[Geoserver-users] How to use a WMS service only allowing to connect from server

Hello,
My server is allowd to connect to wms servers so I can fetch data. I have used QGIS to create a map file from shp files for mapserver and even if there are many calls to the external wms server it seems as these calls go from my server and I get the data. If I put these wms sources in OpenLayers it fails because the request is coming from the client and not the server. Maybe I should still use MapServer (?) but I am using GeoServer to fetch data with POSTGIS and would like to use some of the external wms in the same way. Is it possible in “DataStores” to define the remote wms URL like I use POSTGIS? Am I completely off here? Would this solve my problem with the request coming from the server and not the client? Sorry, I am new to GeoServer. Or should I stick with the MapServer file?

Of course I could use Ajax but would I then have to include the whole file. Not sure how javascript would call the service then.
I figured I would rather use GeoServer than MapServer. It seemed easier to customize.
Thanks for any help to a newbie!
/asle

Asle Benoni ha scritto:

Of course I could use Ajax but would I then have to include the whole file. Not sure how javascript would call the service then.
I figured I would rather use GeoServer than MapServer. It seemed easier to customize.

As for today GeoServer cannot do WMS cascading, whilst MapServer does.
So if you cannot have your client connect to those remote servers I
fear there is no much you can do.
Well, unless it's ok for you to just serve tiled WMS, in that case
you can use GeoWebCache to fetch tiles from multiple WMS servers,
the local GeoServer and the remote ones, and store the tiles
on disk. It would also make serving images much faster, especially
if you're using OpenLayers as a client

Cheers
Andrea

--
Andrea Aime
OpenGeo - http://opengeo.org
Expert service straight from the developers.

Thanks. I looked at the GeoWebCache Configuration page but did not really understand it. Is there a guide as to how I would get GWC to fetch from a WMS service? And how to call it in OpenLayers?

/asle

2009/3/19 Andrea Aime <aaime@anonymised.com>

Asle Benoni ha scritto:

Of course I could use Ajax but would I then have to include the whole file. Not sure how javascript would call the service then.
I figured I would rather use GeoServer than MapServer. It seemed easier to customize.

As for today GeoServer cannot do WMS cascading, whilst MapServer does.
So if you cannot have your client connect to those remote servers I
fear there is no much you can do.
Well, unless it’s ok for you to just serve tiled WMS, in that case
you can use GeoWebCache to fetch tiles from multiple WMS servers,
the local GeoServer and the remote ones, and store the tiles
on disk. It would also make serving images much faster, especially
if you’re using OpenLayers as a client

Cheers
Andrea


Andrea Aime
OpenGeo - http://opengeo.org
Expert service straight from the developers.