Sonny Software

Hi,

For some reason, Bookends is unable to log on to my institution's proxy server ("You do not have Web of Science access privileges from your current location.")

I double-checked the settings with Firefox, which like Bookends can bypass the global MacOS settings and redirect all its traffic to a proxy server, and it all works fine.

I have never used IP authentication with Bookends, so I don't know if there is an issue with this latest version of the software, with the proxy server itself, or with what I'm doing.

Thanks for your help.

Bookends out of the box uses the proxy authentication information you have entered in System Preferences. Please make sure they are correct (you may have to ask your IT people). If you entered overriding proxy information in Bookends Preferences, you'll have to look at that, too (you usually don't want to override the system settings).

Jon
Sonny Software

Hi Jon,

Thanks for the response. I do not have a proxy server declared in my MacOS settings, so I am not really trying to "override" a global system setting here. What I'd like to do is have Bookends use the proxy server for its own purposes without redirecting all my internet traffic (Safari, mail, etc.) through the proxy. The only two applications that I need to use the proxy with are Firefox (my browser of choice for research precisely because of its dedicated proxy settings) and Bookends.

Any ideas?

Thanks again.

But you are trying to override the system proxy settings. Your system setting is to not use a proxy server, so neither will Bookends. To override the system (lack of a proxy), enter the proxy settings you want in Bookends preferences and see if it works now.

Jon
Sonny Software

I'm sorry, Jon, for the confusion. That's exactly what I meant in the first place: I have set my system globally not to use a proxy server, and I have entered my proxy address, login and password in Bookends preferences. Nonetheless, Bookends returns the error message quoted in my original post. As I wrote, I have verified the proxy server information by entering it into the Firefox preferences and confirming that Firefox successfully redirects its own traffic via the server.

We'll have to follow this up off-forum. You can send me your login information and I can try it.

Jon
Sonny Software

Thanks for the speedy replies, Jon. Unfortunately, sharing my login information would violate my institution's terms of use….
In the meantime, I found out that this proxy server only supports http, https, ftp and gopher requests. Could the problem be that Bookends uses an unsupported protocol for connecting the Web of Science? That would perhaps explain why my Tweeter client also fails to connect.

Thank you.

Bookends Browser and direct searches use http. You might want to ask your IT people to take a look at your settings.

Jon
Sonny Software

You know what, after switching back and forth between different repositories (JStor, Web of Science, Google Scholar), the proxy connection begins to work. I've no idea what causes this behavior—perhaps logging onto the server involves a long latency…?

Anyway, problem somehow solved. Thanks for your help.