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How to...

Using the World Wide Web at Sussex

Due to the Firewall, all web browsers on the Roaming Network must point at the local "proxy server", otherwise they will be unable to display pages from sites outside the University of Sussex. Other programs that access the web also need configuring to point at the local "proxy server".

Automatic configuration

Automatic configuration can be used as follows:

Mozilla Firefox (Windows)

  • From the Tools menu select Options.
  • Select the Advanced option.
  • In the Connection panel, click the Settings... button.
  • Select the Automatic proxy configuration URL option and type the following address into the text box:
    http://www.sussex.ac.uk/proxy.pac
  • Click OK.

Internet Explorer (Windows)

  • From the Tools menu select Internet Options
  • Click on the Connections tab
  • Click on the LAN Settings tab
  • In the Automatic Configuration box at the top, check Use automatic configuration script box
  • Type the following URL into the Address box:
    http://www.sussex.ac.uk/proxy.pac

Mac OS X

Safari and other Apple applications on Mac OS X get their proxy settings from the System Preferences control panel. This should be configured as follows:

  • from System Preferences select Network
  • click on Proxies in the sequence of buttons:
    [TCP/IP][PPPoE][AppleTalk][Proxies][Ethernet]
  • under Select a proxy server to configure: scroll down to and tick Automatic Proxy Configuration
  • type the following address into the Proxy Configuration File URL box:
    http://www.sussex.ac.uk/proxy.pac

Mozilla Firefox (Mac OS X)

  • It is no longer necessary to change proxy settings in Firefox as these are now inherited from the Network settings in the System Preferences control panel in Mac OS X

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Manual configuration

These settings should be used for programs that need to access the web but are not capable of using autoconfig. It is imperative that you include the "No proxy" setting described below, because without it you will not be able to access any local pages. Please return to this page on a regular basis to check whether any new domains have been added to the "No proxy" list.

NB: only set the HTTP Proxy - the other settings (e.g. FTP Proxy, Gopher Proxy...) should be left blank. Please note that the exact format in which this information should be entered will vary depending upon application and OS.

HTTP Proxy: wwwcache.sussex.ac.uk Port: 8080
No proxy for: sussex.ac.uk, susx.ac.uk, 139.184.0.0/16, 127.0.0.1, localhost

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created on 2010-01-01 by Chris Limb
last updated on 2010-06-30 by David Guest