View source for ECF Filetransfer Support for NTLMv2 Proxies

Like other parts of ECF, the [[ECF_API_Docs | filetransfer API]] has a provider architecture, allowing multiple implementations to be used for filetransfer (i.e. via http, ftp, and others).  In ECF 3.0/Eclipse 3.5 the primary provider is based upon [http://hc.apache.org/httpclient-3.x/index.html Apache httpclient 3.1].  This was introduced in the ECF 3.0/Eclipse 3.5 cycle because the previous provider that was based upon the JRE URLConnection implementation proved insufficiently reliable (i.e. see [https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=166079 bug 166179]).

Unfortunately, the Apache httpclient implementation, although more robust than the URLConnection-based provider, does not support NTLMv2 proxies directly (for an explanation of why, see [http://wiki.apache.org/jakarta-httpclient/FrequentlyAskedNTLMQuestions#head-d318851e40156de248e72fbb15bbce52a5e18f2c here]).

For NTLMv2 Proxies, that require username and password for access the workaround is to

#Disable the ECF httpclient provider.
#Provide the NTLMv2 proxy authentication info (proxyhost, domain, username, and password) 

In ECF 3.0/Galileo both can be done via system properties provided to Eclipse on startup.  Here is an example using 'myproxy', 'mydomain', 'myusername', and 'mypassword':

<pre>
-Dorg.eclipse.ecf.provider.filetransfer.excludeContributors=org.eclipse.ecf.provider.filetransfer.httpclient
-Dhttp.proxyPort=8080
-Dhttp.proxyHost=myproxy
-Dhttp.proxyUser=mydomain\myusername
-Dhttp.proxyPassword=mypassword
-Dhttp.nonProxyHosts=localhost|127.0.0.1
</pre>

The first property disables the httpclient provider (and so uses the URLConnection-based provider, which does have support for NTLMv2 proxies), and the next 5 properties are as specified by Sun for the [http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/guide/net/properties.html URLConnection-based provider].

In the future, it is likely that with other providers (e.g. the [https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=251740  Apache httpcore client...i.e. bug 251740 ] or [http://docs.codehaus.org/display/JETTY/Jetty+HTTP+Client Jetty's asynch filetransfer implementation] we will be able to [https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=252002  support NTLMv2 proxies...i.e. bug 252002] more directly.  Further, in future versions the Eclipse platform [https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=269832 proxy API should support NTLMv2 as well...i.e. bug 269832].

Actually, it is unlikely that the Apache HTTP Client or [http://hc.apache.org/httpcomponents-client/ntlm.html HTTP Components] will ever support NTLMv2.  They have never supported it even though the [http://davenport.sourceforge.net/ntlm.html technical information] has been available for years.  They are currently concerned with the legal issues.

{{ECF}}
[[Category:Eclipse Communication Framework]]
[[Category:EclipseRT]]
[[Category:Draft Documentation]]
[[Category:Equinox p2]]