The Untold Story on Proxy Sites That You Must Read or Be Left Out

An proxy often referred to as a proxy server is software that acts as an intermediary between a client and server over the internet. Without the need for a proxy, an individual will send a request for something directly through a server, and the server would then deliver the resource directly back to the client. Though this approach is simple to comprehend and implement the addition of proxies can bring advantages in terms of improved performance, privacy, security, and many more. Apart from providing a layer of security, proxies act as a security guardian of the internet between clients and servers.




The general consensus is that the collection of server hardware along with installed proxy software are also called proxy servers. However, this article will concentrate on proxies typically classified as software, and in the case of web servers. This article will give a synopsis of the two primary types of proxies, which include a forward proxy and a reverse proxy. Each has its own specific usage and can be confusing because of a similar name convention.




This article will provide you with an idea of the nature of proxies and what their subtypes are, as well as how they work in the common configurations. Through in this post, you'll be able to determine the situations that are the best to use a proxy and choose the best option between forward and reverse proxy for any scenario.



Understanding Forward Proxies



In another way, a forward proxy sometimes referred to as open proxy. In other words, an open proxy serves as the representative of a user who would like to forward a request via the internet to an source server. In this scenario every attempt to send requests from the client is instead sent directly through the forward proxy. The forward proxy, acting in instead of the user will examine the request. The first step is to decide if the user is authorized accept requests from this specific forward proxy. It then decides whether to reject an request and send it back to the original server. The client is not able to access directly the internet. It is only able to access the internet that the forward proxy permits the client access.




The primary reason for people for using forward proxy services is to gain greater privacy or security when surfing the internet. Forward proxy allows you to access the internet place of a client, and as such it can use an alternative IP address to the original IP address that the client uses.




Depending on how they've been set up in the past forward proxy servers are able to provide a range of options. They allow you to:




Beware of ad-tracker.


Circumvent surveillance.


You can determine limitations based on your geographical location.




Forward proxies can also be used in systems that provide central security and permission-based access, for example, in the workplace. When all internet traffic passes through an open forward proxy layer administrators are able to restrict access to those clients who are that are filtered through a common firewall. Instead of having firewalls in place for the client layer that could include a variety of devices that are different in environments and users, the firewall can be placed in the forward proxy layer.




Note that the forward proxy setting need to be manually configured for use in order to be used in reverse proxies, whereas forward proxy settings are ignored by clients. Depending on whether the IP address of a client is transmitted to the source server via the forward proxy, privacy and anonymity can be granted or not.




There are several options to take into consideration when it comes to forward proxy options:




Apache: A popular open-source web server with forward proxy functions.


Nginx: Another popular open-source webserver, this one with forward proxy capabilities.


Squid is a free forward proxy that uses an HTTP protocol. It doesn't provide a complete Web server service. Take a look at our step-bystep guide to set up Squid proxy to allow private connections on Ubuntu 20.04.


Dante forward proxy, which uses the SOCKS protocol rather than HTTP which makes it better suited to situations such as peer-to-topeer traffic. You can also look into the steps to install a Dante proxy for private connections in Ubuntu 20.04



Understanding Reverse Proxies



A reverse proxy acts as a representation of a web server that handles incoming requests from clients on its behalf. Web servers can comprise a server or multiple servers. Also, it could be a server for applications like Gunicorn. In any of these scenarios, the request for an application comes by a user on the internet in general. Most of the time, the request will be directly sent to the web server with the information that the client is asking for. Reverse proxy, however, acts as an intermediary, securing Web server from any direct interactions with the internet's public.




From the point of viewpoint, or a user's viewpoint, interfacing using a reverse proxy is similar to using an internet server direct. It's exactly the same thing, however the user is unable to be able to discern the distinction. The client requests an item and receives it without any further configuration required from the client.




Reverse proxies offer features like:




Centrally secured for Web Server Layer.


Controlling traffic inbound based on rules that you can set up.


The caching function is now available to users.




While centralized security is an advantage for both reverse and forward proxy servers, reverse proxies provide this benefit only to the server layer and it is not available to the client layer. Instead of maintaining firewalls at Web server layers, which may contain many servers and different configurations, the majority of firewall security can be concentrated on the reverse proxy layer. Additionally, removing the responsibility to interact with a firewall as well as dealing with clients' requests outside of web servers allows them to concentrate on providing the requirements of their customers.




If there are multiple servers being hosted with a reverse-proxy the reverse proxy is also responsible to direct which requests are routed to which server. There could be multiple web servers providing identical content or offering various types of resources or a combination of both. They can use the HTTP protocol similar to a traditional web server, however they could also include other protocols for application servers such as FastCGI. It is also possible to set up reverse proxy servers to redirect clients to specific servers in accordance with the resource requested or to follow specific rules regarding traffic load.




Reverse proxies may also make use of their position before web servers by delivering caching capabilities. Massive static resources can be set up by using caching rules in order to avoid hitting web servers with every request. There are solutions even allowing users to serve static files directly without connecting to the web server even once. Furthermore, the reverse proxy can control compression of these files.




The popular Nginx web server is also used as a well-known reverse proxy service. Although Apache is also a reverse proxy option, Apache is a reverse proxy service. Apache web server also comes with a reverse proxy functionality that is an added attribute of Apache however Nginx was designed initially to and is focused on its reverse proxy feature.



Distinguishing Forward Proxy from Reverse Proxy Examples



Because "forward" or "reverse" have connotations of directionality, as well as false comparisons with "incoming" as well as "outgoing" traffic the labels can be confusing since both types of proxy deal with requests and responses. An alternative method to differentiate between reverse and forward proxy is to look at the requirements of the program you're building.




A reverse proxy can be helpful when building an application that runs web-based applications on the internet. They are your web servers when you interact on the web.




Forward proxy can be beneficial when it is placed before clients for personal use, or in a corporate environment. They represent your clients when you connect to the internet.




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



Conclusion



This article defined the meaning of a proxy with the two kinds of proxy: the forward one and reverse proxy. Practical applications as well as a summary of beneficial features were utilized to differentiate between forward and reverse proxies. If you're interested to learn more about the process of implementing proxy services, check out our guide on how you can configure Nginx as an internet server and reverse proxy using Apache in an Ubuntu 20.04 server.



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