Setting proxies in a web browser
Direct HTTP and FTP connections to external hosts are not permitted on our network.In order to access external websites amd FTP servers, you must configure your web browser to use our proxy.
Our proxy is located on www-proxy.cse.unsw.edu.au, on port 3128. It handles all HTTP (port 80) and FTP requests for hosts outside the UNSW campus network.
You can either configure your browser to use our Autoconfiguration file, or you can configure it manually. Note that Safari (for MacOS) requires manual configuration.
Automatic configuration
Firefox 1.0
- Select 'Preferences' from the Edit menu
- Select the General icon
- Click the 'Connection Settings' button in the 'Connection' pane.
- In the dialog that appears, select 'Automatic proxy configuration URL'
- Enter http://www.cse.unsw.EDU.AU/NetscapeProxyConfig.pac in the box below
- click OK, then OK.
Internet Explorer
- Choose the "Tools" menu
- Select "Internet Options.."
- Select the "Connection" tab.
- Click on the "LAN Settings.." tab
- In the "Automatic Configuration" pane:
- Tick the "Automatically detect settings" box
- Tick the "Use automatic configuration script" box
- Enter http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/NetscapeProxyConfig.pac in the Address box
- Click "OK", then "OK"
Manual configuration
An alternative, if the above causes problems, is to use Manual Proxy Configuration. The automatic configuration should work and provides more robust exceptions, so you should use that unless you have problems.Firefox 1.0
- Follow the first 3 steps as for automatic configuration
- Select "Manual configuration"
- Make sure the "Use the same proxy server for all protocols" box is NOT selected.
- Enter: www-proxy.cse.unsw.edu.au in the HTTP field, and 3128 in the adjacent Port field.
- Ensure all other protocols (Secure, FTP, Gopher, Socks, etc) have BLANK proxy address and port fields.
- Click OK (in all dialogs) to save the changes.
Internet Explorer
- Follow the first 4 steps as for automatic configuration
- Ensure "Automatically detect settings" and "Use automatic configuration script" are NOT selected.
- Tick the box "Use a proxy server for your LAN"
- Tick the box "Bypass proxy server for local addresses"
- Click on the "Advanced" button
- Make sure the "Use the same proxy server for all protocols" box is NOT selected.
- Enter: www-proxy.cse.unsw.edu.au in the HTTP field, and 3128 in the adjacent Port field.
- Ensure all other protocols (Secure, FTP, Gopher, Socks, etc) have BLANK proxy address and port fields.
- Click OK (in all dialogs) to save the changes.
Safari
- Click on the "Apple" icon on the top-left corner
- Choose "System Preferences.."
- Choose "Network" in "Internet & Network"
- Choose the interface that you are configuring for in the drop down menu (eg. "Built in Ethernet" or "Internal Modem").
- Select the "Proxies" Tab
- Tick "Web Proxies" and enter www-proxy.cse.unsw.edu.au and insert Port 3128.
- Enter in the "Proxy Settings for these Hosts & Domains": .unsw.edu.au
- Close and Save Changes.
Problems
Access Denied
After setting up proxy servers for your browser, if you get errors such as the one below:The requested URL could not be retrieved
While trying to retrieve the URL: www.someurl.com:443
The following error was encountered:
* Access Denied
it means you have setup HTTPS (Secure HTTP) requests to go through the proxy. Your proxy settings need to be modified so that HTTPS ("Secure" in IE) requests do not use the proxy - you're probably using manual/advanced proxy configuration instead of automatic.Go back and check that your configuration uses BLANK entries (both server and port) for the HTTPS: protocol.
Bad Request (HTTP to HTTPS server)
This error often looks like this:Bad Request
Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.
Reason: You're speaking plain HTTP to an SSL-enabled server port.
Instead use the HTTPS scheme to access this URL, please.
Hint: https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au:443/
Apache/1.3.34 Ben-SSL/1.55 Server at www.cse.unsw.edu.au Port 443
It usually occurs because you need a / (forward slash) on the end of your URL. This is normally hadnled automatically by the web server, but a bug in the server prevents this working correctly.So, try your original URL again, but with a slash on the end.
ERROR: Incorrect proxy settings OR Proxy does not support HTTPS
This error occurs when you have your browser set to use a proxy for "secure" or "https" connections. Please follow the above instructions on configuring your proxy, and pay particular attention to these points:- Do not tick the box that says something like "Use the same proxy for all protocols ".
- Do make sure that the text-box for "secure" is empty.