Using proxy servers with the ICPSR website

Key Points

1. ICPSR would prefer you link directly to our site rather than through a proxy server, but we understand that some institutions have policies in place that require proxy servers.
2. Access to ICPSR does not require proxy servers. Our system validates data users via IP range, email domain, and/or Single Sign On (SSO) authentication. When a data user successfully logs in, their account is connected to the institutional membership and they are able to access data and resources. ICPSR provides institution-specific reporting tools which can be accessed on demand by ICPSR Representatives. Please contact icpsr-help@umich.edu  for more information.
3. ICPSR is a consortium of member institutions. This consortium of 800+ other institutions determines our priorities through a representative council elected by the member institutions. Supporting technical issues related to the wide variety of proxy servers can be resource-intensive because it is costly to manage the different applications and network configurations for so many institutions; thus Council has directed ICPSR to be selective in supporting proxy servers.
4. When a proxy server is not set up correctly, it can result in the user being denied access to data. The user is often unaware that they are accessing the site via a proxy server, which can lead to difficulties in troubleshooting.
5. Even when configured correctly, proxy servers block third-party authentication like Google or ORCID. It is difficult to determine if this is the case for each variety of proxy server software or if there is a configuration that will work, and may cause authentication to fail.
6. Some browser extensions may also cause the user to be blocked from data access. If this is the case, please ask the user to open a “private” or “incognito” browser window.

Configuring your proxy server

If you must use a proxy server, please find additional information below.

ICPSR does not recommend the use of proxy servers to access our site. ICPSR uses a
combination of IP addresses and user accounts to identify a user as a part of a member
institution. When a user logs in from an IP addresses associated with a member institution, their Researcher Passport account is identified as a member.

Some institutions use proxy servers to track usage of subscription resources. Unfortunately, since users can access ICPSR without using your proxy server, a large portion of your usage will not be captured this way. ICPSR provides full comprehensive usage statistics to all Representatives via our website.

Because many proxy servers rewrite our website URLs, many functions of our website break when using a proxy server. Because of the wide variety of proxy servers available to different institutions, ICPSR cannot test them all. ICPSR has created the following workarounds that seem to fix the problems with most instances of EZProxy, but we cannot guarantee this will work with every setup. If you are required to use a proxy server to access ICPSR, the below information is provided for reference.

Sample: Configuring EZProxy

ICPSR uses embedded websites within our main site. EZProxy sees these embedded URLs and attempts to have the user re-authenticate to your EZProxy server when accessing them,
however it does not present the authentication page to the user. This causes EZProxy to block access to many parts of our websites. In order to correct this, you must configure your EZProxy server to allow access to our subdomains without authentication (while still requiring authentication to www.icpsr.umich.edu if desired). The following configuration stanza seems to work for most installations of EZProxy:

AnonymousURL -Options +*.icpsr.umich.edu/*
AnonymousURL +*.icpsr.umich.edu/*
AnonymousURL -*www.icpsr.umich.edu/*
Title ICPSR
URL https://www.icpsr.umich.edu
Host www.icpsr.umich.edu
HJ icpsr.umich.edu
DJ icpsr.umich.edu
AnonymousURL -*

ICPSR requires HTTPS access. Your proxy server must support HTTPS access or ICPSR will not function correctly through your proxy server.

Related:

• What are proxy servers?
• How do I add a new IP address?