[iBorrow] Cookies Restored, Validation Resumed

[Al Carlson]

IBorrow Users,

Somewhere in the universe, there is a clever opening line that connects
our RPA server to Sesame Street's Cookie Monster.
But I can't find it.  So, we'll be boring this time around.

The iBorrow Portal was failing all over the place last Friday and early
this week.  It was a mess. 
The cause was the TBLC RPA server.  Its cookies weren't lasting long
enough.  (I have that trouble with Pecan Sandies.)  They need to be set
to live for five minutes or so, and they were set to Zero.  

They are now set to five minutes, and RPA is happy again.  (Cookies!!!)

So, when a patron logs in, iBorrow sends his barcode to RPA, and RPA
passes it to his home library server, and that server sends RPA a big
"OK!" (if the patron is a valid user), and RPA sends that back to
iBorrow, and iBorrow lets the patron log in.  Whew!

It turns out that there is an RPA server in Provo that we could-with
some changes to the iBorrow software-use as a backup.  SirsiDynix is
looking into that to see whether it is a feasible coding change or way
too complicated to be worth while.

The two remaining questions are:  How did cookies get set to zero, and
why does the RPA server need cookies in the first place?
We're blaming Cookie Monster for the first one.  And the answer to the
second one is probably some Zen thing like, "Because there were no
doughnuts in the staff room".

If you run into patron validation problems in the future, please let us
know ASAP.  

Al Carlson
System Administrator
Tampa Bay Library Consortium
1202 Tech Blvd. Suite 202
Tampa, FL  33619
813-622-8252 ext. 223

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