RE: [squid-users] proxy auto configuration

Adam,

> I was just wondering if anybody could tell me how I'd go about making
> my proxy auto-detectable by Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. I
> have read the FAQ on the subject and classed it as slightly outdated
> due to the fact that it talks about MSIE 3.0 on Windows 3.1.

Read the information here:

<http://wp.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/2.0/relnotes/demo/proxy-live.html>

It looks quite old, but it's still correct.

However, you want a web server called wpad.domain.local, and rather than
a proxy.pac file, you'll want to host a wpad.dat file on it.

You'll need to set the mime for .dat file type to:

application/x-ns-proxy-autoconfig

There should be readme's for whatever brand of webserver you're running
on how to do this.

The wpad.dat file is effectively javascript. The netscape readme covers
most of what you can do with it. Remember that DNS lookups, such as the
isResolvable() function, are costly in terms of time, and should be a
last resort within the script.

It's also possible to use DHCP to push this information out, though only
recent microsoft clients support it.

If you're attempting to supply auto-config information to apple macs,
they need a proxy.pac file, so make that identical to the wpad.dat file,
and set the mime type up for the .pac in the same way.

Hope that helps.

Ben

--
Benjamin Tanner BSc (Hons) MBCS
Senior Computing Officer
Network Support Unit, Computing Service
Network Operations Centre, KentMAN Ltd.
Canterbury Christ Church University
E-Mail:	<b.tanner@canterbury.ac.uk>
Phone:	<01227 782977>
Web:	<http://www.canterbury.ac.uk>