ILS Authentication in Events and Room Reserve


Authentication is the means by which the application connects to your ILS system and confirms that a patron record exists for the library card number used. The 3 supported methods "III (Patron API)" , "SIP2", and "Custom API".

Configuring Events and/or Room Reserve to use authentication is a matter of configuring the connection and opening the path to the ILS server. Similar to what would be done when adding a self-checkout station. Configuring the connection is done through the Events/Room Reserve software from 'Authentication Settings' . This is a page that can only be accessed by system administrators. Evanced support will have to send you the link for it, please email support@evancedsolutions.com; as it is not published. Opening the path to the ILS server can consist of many devices and configurations.

Opening the path to the ILS system

You will probably need to enlist the help of your IT staff and/or ILS company to open the path from Events/Room Reserve and the ILS system. Because the equipment used can be considerably different for each application we cannot cover the actual configuration changes needed. Instead, here is a list of the most common devices and what should be done.

107.21.219.232

107.23.147.38

107.23.135.42

207.250.85.106

207.250.104.106

207.250.104.108

 

 

 

 

and the port is determined by the ILS system. There are some standard ports used (like 4500 for Patron API) but the ILS system should be checked for this value.

Note: If your Events/Room Reserve application is hosted on your own server, then your IT folks will most likely be able to provide you with its IP address.

Authentication Settings

Again, configuring authentication is done through the Events/Room Reserve software from  'Authentication Settings' . This is a page that can only be accessed by system administrators. Evanced support will have to send you the link for it, please email support@evancedsolutions.com; as it is not published.

Below are the major components of this page (Please make sure your settings are filled out according to your ILS system requirements for the connection to work. Evanced staff will not be able to advise on the proper settings here as they differ from one system to another):

Note:

* For Events, you can select to require authentication for certain events by simply enabling the per Event option from here, and then enabling the library card field when creating the event, or choose to require it for every event in the system that requires registration.
* For Room Reserve, you can select to just validate the provided card number against your ILS system by selecting Enable or also validate residency status. See residency section below for more information.

Residency Checking

If 'Residency Checking' is enabled in your system then the system must be told how to determine if a patron is a resident. There are 2 methods possible; using the "P TYPE[p47]" value from the patron information record (usually used with III Patron API) and using the first few numbers of the patron barcode (usually used with SIP2).

To use the "P TYPE[p47]" value with a III Patron API system you will need to enable 'Residency Checking' and configure the values on the Patron Type Maintenance page (See sample link at the bottom of this section). On this screen you will enter all of the values that represent a resident and non-resident that are used in the "P TYPE[p47]" field in the ILS system. Events/Room Reserve will then pull the "P TYPE[p47]" value and compare it to this list to determine who is a resident.

To use the first few digits of the barcode value with SIP2, you will need to enable 'Residency Checking' and configure the values on the Patron Type Maintenance page (See sample link at the bottom of this section). On this screen you will enter all of the values that represent a resident and non-resident that are made up of the first few digits of the patron barcode. Events/Room Reserve will then pull the barcode value and compare it to this list to determine who is a resident. Please also email support@evancedsolutions.com in this case to have Evanced staff set the number of digits used for residency checking in your case (For example first 4 or 5 characters, etc), as this setting is not currently published on the user's web interface.

[Your Evanced system unique path]/ptypemaint.asp

Testing and Troubleshooting

The 'Test' or 'Save and Test' buttons will allow you to not only test the connection but also will display some of the message level text to help you determine the cause of any problems you may be having. When you run a test it will ask you to enter the barcode and last name or just the barcode (depending on your configuration) for a patron. A screen will then display the results of this test. The test result screen consists of 3 areas; the 'Communication Result', the 'Error Result' and the 'Data Result'.

So basically, if you were able to retrieve data from your ILS system associated with a real card number, then your configuration was successful. But if you were not, then the connection was not successful. Please research received error code/text. Alternatively, if you test with an invalid card and get a message that the record was not found, then most likely the connection was successful, as it is an enough indication that the system at least searched the ILS database. But always confirm by testing with a real card. Once the connection is confirmed to be successful, you can enable authentication. Please make sure you test again either by submitting a test registration or a reservation to make sure it is working as expected.

Try enabling SIP2 UserName & Password Required. Disable "ILS Connection User Name & Password Required".


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Article ID: 255
Created On: Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 8:46 AM
Last Updated On: Fri, Oct 27, 2017 at 10:05 AM

Online URL: https://kb.demcosoftware.com/article.php?id=255