Problem with proxy connection

macula · July 30, 2011, 6:54pm

Hi,

I am trying to use DevonAgent Pro 3.0 via my university proxy server.

The proxy is successfully set up on MacOS 10.6.8 by a reference to my institution’s .pac file in the System Preferences, and the network connection is flawless: browser, twitter, email,… everything just works fine.

The DevonAgent browser also works well, as does any DA search via the main application window.

I have problems with menubar-initiated searches, however: I fail to receive any search results and instead get the response depicted in the screenshot attached. Please note that the problem persists with any search engine set.

This is truly puzzling since, as I said, in every other sense DA cooperates with the proxy flawlessly.

Any ideas?

Thank you.

UPDATE: Could it be that menubar-initiated searches attempt to access the internet via some obscure TCP/IP port?

cgrunenberg · August 4, 2011, 11:45am

No. The code of DEVONagent Pro/Express for searching/downloading is actually the same. Do you use Mac OS X’s firewall (or any other firewall) and different settings for Pro/Express?

macula · August 8, 2011, 6:03pm

I tried with the MacOS X firewall on and off but the symptoms remain the same: Searches from the menubar yield no results.

As for ‘different settings for pro/express’, in your own words, I am not sure. What kind of settings are you referring to? I have played with the DA Preferences pane (Command+,) exhaustively but failed to make any progress.

Thank you!

cgrunenberg · August 10, 2011, 1:04pm

The settings of the proxy and/or firewall.

macula · August 10, 2011, 1:29pm

No, they are the same for DA Pro and DA Express, as far as I can tell.
Very puzzling, isn’t it?

cgrunenberg · August 10, 2011, 1:44pm

Does it work using a new & clean user account?

macula · August 10, 2011, 1:55pm

I am not able to test that because I have a trial license and I have discarded the serial number, therefore I am unable to activate DA on the new account.

cgrunenberg · August 10, 2011, 2:05pm

Just send me an email and I’ll send you another trial license for testing.

macula · August 10, 2011, 2:51pm

Thanks for the license, Christian. I applied it to DA running in a fresh account and the symptoms persist! Any further ideas?

cgrunenberg · August 10, 2011, 3:20pm

Is there anything else (except proxy & firewall) which might use different settings for DEVONagent Express & DEVONagent Pro? Do you use LittleSnitch for example?

macula · August 10, 2011, 8:09pm

I do use Little Snitch. However, there are no rules banning traffic from DA Pro or DA Express. In fact, both applications are set up on Little Snitch to allow “any connection.”

Also, deactivating LittleSnitch fails to resolve the issue.

On these two counts, I do not see how Little Snitch could be the culprit…

cgrunenberg · August 13, 2011, 10:44am

Unfortunately that was the last idea coming to my mind.

macula · August 13, 2011, 12:19pm

Any debug logs that I could track down and send to you? It is a pity not to be able to use DA Express behind my institutional proxy server (which allows access to the majority of databases), especially not knowing the reason for that…

cgrunenberg · August 13, 2011, 1:28pm

You could check the console for messages related to DEVONagent Express.