Move From WAM to EZproxy

HEVCAT Update

July 13th, 2021 - I was able to talk with John LaPrad yesterday and with some back and forth, he gave us the new HEVCAT forms.  There was a Lite form and Full form.  He thinks we need the Full form filled out, mainly because we eventually, we will be using our Proxy/Authentication system with Single-Sign-On.  The Full form covers us there so we don't have to redo anything when that happens.

I sent the form into our Sales Contact at OCLC, for EZproxy, Jennifer Morrow and Don Litner.  They already have HEVCATs on file for us, in particular, for Tipasa.  They have already sent me back the form but I am expecting some furthering questioning by John and Company but we'll see.  The Form, filled out, is already in the hands (inbox) of John LaPrad.  I'll now continue to press him to make sure he reads it and for us to get the all clear on that side.

POST-JULY 2021 INITIATIVE

July 8th, 2021 - Separation of tasks recommendation, using the Implementation Guide Steps from OCLC

Step 1 - Welcome letter sent from Order Services.  This is a basic introduction and welcome to confirm your subscription to the OCLC-hosted EZproxy service. It also includes a link to this implementation process document and a link that explains what EZproxy is and what it does.

Required (Matt & Beth) Optional (Heather)

Step 2 - Introductory email sent from a member of the Hosted EZproxy Implementation Team.  This email will come from your implementation manager and it will include the domain name and the IP address of your hosted EZproxy server, as well as a recommended go-live date. Please note: it may be earlier or later than this date, depending on the complexity of your setup. 

Required (Matt)

Step 3 - Optional phone call to discuss goals and reasons for moving to hosted EZproxy.  Within the first two weeks of implementation, your implementation manager will offer to hold a brief (30 minutes or less) call with you to discuss your goals and reasons for choosing the OCLC-hosted version of EZproxy. This helps us determine any special circumstances or configuration settings unique to your institution. 

Required (Matt & Beth) Optional (Heather)

Step 4 - Provide your hosted EZproxy server’s IP address to all content providers.  The IP address of your hosted EZproxy server is outside of the range of IP addresses that you have already provided to your content providers for access, so you will need to ensure all of your content providers have registered this IP address. This should NOT replace any existing IP addresses you have on file with your providers. If you do not have this completed by the time we are ready for you to conduct testing, you may not be able to access your subscribed/purchased resources through EZproxy. Please ensure your content providers register this IP address exactly as is and to not enter a range but rather the exact IP address as it is listed. You may also want to inform them the IP address is for the sole use of your institution for the OCLC hosted EZproxy service.

Required (Beth)

Step 5 - Install and setup server.  The EZproxy server is built, and initial configurations are made. 

Required (Matt)

Step 6 - Authenticate users.  Meeting the delivery date for going live with Hosted EZproxy assumes that IT resources at your institution are available on a timely basis. If your implementation manager does not receive a response back from your institution after sending repeated requests for information or action for two weeks, we will configure your server to work with Text File authentication and move you into testing. Please note: by default, we will only configure one authentication method for your OCLC-hosted EZproxy server. 

Required (Matt)

Step 7 - Configure resources. This includes configuring all of the resources you included in your
questionnaire as database stanzas that will be accessed through EZproxy. If you have additional resources to add during implementation, please be sure to provide the titles and URLs of those resources to your implementation manager by sending an email to [e-mail].

Required (Matt & Beth)

Step 8 - Testing & Billing.  You will have three (3) weeks to complete testing. During this time you will
also want to change all links to e-resources on your institution’s webpages to starting point URLs. These pages could include but are not limited to A-to-Z lists, LibGuides, 856 links, course management systems, etc.

PLEASE NOTE: the testing period is optional; if you are ready to make the service live to your users at the point where the server is ready for testing, no further action is required by OCLC, and you may proceed with making your proxy-prefixed links “live” on your web pages and other systems. Your implementation manager will check-in with you during this testing period to ensure you have all of your resources configured and things are working as expected.

The server will be monitored 24x7x365 by Operations staff. Once the three week testing period has ended, future requests for changes to your server should be sent to OCLC Customer Support at [e-mail]. Your institution will be billed for OCLC Hosted EZproxy once testing ends.

Required (Led by Beth and I but involving all of TS, AS and as many people in the library as possible for testing.)

Step 9 - Managing EZproxy.  This includes but is not limited to: login page customizations, log files, and
usage reports. More information on log files and usage reports will be sent to you during your testing period. 

