What Oprah Can Teach You About Proxy Sites

An proxy is also known as a proxy server is a software that functions as mediator between client and server on the internet. Without the use of a proxy, clients would make a request resources directly to the server and it will serve the requested resource directly to the user. While this procedure is easy to comprehend and implement using proxies, it can provide benefits in the form of improved performance and privacy, security and many more. As an additional layer of protection proxy, it acts as a gatekeeper for the internet, separating servers and clients.

In general, the combination of server hardware that is installed with proxy software is often called proxy servers. In this post, we'll focus on proxy servers that are typically defined as software, and also in the context of web servers. We will provide a description of the two major kinds of proxy servers: a forward proxy and a reverse proxy. Each kind has its own usage scenario, which is often misunderstood due to the similar naming convention.

This article will give you an idea of the types of proxy services and what their subtypes are, and their importance in the common configurations. After reading the article you'll understand what circumstances that a good proxy is beneficial, and choose the correct solution in between reverse and forward proxy based on the situation.

Understanding Forward Proxies

A forward proxy also called an open proxy serves as an intermediary between clients who are trying to send a request via the internet to a source server. In this scenario, every request sent by the client will instead be routed straight to the forward proxy. A forward proxy, acting in the client's stead, will scrutinize the request. First, it will determine if the client is permitted be able to accept requests through this particular forward proxy. It will then deny any request or forward it to the original server. The client has no directly access to internet. It is able to access only the web pages that forward proxy grants it access to.

One of the most common applications of forward proxies is to increase privacy or security while using the internet. Forward proxy utilizes the internet as a client, and in the process, it will use an alternative IP address for the client's IP address.

Based on how it has been configured depending on the configuration, forward proxy may offer different features depending upon the configuration and allows you to:

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  Beware of ads that track you.
  
  
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  Circumvent surveillance.
  
  
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  You can identify limitations based on your geographic location.
  
  

Forward proxies are also utilized in systems that provide central security as well as permission-based access, like at the workplace. Internet traffic can go via an open forward proxy. administrators are able to restrict access to certain clients to the internet that is protected by an common firewall. Instead of having firewalls for the client layer that could include multiple machines with various configurations and users, you can set up a firewall at the front proxy layer.

Note that forward proxy settings need to be manually configured for use however reverse proxies will be disregarded by the client. Based on the fact that your IP address a user is passed to the server from which it originated via the forward proxy, privacy and security can be granted or kept secret.

There are a myriad of choices to be considered for forward proxy options:

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  Apache is a well-known open-source web server, which provides forward proxy capabilities.
  
  
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  Nginx: Another popular open-source web hosting server with forward proxy features.
  
  
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  Squid is an open-source forward proxy that uses an HTTP protocol. It's not the complete web server. Read our guide on how you can install Squid proxy to connect privately within Ubuntu 20.04.
  
  
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  Dante is a forward proxy that uses the SOCKS protocol instead of HTTP to make it better suited for cases like peer-to-peer traffic. It is also possible to know how to configure Dante proxy to allow secure connections within Ubuntu 20.04
  
  

Understanding Reverse Proxies

Reverse proxy functions as the web server that handles all requests received from customers on its behalf. The web server may be a single, or multiple servers. It could also be an application server, such as Gunicorn. In all of these scenarios, the request for an application is received by a user on the internet. The majority of the time, the request would be directed directly to the web server along with the information that the client is requesting. In contrast, a reverse proxy serves as an intermediary and isolates your web server from contact with the open internet.

From the point of view of the individual client's perspective reverse proxy is a process that reverse proxy is similar to connecting to a Web server through direct communication. It's the same process, and the client cannot tell the difference. The client makes a request for the resource, which is followed by receiving it without the need for any additional configurations required for the end user.

Reverse proxy providers offer functions like:

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  A central layer of security to protect the server.
  
  
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  The direction of traffic coming in is based upon rules that you can decide to define.
  
  
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  New caching functionality has been added.
  
  

While central security is a benefit of both reverse and forward proxy, reverse proxies apply this feature to just the layer of web servers but not the client layer. In lieu of focussing on maintenance of firewalls at the web server layer that could contain multiple servers and various configurations, most of firewall security is targeted towards the reverse proxy layer. Also, the removal of the responsibility of interfacing with firewalls as well as communicating with requests from clients far from web servers enables them to focus on meeting the needs of their customers.

In the case of multiple servers existing through reverse proxy, the reverse proxy is also responsible to direct which requests are routed via which server. There could be multiple web servers providing identical content, but providing different services or a combination of both. They could be running the HTTP protocol that is the standard web server, however they could contain other protocols for application servers like FastCGI. You can also set up reverse proxy servers to redirect users to a particular server based on the resource requested, or to follow specific guidelines on the volume of traffic.

Reverse proxies may benefit from their location on top of web servers, as they have the capability to store data. Massive static resources can be set up with caching policy to avoid hitting web servers with each request. Certain applications allow users to serve static files directly without contacting Web servers in any form. In addition, the reverse proxy can manage compressing these assets.

The popular Nginx web server is also used as a popular reverse proxy solution. However, an equivalent feature available within the Apache web server does have a reverse proxy features as an additional feature available to Apache whereas Nginx was originally designed for and is focused on the reverse proxy feature.

Differentiating Forward Proxy from Reverse Proxy Use Situations

Since "forward" along with "reverse" are associated with directionality and misleading comparisons with "incoming" as well as "outgoing" traffic, these labels can be confusing because both kinds of proxy systems process requests as well as responses. In addition, the most effective method of separating between a forward and reverse proxy is to look at the requirements of the app that you're building.

A reverse proxy can be useful when designing an application that can serve applications that are online. They represent your web servers whenever you connect to the internet.

Forward proxy can be useful when placed in front of customers to facilitate your personal use or in a business environment. They represent your client traffic through any interaction with the internet.

A case-based distinction instead of focusing solely on commonly used naming conventions can help in avoiding confusion.

Conclusion

The article clarified the meaning of a proxy is, and compared it to the two most common kinds of proxy: the forward proxy and the reverse proxy. Practical applications as well as a review of the benefits were used to determine forward proxies and reverse proxies. If you're interested to learn more about the implementation of proxy servers then you should check out our guide on how to configure Nginx as a reverse and web server proxy on Apache on an Ubuntu 20.04 server.

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