authentication and proxy problem

[Birl <sb...@astro.ocis.temple.edu>]

Hello all!

Background:

Solaris 7 machine running Apache 1.3.19.  It acts as a proxy to *some
select* web directories on our IIS 4.0 server (w/ FP Extensions)
(NT 4 SP6a)



Problem:  (a semi-reproducable problem)

A password protected webpage (.htaccess),  http://www.temple.edu/nip/
contains a link to  http://www.temple.edu/helpdesk/reference/it.xls
(sorry not allowed to give out the creditials for NIP)

The user goes the NIP website and enters the correct authentication.
The user clicks on the link for the XLS file and is prompted for
authentication on the IIS server.

The problem is, there is no authentication needed to view the HelpDesk
website.
If you cancel the authentication, you do not receive the XLS file.
One can easily access the XLS file directly without problems.

This behavior has been observed using both IE and Netscape.

Im at a loss as to what the exact cause of it could be, but was thinking
that Apache was proxying the authentication from NIP to HelpDesk. As I
mentioned before this problem is semi-reproducable (at least on the one PC
that frequently visits the NIP website.  I tried to reproduce the problem
from my PC and I was able to access the HelpDesk website without entering
any authentication after entering the NIP authentication).


http://www.temple.edu/nip      actually exists on the Solaris server
                               password-protected.
http://www.temple.edu/helpdesk actually exists on the IIS server (proxied)
                               not password-protected.



Here are the proxy rules we have in place in httpd.conf for both HTTP and
HTTPS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# proxy directives for http://www.temple.edu/helpdesk
RewriteRule ^/+helpdesk((/+.*)?$) http://publish.temple.edu/helpdesk$1 [P]
ProxyPassReverse /helpdesk/ http://publish.temple.edu/helpdesk/

# proxy directives for https://www.temple.edu/helpdesk
RewriteRule ^/+helpdesk((/+.*)?$) https://publish.temple.edu/helpdesk$1 [P]
ProxyPassReverse /helpdesk/ https://publish.temple.edu/helpdesk/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Can someone shed some light unto this?


 Thanks

 Scott Birl      Scott.Birl@temple.edu
 UNIX Consultant/Systems Administrator   Computer  Services   Temple University
 1805 North Broad Street  Philadelphia   Pennsylvania 19122   United States
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