--- /dev/null
+MKWS Target Selection
+=====================
+
+
+MKWS accesses targets using the Pazpar2 metasearching engine. Although
+Pazpar2 can be used directly, using a statically configured set of
+targets, this usage is unusual. More often, Pazpar2 is fronted by the
+Service Proxy (SP), which manages authentication, sessions, target
+selection, etc.
+
+This document assumes the SP is used, and explains how to go about
+making a set of targets (a "library") available, how to connect your
+MKWS application to that library, and how to choose which of the
+available targets to use.
+
+
+1. Maintaining the library
+--------------------------
+
+The service proxy accesses sets of targets that are known as
+"libraries". In general, each customer will have their own library,
+though some standard libraries may be shared between many customers --
+for example, a library containing all open-access academic journals.
+A library can also contain other configuration information, including
+the set of categories by which targets are classified for the library.
+
+Libraries are maintained using MKAdmin (MasterKey
+Admin). Specifically, those used by MKWS are generally maintained on
+the "MKC Admin" installation at
+ http://mkx-admin.indexdata.com/console/
+
+In general, Index Data will create a library for each customer, then
+give the customer a username/password pair that they can use to enter
+MKAdmin and administrate that library.
+
+Once logged in, customers can select which targets to include (from
+the list of several thousand that MKAdmin knows about), and make
+customer-specific modifications -- e.g. overriding the titles of the
+targets.
+
+Most importantly, customers' administrators can add authentication
+credentials that the Service Proxy will used on their behalf when
+accessing subscription resources -- username/password pairs or proxies
+to use for IP-based authentication. Note that IT IS THEN CRUICIAL TO
+SECURE THE LIBRARY FROM USE BY UNAUTHORISED CLIENTS, otherwise the
+customer's paid subscriptions will be exploited.
+
+Access to libraries is managed by creating one or more "User Access"
+records in MKAdmin, under the tab of that name. Each of these records
+provides a combination of credentials and other data that allow an
+incoming MKWS client to be identified as having legitimate access to
+the library. The authentication process, described below, works by
+searching for a matching User Access record.
+
+
+2. Authenticating your MWKS application onto the library
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+Some MKWS applications will be content to use the default library with
+its selection of targets. Most, though, will want to define their own
+library providing a different range of available targets. An important
+case is that of applications that authenticate onto subscription
+resources by means of backe-end site credentials stored in MKAdmin:
+precautions must be taken so that such library accounts do not allow
+unauthorised access.
+
+Setting up such a library is a process of several stages.
+
+Stage A: create the User Access account
+
+Log in to MKAdmin administrate your library:
+ - Go to http://mkc-admin.indexdata.com/console/
+ - Enter the adminstrative username/password
+ - Go to the User Access tab
+ - Create an end-user account
+ - Depending on what authentication method it be used, set the
+ User Access account's username and password, or IP-address
+ range, or referring URL, or hostname.
+
+If your MWKS application runs at a well-known, permanent address --
+http://yourname.com/app.html, say -- you can set the User Access
+record so that this originating URL is recognised by setting it into
+the "Referring URL" field.
+
+If your application accesses the Service Proxy by a unique virtual
+hostname -- yourname.sp-mkws.indexdata.com, say -- you can tie the use
+of this hostname to your library by setting the User Access record's
+"Host Name" field to name of the host where the SP is accessed. NOTE
+THAT THIS IS NOT SECURE, AS OTHER APPLICATIONS CAN USE THIS VIRTUAL
+HOSTNAME TO GAIN ACCESS TO YOUR LIBRARY.
+
+### Authentication by IP address does not yet work correctly -- see
+bug MKWS-234 ("Improve SP configuration/proxying for better
+authentication").
+
+Alternatively, your application can authenticate by username and
+password credentials. This is a useful approach in several situations,
+including when you need to specify the use of a different library from
+usual one. To arrange for this, set the username and password as a
+single string separated by a slash -- e.g. "mike/swordfish" -- into
+the User Access record's Authentication field.
