instantproxy.pac, Internet Information Server and Team Foundation Server connection problems

[peter.paris_]

Hi Everyone,

First of all, my apologies for my VPN and general network ignorance Ð I am but a humble application programmerÉ

I work from home and connect into my companyÕs network via VPN software. Until recently I used NetScreen-Remote, but the company has decided to switch to SSL VPN access, and I am now suffering problems with the following:

• Local Internet Information Server (IIS) usage
• HTTP status 417Ó when attempting to connect to Team Foundation Server (TFS)

To compound my problems I have no way of examining or modifying the Juniper or proxy server configuration, and unfortunately the network support people in my company seem unwilling or unable to help me. Consequently I would be very grateful for any suggestions about what I can do on my own PC, or any information I can pass onto our network support people to try to resolve my issues.

My first problem is that I need to use MicrosoftÕs Internet Information Services (IIS) to develop websites on my own PC. So if, for example, my site is called mydevsiteÓ I need to access it by typing http://mydevsite at a browser and have my local IIS respond to the request.

The network support people in my company told me that I can make this happen by adding these lines to the FindServerProxy function in instantproxy.pac:

if (shExpMatch(host, "mydevsite")) {

return "DIRECT";

}

This seemed to work, but when I disconnected and reconnected the VPN I found that my modified instantproxy.pac had been overwritten with a defaultÓ one, which did not have my changes. I tried re-applying my changes and disabling write access to instantproxy.pac but it didnÕt help, so I called my version local_instantproxy.pacÓ and set Internet Explorer (V8)Õs proxy Automatic configuration scriptÓ to local_instantproxy.pacÓ. But when I connected to the VPN it changed the Automatic configuration scriptÓ back to instantproxy.pacÓ !!!

So my first question is this: How can I keep my instantproxy.pac changes across VPN sessions? (Please bear in mind that these changes are unique to me so cannot be added to the default instantproxy.pac, and furthermore I need to be able to change them as I add/remove sites I am developing, preferably without having to ask the network support people to change the default instantproxy.pac.)

My second problem is Team Foundation Server (TFS) access. When I startup Microsoft Visual Studio it attempts to connect to TFS. This worked fine with NetScreen-Remote, but doesnÕt over the SSL VPN, where it gives the message:

Team Foundation Server http://isstfs01:8080/ does not exist or is not accessible at this time.

Technical information (for administrator):

The request failed with HTTP status 417: Expectation failed.

A quick Google gave me this:

It seems that this error can also occur on some proxies that don't support "100 continue" expectation. The workaround is to add the following to the dexplore.exe.config file.

<configuration>

<system.net>

<settings>

<servicePointManager expect100Continue="false" /> </settings> </system.net> </configuration>

I did as instructed and it made no difference, but the implication is that it's something to do with a proxy configuration.

Can you tell me how to make Juniper give me access to TFS please? Is there something else I need to add to instantproxy.pac?

Thanks for reading this far, and in advance for any help you can provide.

Best regards,

Peter.

[rdit_]

you are using network connect, right?

your network team could configure a new NC connection profile for the role you are using. if other people are using the same role, they could duplicate the role and assign that new nc connection profile, so that its only for your username. then they could provide you another proxypac as the default-one. means you have another profile which has this new proxypac assigned to it with the lines you need in it.

i'm also not sure if theres a possibility to tell IE, not to accept published PAC-Files. then you could leave the one with your changes in, without getting changed by the SSL VPN System.

no clue to TFS-Problem though...

[peter.paris_]

Hi Rdit,

Many thanks for the information. I'll investigate your "tell IE, not to accept published PAC-Files" suggestion, and if that doesn't work I'll ask our network support people to provide a customised PAC file for me.

Best regards,

Peter.

[spuluka]

---

@[email protected] wrote:

Many thanks for the information. I'll investigate your "tell IE, not to accept published PAC-Files" suggestion,

---

This is simply removing the check box for "automatically detect proxy settings" in the following menu of IE.

Tools--Internet Options--Connections--Lan Settings

But these settings may be locked under control of group policy for some domains.

PAC = Proxy Auto Configuration

[kenlars_]

Another idea, and one totally under your control -

- Modify the instantproxy.pac file but save it under some other name in a different directory. Change your PAC settings after Network Connect is connected to point to this file. Do this each time you need to use your server.

On the other question, I am wondering if you may be having a DNS resolution issue. Try to ping the name of the server to see if the name resolves. You may need to use the fully-qualified name.

Ken

[peter.paris_]

Thanks for the suggestion Steve. Unfortunately I don't have "Automaically dectect settings" selected in IE, but "Use automatic configuration script", with the "Address" set to the "instantproxy.pac" which Network Connect copies onto my machine when I connect.

Best regards,

Peter.

[peter.paris_]

Hi Ken,

That's almost exactly what I've been doing - I copied instantproxy.pac, made my changes, then saved it under a different name (albeit in the same directory). Then each time I connect I need to overwrite instantproxy.pac with my version - this is a PITA !

On the TFS front, yes I can ping the TFS server when connected via Network Connect (first thing I tried when Visual Studio failed to connect!).

Thanks for the input.

Best regards,

Peter.