Ex Libris App Center

A way to authenticate and authorise “external” patrons with EZproxy using Alma.

Currently it works as advertised for us. However, I would say its ability to handle errors is undeveloped.

The script is invoked as an external script by EZproxy. EZproxy’s login form provides:

• the authentication method identifier (hidden input element used by user.txt)
• the username field (posted to the script by EZproxy as ^u)
• the password field (posted to the script by EZproxy as ^p)

Its role is to return plain text output to EZproxy via HTTP like this:

+VALID
ezproxy_group=General+Legal

The script determines both the validity of the user’s supplied credentials (authentication) and the EZproxy group membership information (authorisation) using Alma Web Service RESTful APIs.

Users are authenticated using credentials supplied by the user with the “Authenticate user” service.

Authorisation is determined using the “Get user details” service.