+
+You can create multiple User Access records: for example, one that
+uses Referring URL, and another that uses a username/password pair to
+be used when running an application from a different URL.
+
+Stage B: tell the application to use the library
+
+In the HTML of the application, tell MKWS to authenticate on to the
+Service Proxy. When IP-based, referer-based or hostname-based
+authentication is used, this is very simple:
+
+ <script type="text/javascript">
+ var mkws_config = { service_proxy_auth:
+ "//sp-mkws.indexdata.com/service-proxy/?command=auth&action=perconfig" };
+ </script>
+
+### This should be the default setting
+
+And ensure that access to the MWKS application is from the correct
+Referrer URL or IP-range.
+
+Stage C1 (optional): access by a different virtual hostname
+
+When hostname-based authentication is in use, it's necessary to access
+the Service Proxy as the correctly named virtual host. This can be
+done by setting the service_proxy_auth configuration item to a
+URL containing that hostname, such as
+ //yourname.sp-mkws.indexdata.com/service-proxy/?command=auth&action=perconfig
+
+### It should be possible to change just the hostname without needing
+to repeat the rest of the URL (protocol, path, query)
+
+### When changing the SP authentication URL, the Pazpar2 URL should in
+general change along with it.
+
+Stage C2 (optional): embed credentials for access to the library
+
+When credential-based authentication is in use (username and
+password), it's necessary to pass these credentials into the Service
+Proxy when establishing the session. This can most simply be done just
+by setting the service_proxy_auth configuration item to a URL such as
+ //sp-mkws.indexdata.com/service-proxy/?command=auth&action=perconfig&username=mike&password=swordfish
+
+### It should be possible to add the username and password to the
+configuration without needing to repeat the rest of the URL.
+
+Stage D (optional): conceal credentials from HTML source
+
+Using a credential-based Service-Proxy authentication URL such as the
+one above reveals the the credentials to public view -- to anyone who
+does View Source on the MKWS application. This may be acceptable for
+some libraries, but is intolerable for those which provide
+authenticated access to subscription resources.
+
+In these circumstances, a more elaborate approach is necessary. The
+idea is to make a URL local to the customer that is used for
+authentication onto the Service Proxy, hiding the credentials in a
+local rewrite rule. Then local mechanisms can be used to limit access
+to that local authentication URL. Here is one way to do it when
+Apache2 is the application's web-server, which we will call
+yourname.com:
+
+ - Add a rewriting authentication alias to the configuration:
+ RewriteEngine on
+ RewriteRule /spauth/ http://mkws.indexdata.com/service-proxy/?command=auth&action=check,login&username=U&password=PW [P]
+ - Set thwe MKWS configuration item "service_proxy_auth" to:
+ http://yourname.com/spauth/
+ - Protect access to the local path http://yourname.com/spauth/
+ (e.g. using a .htaccess file).
+
+
+3. Choosing targets from the library
+------------------------------------
+
+MKWS applications can choose what subset of the library's targets to
+use, by means of several alternative settings on individual widgets or
+in the mkws_config structure:
+
+* targets -- contains a Pazpar2 targets string, typically of the form
+ "pz:id=" or "pz:id~" followed by a pipe-separated list of low-level
+ target IDs.
+
+ At present, these IDs can take one of two forms, depending on the
+ configuration of the Service Proxy being used: they may be based on
+ ZURLs, so a typical value would be something like:
+ pz:id=josiah.brown.edu:210/innopac|lui.indexdata.com:8080/solr4/select?fq=database:4902
+ Or they may be UDBs, so a typical value would be something like:
+ pz:id=brown|artstor
+
+* targetfilter -- contains a CQL query which is used to find relevant
+ targets from the relvant library. For example,
+ udb==Google_Images
+ Or
+ categories=news
+
+* target -- contains a single UDB, that of the sole target to be
+ used. For example
+ Google_Images
+ This is merely syntactic sugar for "targetfilter" with the query
+ udb==NAME
+
+
+++ /dev/null
-MKWS Target Selection
-=====================
-
-
-MKWS accesses targets using the Pazpar2 metasearching engine. Although
-Pazpar2 can be used directly, using a statically configured set of
-targets, this usage is unusual. More often, Pazpar2 is fronted by the
-Service Proxy (SP), which manages authentication, sessions, target
-selection, etc.
