Perl HTTP Proxy code -- uses
Easy to authenticate end-user with perl CGI using preferred authentication
method.
Map this username to alternative autho details (e.g. one per institution
or just one).
Invisibly log the end-user into service using alternative autho details.
This was initially done to provide Athens authentication onto a CSA server.
Proved highly reliable and was reimplemented for SiteSearch services.
Simplified modification of the routine is used in a 20 minute cron job to
check access to all EDINA web services.
Script looks for a successful response and a given regular expression match
in the HTML.
If this fails 5 times then a restart script is automagically run and Service
Delivery are paged (well, emailed).
More than 0 and less than 5 failures results in a warning emailed to Service
Delivery.
This approach mimics more closely the activity of an end-user and should
be more effective than simply looking to see whether certain processes are
running.