxy server sits somewhere
on the route between the computer you are using and the web server you
access, ie, it acts as a proxy for the web server. You connect to EZproxy
and EZproxy connects to the website. Links from the Library website that go through
EZproxy have the following address prefixed to the normal URL (web address):
http://ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/login?url=
EZproxy then rewrites the normal URL, adding “.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz”
to the hostname in the URL.
Eg,
- Normal URL
- http://search.informit.com.au/search;res=APAFT
- Link from the Library website
- http://ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/login?url=http://search.informit.com.au/search;res=APAFT
- Rewritten URL
- http://search.informit.com.au.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/search;res=APAFT
EZproxy then similarly rewrites any other URLs in the page, providing
the URLs are at a site that has been set up in the Library's EZproxy.
Accessing Google Scholar (GS) through the CONNECT button on the Library's
Google
Scholar page illustrates this. The link from the button passes through
EZproxy (although GS itself is not a fee-based site). Searches in GS
produce links to many different websites and the EZproxy server rewrites
these links to include ".ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz" (if the website
is set up in EZproxy). If a website is not set up in EZproxy, either
because the Library does not subscribe to it or because it is a free
site, a link to it will not be rewritten and if you follow the link,
your connection will "drop out" of EZproxy.
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Frequently asked
questions
- I found a fee-based website – can I access it through
EZproxy?
Typically this happens when using a search
engine that indexes journal articles. Google, for example, indexes
articles in JSTOR. You can add "http://ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/login?url="
(without the quotation marks) to the front of the URL. Providing
the site is set up in EZproxy, this should give you access.
If you want to type rather then copy and paste, it may be easier
to type ".ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz" (without the quotation
marks) between the web server name and the third slash. There are
very rare circumstances where this will not work, although the longer
address in the previous paragraph will work. To illustrate the shortcut
method, you would change the URL:
http://www.jstor.org/view/00359149/ap020084/02a00080/0
to
http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/view/00359149/ap020084/02a00080/0
- Google Scholar finds many fee-based sites – isn't there
an easier way than manually adding bits to the URLs?
Yes, you can access it through EZproxy from the outset by going
through our Google
Scholar page here on the Library website.
- Why does a link from the Library website not go through EZproxy, even though
other links to the same fee-based web host do go through EZproxy?
On Library web pages, the EZproxy prefix of http://ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/login?url=
is usually added by a javascript. It may be that the javascript
has inadvertently been omitted from the page. There should
be a contact email address at the bottom of the page. You can use that to
notify the person responsible about the problem.
- Why would access to a website start going through EZproxy but
then "drop out" of EZproxy while still at the same site?
The site
may contain a redirection through a different web host that has
not been set up in EZproxy because the Library doesn’t know
about it. If you think this may be the case, you can email
digital.services@auckland.ac.nz
explaining the situation and asking for investigation. We might
be able to fix it.
- Do links to URLs that start with https (rather than http)
go through EZproxy?
Yes they do, as from November 2008. Prior to that, they did not. Access is through port 9443, which may be blocked by some corporate firewalls.
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Further information
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