-
-This document assumes the SP is used, and explains how to go about
-making a set of targets (a "library") available, how to connect your
-MKWS application to that library, and how to choose which of the
-available targets to use.
-
-
-1. Maintaining the library
---------------------------
-
-The service proxy accesses sets of targets that are known as
-"libraries". In general, each customer will have their own library,
-though some standard libraries may be shared between many customers --
-for example, a library containing all open-access academic journals.
-A library can also contain other configuration information, including
-the set of categories by which targets are classified for the library.
-
-Libraries are maintained using MKAdmin (MasterKey
-Admin). Specifically, those used by MKWS are generally maintained on
-the "MKC Admin" installation at
- http://mkx-admin.indexdata.com/console/
-
-In general, Index Data will create a library for each customer, then
-give the customer a username/password pair that they can use to enter
-MKAdmin and administrate that library.
-
-Once logged in, customers can select which targets to include (from
-the list of several thousand that MKAdmin knows about), and make
-customer-specific modifications -- e.g. overriding the titles of the
-targets.
-
-Most importantly, customers' administrators can add authentication
-credentials that the Service Proxy will used on their behalf when
-accessing subscription resources -- username/password pairs or proxies
-to use for IP-based authentication. Note that IT IS THEN CRUICIAL TO
-SECURE THE LIBRARY FROM USE BY UNAUTHORISED CLIENTS, otherwise the
-customer's paid subscriptions will be exploited.
-
-Access to libraries is managed by creating one or more "User Access"
-records in MKAdmin, under the tab of that name. Each of these records
-provides a combination of credentials and other data that allow an
-incoming MKWS client to be identified as having legitimate access to
-the library. The authentication process, described below, works by
-searching for a matching User Access record.
-
-
-2. Authenticating your MWKS application onto the library
---------------------------------------------------------
-
-Some MKWS applications will be content to use the default library with
-its selection of targets. Most, though, will want to define their own
-library providing a different range of available targets. An important
-case is that of applications that authenticate onto subscription
-resources by means of backe-end site credentials stored in MKAdmin:
-precautions must be taken so that such library accounts do not allow
-unauthorised access.
-
-Setting up such a library is a process of several stages.
-
-Stage A: create the User Access account
-
-Log in to MKAdmin administrate your library:
- - Go to http://mkc-admin.indexdata.com/console/
- - Enter the adminstrative username/password
- - Go to the User Access tab
- - Create an end-user account
- - Depending on what authentication method it be used, set the
- User Access account's username and password, or IP-address
- range, or referring URL, or hostname.
-
-If your MWKS application runs at a well-known, permanent address --
-http://yourname.com/app.html, say -- you can set the User Access
-record so that this originating URL is recognised by setting it into
-the "Referring URL" field.
-
-If your application accesses the Service Proxy by a unique virtual
-hostname -- yourname.sp-mkws.indexdata.com, say -- you can tie the use
-of this hostname to your library by setting the User Access record's
-"Host Name" field to name of the host where the SP is accessed. NOTE
-THAT THIS IS NOT SECURE, AS OTHER APPLICATIONS CAN USE THIS VIRTUAL
-HOSTNAME TO GAIN ACCESS TO YOUR LIBRARY.
-
-### Authentication by IP address does not yet work correctly -- see
-bug MKWS-234 ("Improve SP configuration/proxying for better
-authentication").
-
-Alternatively, your application can authenticate by username and
-password credentials. This is a useful approach in several situations,
-including when you need to specify the use of a different library from
-usual one. To arrange for this, set the username and password as a
-single string separated by a slash -- e.g. "mike/swordfish" -- into
-the User Access record's Authentication field.
