In addition to the Personal Computer and Web Browser configuration, the
user's network configuration is also critical to successfully using
e-OSCAR. In order to enable the e-OSCAR system to handle a high volume
of secure transactions over the public Internet there are several very
important network communication protocols that must be followed:
The user must maintain a constant IP Address
in accordance with the SSL standard. In order to verify the user's
session each time data is submitted, the user's IP address is checked
to ensure that it has not changed. It is very important to pay close
attention to this if the user is operating out of a network that has
multiple proxy servers or a clustered firewall environment. The user
must not change their external IP at any point during the session or
they will be logged out of the system and will require a reset by the
company system administrator prior to being allowed to log back in.
The other main area that may need to be addressed has
to do with the session timeout value within the user's network. When
handling large reports there are times when a response is not handled
within the standard amount of time one typically expects when
downloading a regular web page as some of the responses for these
reports may have several thousand times more data. Specifically, the
time between successive requests should be set to greater than the
e-OSCAR session time out value. The company System Administrator sets
this value. For example, if the e-OSCAR session time out is set for 15
minutes, the corresponding proxy and network settings should be greater
than that. The e-OSCAR System allows for session time out values
between 5 and 60 minutes, generally 30 minutes or more is recommended.
