Using the Windows netsh Utility

The Windows netsh utility has a number of options under the " netsh winhttp set proxy " to configure the proxy server settings for all users of this local system. A typical invocation is below.

netsh winhttp set proxy proxy-server="http=myproxy;https=sproxy:88"

You can use this utility from the command line or in scripts. The utility is also useful for tracing network traffic, and for checking if there is an existing proxy server setting.

For instance, the following command will show if there are any existing proxy server settings.

netsh winhttp show proxy

If you have made proxy server settings in your web browser, you can import them with this invocation:

Netsh winhttp import proxy source=ie

If you wish to clear your proxy server settings, you can do so with:

Netsh winhttp reset proxy

Using the Windows Credential Manager

If your proxy server requires a username and a password, you can store these in encrypted form in the Windows Vault. You can access the vault through the Credential Manager in the Control Panel.

In the Credential Manager, choose Add Windows Credentials, and then enter the address of your proxy server and the username and password it requires:

Confirm the per-User Settings

You may be able to connect the Smart Client to Web Central perfectly under one account (say the administrator account that you installed with) but not be able to connect under another (say the non-administrator account the CAD specialist is using). In this case, check the proxy settings for the second account, as proxy server setting can change for different users.

Also realize that even within the same user account, you can invoke different settings if you run the Smart Client as a non-admin user, and if you run the Smart Client using administrator privileges in that same account.

You can review the proxy settings with this command line utility:

netsh winhttp show proxy

Review the Network Trace

If you feel you have configured the proxy server correctly but still are not able to connect the Smart Client to Web Central, you may wish to enable network tracing to review the requests and responses and search them for error. For instance, the network trace may reveal the "417 Expectation Failed" error discussed below.

One way to trace network events is to use netsh to enable tracing.

netsh trace start capture=yes

Try your connections. When you are finished, use:

netsh trace stop

The command will tell you the location of the event trace log (etl) file. You can review this file using the Event Viewer, which is accessible via the Windows Control Panel under Administrative Tools.

See also: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd569142(v=vs.85).aspx

Some administrators prefer to use an opensource network protocol analyzer WireShark (www.wireshark.org) as being easier-to-use than netsh.

Try the IP Address

If you Sign On to the Smart Client using a server machine name (e.g. http:/mywebcserver:8080/archibus/), and you fail to connect to Web Central via the proxy server, try connecting using the server machine's IP address (e.g. using http://10.1.2.4:8080/archibus/). If this test is successful, check how your proxy server is configured with respect to DNS resolution.

HTTP/1.0 417 Expectation Failed

By default, the .Net framework sets expect100Continue to "true". If in your network trace you see an “HTTP/1.0 417 Expectation Failed” error from your proxy server when you try to connect to it using the Smart Client, you can resolve the issue using the setting below. The Archibus Smart Client will pass the values in the .Net <system.net /> tag to the Microsoft Windows WinHTTP services.