Reference at Newman Library

Tag: Remote Access

CUNY Login System Down on May 31

CUNY CIS will be updating the CUNY Login system on Saturday, May 31, between 6 AM and 2 PM. In addition to affecting access to Brightspace, CUNYfirst, Zoom, and Microsoft 365, it will also affect two library systems:

  • Remote access to databases and licensed resources
  • Interlibrary loan

If before the maintenance work begins you are already logged into an application or service that uses the CUNY Login for authentication, you will likely not have a problem. But if you are trying to connect and log in to something that uses the CUNY Login system, you may not be able to do so until the work is complete.

Ensuring GlobalProtect VPN Works with Off Campus Access to E-Resources

If you have a Baruch-issued laptop (this applies just to Baruch faculty and staff) and are working from off campus, you’ll want to be aware of how the GlobalProtect VPN might interfere with remote access to library e-resources (databases, articles, ebooks, etc.) If you are not fully connected to the VPN, you will be unable to log into library resources; when you click a link to a resource and would normally see first our EZproxy page asking you to click to use your CUNY Login and see next the usual CUNY Login page but if the VPN is not fully connected then the whole EZproxy/CUNY Login page steps will be bypassed and the link will take you to some side door on the database’s website that you’ll be unable to get past (you’re knocking on a door that you won’t be able to use).

If you have fully connected to the VPN, you will have already been prompted by the VPN to enter your Baruch username and password into the program on your laptop AND you will have received a multifactor push request on your phone in the Duo app. When you are fully connected, the VPN display on your laptop should look like this:

Screenshot of GlobalProtect VPN showing "Managed-Prod" below the word "Connected"

But, if you haven’t done those two steps of logging in and responding to the Duo multifactor authentication request on your phone, you will not see “Managed-Prod…” below the word “Connected” in the VPN program. Instead it will say “pre-logon” just below the word “Connected.”

Screenshot of VPN display when it says "pre-logon"

If the VPN is in this “pre-logon” state, it will stymie your attempts to connect to library e-resources. As a fix, you can either finish logging into GlobalProtect or you can sign out of the GlobalProtect program on your laptop.

If you need help with GlobalProtect, you will need to stop by the BCTC HelpDesk or submit a help ticket to them.

Access Problems for Library Resources

Due to issues this morning with various network systems on campus, our EZproxy server that manages remote access to library resources (databases, e-journals, ebooks, streaming videos, etc.) is down. There is no remote access available right now.

Unfortunately, this problem also interferes with on campus access, as all database traffic is initially routed through our EZproxy server. If you need on- campus access to a database, you’ll want to remove the EZproxy prefix that appears at the start of the URLs.

For example, if you copy the URL from the link to ABI/Inform Global on our A-Z database list, you can see that it’s trying to go to:

https://remote.baruch.cuny.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/abiglobal/advanced?accountid=8500

If you are on campus, just copy that URL into your browser and delete the portion at the start that has:

https://remote.baruch.cuny.edu/login?url=

That leaves you with a URL of that will actually work from computers on campus on our network:

https://www.proquest.com/abiglobal/advanced?accountid=8500

As soon as I get word of network services returning to normal, I’ll send out an update here.

Remote Access Problem on Faculty and Staff Laptops

If you are using a Baruch-issued laptop while off campus (just the ones issued to faculty and staff, not the ones we loan out to students), you’ll want to turn off the GlobalProtect VPN service before you try to connect to library databases and other licensed content. Due to a change in the set-up for GlobalProtect, if you leave it on while trying to connect to a library database, you’ll find yourself looking at a vendor login page, something that you’ll not be able to get past.

While I work with BCTC to figure out how to fix this problem, please use this workaround to sign out of GlobalProtect on your laptop or that of faculty and staff who report remote access problems.

  1. In the lower right corner of your Windows screen (look for the carat to the left of the time and date display), click on the carat to open up the “system tray” that shows programs running in the background on your computer.
  2. Among the icons in the system tray, click on the GlobalProtect icon, which is light blue globe icon with the black dot on it.
  3. When the “GlobalProtect” window opens, click the hamburger menu icon in the top right corner and select “Settings” from the drop-down menu.
  4. When the settings window from GlobalProtect opens, click on the “Sign Out” option in the lower left corner.
  5. You should now be signed out of GlobalProtect and able to get to library resources in the usual off campus method (click a link, get our EZproxy login page, enter your CUNY Login credentials, and get redirected to the resource).

This video I made shows the steps above for signing out of GlobalProtect. If you need to turn GlobalProtect back on, the icon for it can be found in the same system tray location, but now the globe icon you’ll click on will be light gray (indicating that you’re presently signed out).

As soon as a fix is found for this new behavior from GlobalProtect, I’ll update this blog post and notify everyone on our library mailing list.

Disruptions to Remote Access and Patron Accounts in OneSearch on May 20

CUNY CIS will be doing scheduled maintenance work on Saturday, May 20, to the CUNY Login system between 10 AM and 3 PM. During this time, users may not be able to:

  • log into the patron account system in OneSearch that would let them request delivery of books from other CUNY libraries, renew loan periods, etc.
  • log into library databases and e-resources from off campus (on campus access should be unaffected for all databases and e-resources except for O’Reilly ebooks and the FitchConnect database)

CUNY Login Option for Remote Access Not Working (UPDATE: working again)

UPDATE (9:35 AM): Remote access is now working again. The issue may have been due to an expired certificate.

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I am investigating why our remote access via the CUNY Login isn’t working. Once you enter your CUNY Login credentials, you see an error page from CUNY that says:

Web Login Service – Error

An error occurred: ActionExecutionException

I’ve submitted a ticket to the CUNY OLS Help Desk to see if the problem is affecting all the CUNY campuses that use the CUNY Login for remote access or not. Oddly enough, if you log into your user account in OneSearch, which also uses the CUNY Login system, there aren’t the same problems we’re seeing with remote database access.

I’ll update this post as I get more information.