Required (Matt)

Step 10 - Ongoing Support.  By default, libraries using hosted EZproxy do not have access to make changes themselves. All change requests will be made on your behalf by contacting OCLC Customer Support at [e-mail]. They will process the change within two business days of submitting your request.

Required (Matt & Beth)

PRIOR PROJECT PRE-MAY 2020

June 26th, 2019 - EZP packet from OCLC with detailed steps of implementation process.  Beth and I broke down who would do in terms of assigned tasks. 

1.  MA
2. MA
3. MA, BJ
4. BJ
5. MA
6. MA
7. MA, BJ
8. MA, BJ, TS Dept.
9. MA, BJ
10. MA, BJ

June 20th, 2019 - Letter to Anita with proposed timeline for EZP implementation.

"As you know, one of the big projects I having been planning for over the past year, ramping up quite a bit over the past few months is EZproxy.

I wanted to get you a general scope of my plan for implementation. With this timeline, we would have plenty of cushion to make our way comfortably, so that by the time I want to have this go live, we would be more than ready.

I'm looking at an overall setup and implementation time span of 4 months, from our decision to purchase to the day we go live and make available to the entire public
Begin the purchase process at the end of July, beginning of August (Allows a month for this entire process to take place)

Once purchased, the standard OCLC process takes about 2 months on the safe side
Once fully setup and implemented from OCLC's point of view, I am budgeting in at least a month of time to convert all of our links (to EZproxy Stanza links) to the resources in the background, without affecting live links (using WAM proxied links)

Publish pages that replace old page that link to our resources during the break between Fall and Winter Semester when the students are out of school, this completes the entire process of setup and implementation.

From August-December this gives us at least 4 months of getting all of this done at a decent pace but with the focus on accuracy. One thing that I need to point out that makes this process 'easier' is that EZproxy does not touch the Sierra system directly, which allows us to keep WAM up and running as long as we need to. Going live with EZproxy won't be a matter of turning anything off or on, it will be just a matter of replacing the links to our resources on the LibGuides, to point to EZP links. Having both system running independent of each other but simultaneously, provides peace of mind!"

June 19th, 2019 - John LaPrad (along with Larry and IT) sign off on all of the Cloud Vendor Paperwork that OCLC had filled out and that we had been working on, back and forth for months.

Actionable Items as of March 27th, 2019

• Get updated quote on Hosted Price ASAP, then get to Anita
  Request for latest pricing/quote on hosted version with all fees included, sent to Jennifer Morrow at OCLC on March 26th

• Get IT Questions from Security Survey (Filled out by OCLC) addressed by OCLC, there's about 3 outstanding questions that John LaPrad and IT have after reading the submission of their Security forum.
  Working on translating what IT needs from OCLC in the form of answers so we aren't playing back and forth, then sending that out to OCLC tomorrow, the 28th
  
  
• Scour lists and user groups to find migrations of WAM to EZproxy, to use as a blueprint on what to expect in our migration when measured and coupled with information from OCLC about the migration and setup.

• Find out how exactly process works of switchover from WAM to EZproxy, how much downtime can we expect?

EZproxy Resources

• Presale Question and Answer Webinar
  https://www.oclc.org/en/events/2018/ezproxy_presales_QA_June.html
• EZproxy Product Page - https://www.oclc.org/en/ezproxy.html
• Price Quote from September 21st, 2018 for a Point of Reference
• Implementation Chart

My Notes After Watching Webinar

• Difference between self hosted and OCLC hosted customers is that we would not have access to files if OCLC hosts.  They would process the changes for us if we needed to change a ‘stanza’ or add a resource for authentication.
• Authentication method that SVSU uses will not be an issue with EZproxy, this is according to the list of authentication protocols they support and because
• of my meeting last Summer with IT, they stated they looked at the specs from OCLC and said we are good to go on that aspect.
• Deny access via overdue fines, we can use patron access permissions to restrict or enable access to resources or a group of resources
• Implementation may take up to 9 Weeks
• They do all of the configuring, resources
• They do the SSL Renewal and configuring
• As stated in graphic, up to 48 hour turnaround time for any requested changes to current resource stanzas or new resource addtions
• We do get one admin account but it would be for changes, only to download logs and reports
• Can do multiple methods of authentication, ldap for users and another form if we needed to for other users