-
-You can create multiple User Access records: for example, one that
-uses Referring URL, and another that uses a username/password pair to
-be used when running an application from a different URL.
-
-Stage B: tell the application to use the library
-
-In the HTML of the application, tell MKWS to authenticate on to the
-Service Proxy. When IP-based, referer-based or hostname-based
-authentication is used, this is very simple:
-
- <script type="text/javascript">
- var mkws_config = { service_proxy_auth:
- "//sp-mkws.indexdata.com/service-proxy/?command=auth&action=perconfig" };
- </script>
-
-### This should be the default setting
-
-And ensure that access to the MWKS application is from the correct
-Referrer URL or IP-range.
-
-Stage C1 (optional): access by a different virtual hostname
-
-When hostname-based authentication is in use, it's necessary to access
-the Service Proxy as the correctly named virtual host. This can be
-done by setting the service_proxy_auth configuration item to a
-URL containing that hostname, such as
- //yourname.sp-mkws.indexdata.com/service-proxy/?command=auth&action=perconfig
-
-### It should be possible to change just the hostname without needing
-to repeat the rest of the URL (protocol, path, query)
-
-### When changing the SP authentication URL, the Pazpar2 URL should in
-general change along with it.
-
-Stage C2 (optional): embed credentials for access to the library
-
-When credential-based authentication is in use (username and
-password), it's necessary to pass these credentials into the Service
-Proxy when establishing the session. This can most simply be done just
-by setting the service_proxy_auth configuration item to a URL such as
- //sp-mkws.indexdata.com/service-proxy/?command=auth&action=perconfig&username=mike&password=swordfish
-
-### It should be possible to add the username and password to the
-configuration without needing to repeat the rest of the URL.
-
-Stage D (optional): conceal credentials from HTML source
-
-Using a credential-based Service-Proxy authentication URL such as the
-one above reveals the the credentials to public view -- to anyone who
-does View Source on the MKWS application. This may be acceptable for
-some libraries, but is intolerable for those which provide
-authenticated access to subscription resources.
-
-In these circumstances, a more elaborate approach is necessary. The
-idea is to make a URL local to the customer that is used for
-authentication onto the Service Proxy, hiding the credentials in a
-local rewrite rule. Then local mechanisms can be used to limit access
-to that local authentication URL. Here is one way to do it when
-Apache2 is the application's web-server, which we will call
-yourname.com:
-
- - Add a rewriting authentication alias to the configuration:
- RewriteEngine on
- RewriteRule /spauth/ http://mkws.indexdata.com/service-proxy/?command=auth&action=check,login&username=U&password=PW [P]
- - Set thwe MKWS configuration item "service_proxy_auth" to:
- http://yourname.com/spauth/
- - Protect access to the local path http://yourname.com/spauth/
- (e.g. using a .htaccess file).
-
-
-3. Choosing targets from the library
-------------------------------------
-
-MKWS applications can choose what subset of the library's targets to
-use, by means of several alternative settings on individual widgets or
-in the mkws_config structure:
-
-* targets -- contains a Pazpar2 targets string, typically of the form
- "pz:id=" or "pz:id~" followed by a pipe-separated list of low-level
- target IDs.
-
- At present, these IDs can take one of two forms, depending on the
- configuration of the Service Proxy being used: they may be based on
- ZURLs, so a typical value would be something like:
- pz:id=josiah.brown.edu:210/innopac|lui.indexdata.com:8080/solr4/select?fq=database:4902
- Or they may be UDBs, so a typical value would be something like:
- pz:id=brown|artstor
-
-* targetfilter -- contains a CQL query which is used to find relevant
- targets from the relvant library. For example,
- udb==Google_Images
- Or
- categories=news
-
-* target -- contains a single UDB, that of the sole target to be
- used. For example
- Google_Images
- This is merely syntactic sugar for "targetfilter" with the query
- udb==NAME
-
-
projects / mkws-moved-to-github.git / commitdiff