Front and Center: Data Sources Through a Firewall

Many FrontPage developers sit behind a firewall and have to use a proxy server to access the Internet. That can pose a problem if you are trying to connect to a data source on the other side of the firewall.

Fortunately, ASP.NET provides a way to get through the proxy via the web.config file, an XML configuration file that configures the way that ASP.NET pages are run on the site. To enter in proxy server configuration for your site, you can edit the web.config file.

1. Open the web.config file in the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\CONFIG folder. Notepad is a sufficient XML editor.

2. At the bottom of the file after the </system.web> tag and before the </configuration> tag, add the following code, replacing http://proxy:80 with the address of your proxy server:

    <system.net>     <defaultProxy>         <proxy          proxyaddress="http://proxy:80"          bypassonlocal="true"         />     </defaultProxy> </system.net>  

Save the web.config file, and you will now be able to access data sources outside of the firewall.

TIP

When the web.config file is saved, ASP.NET will automatically use the new settings. No other action is required.