Troubleshooting Your Institution's Proxy

What's in this article:

Common Proxy issues:

• • Proxy not supported
  • Missing proxy IP address
  • Proxy stanza is not configured for https
  • Security certificate expired
  • EZProxy version is outdated
  • None of the above: authentication still fails on a JSTOR page

If you're a librarian or information technology specialist at your institution, this page is the best place to get started if you suspect there are errors with your proxy.

Here are some of the most common errors we see with proxies:

Proxy is not Supported

Only proxies that use stanzas in their configuration are supported.

The following proxies are recommended:

• OCLC EZPROXY
• LibProxy

Missing Proxy IP address

If all of the steps look normal when you try to sign on through the proxy, but after you log in, it still doesn't say "Access Provided by [Your Institution]," it may be because we don't have your proxy's IP address on file.

Contact us to add it, then after confirmation, test access again.

Proxy Stanza is not Configured for HTTPS

As of 2018, we began forcing https for proxy access. Make sure that you have your proxy stanza configured for https as outlined on OCLC's Support site. 

If you're using another proxy service, like WAM or Apache, contact them directly or reach out to our support team and include the information in the bulleted list below.

Security Certificate Expired

If you log in to your proxy and observe the message: "Your connection is not private" or a similar message, check the following:

1. Your security certificate has been renewed
2. Confirm that your SSL configuration is set up according to the instructions recommended by your proxy provider

EZproxy Version is Outdated

In order to use EZproxy, you must be using version 6.2.2 or later

None of the above: authentication still fails on a JSTOR page

If all of the above do not apply to your issues with the proxy and you have confirmed the configuration, but you still can't authenticate, your users are unable to download, or if you encounter other errors on the JSTOR site, contact our support team and include the following information:

• Your proxy configuration
• Test credentials (if possible)
• Screenshots of the error
• Screenshots of the browser console (to use the browser console, right-click on the page, then select Inspect > Network > JS)
• Submit a Debug on the error page you see (add: ?debug=true to the end of the URL that you see the error on, reload the page with that code in the URL, then press the Debug button on the bottom of the page)