It's an proxy or proxy server. It is a server software program that serves as an intermediary between a the server and the client via the internet. Without an intermediary, the user can submit a request for any resource directly to the server and the server will serve direct the resource requested to the client. While this process is simple to comprehend and implement with proxies, it can provide advantages such as higher performance and privacy, security and much more. As a layer of pass-through, the proxy acts as a security intermediary between servers and clients.




Generally speaking, the bundled system of hardware for servers as well as software used to set up proxy installations is commonly referred to by the name proxy servers. In this article, we'll examine proxies commonly referred to as software, as well as those that are used in conjunction with web servers. You will get a breakdown of two types of proxies: forward proxy and a reverse proxy. reverse proxy. Each kind of proxy has its own specific use case, and is often misunderstood due to the naming conventions that are similar.




This article will give you the basics of what proxy servers and their subtypes are as well as what they can do for most common configurations. In this article, you can identify the situations in which an effective proxy can be beneficial, and choose the right solution between forward and reverse proxy options for each circumstance.



Understanding Forward Proxies



Also a forward proxy is also known as open proxy open proxy is the representative of a client who is trying to transmit requests via the internet to an origin server. In this scenario the entire attempt to send requests from the client will be made by the forward-proxy. In this scenario, this forward-proxy acting place of the client will review the request. First, it will establish what authorization the user has to send requests via this particular forward proxy. It will then reject this request and transfer it over to the server that originally sent it. The client is unable to connect directly to the internet; it can only reach what forward proxy grants it access to.




The most common uses for forward proxies is greater privacy or anonymity online. Forward proxy can be used to access the internet in place of a client and, in doing so, may use a different IP address in place of the original IP address of the client.




Based on the way it was established in the past forward proxy servers are able to perform a variety of tasks and permit you to:




Avoid ad tracking.


Circumvent surveillance.


You can determine limitations based on your geographic location.




Forward proxies are also used in security systems that require centralized and permission based access like in the workplace. If all internet traffic flows through an open forward proxy, an administrator can restrict access to certain users to the internet, and this is then filtered by a common firewall. Instead of having firewalls installed for the client layer which may comprise a variety of computers with different user and environment, a firewall can be placed on the forward proxy layer.




Take note of the fact that forward proxies must be manually set up to function, however reverse proxies will be not noticed to the user. Based on whether or not the address IP of a customer is transmitted to the origin server through the forward proxy, privacy and anonymity may be granted or left unnoticed.




There are several possibilities to investigate for forward proxy options:




Apache is a well-known open source web server that provides forward proxy functions.


Nginx: Another popular open-source web hosting server with forward proxy functions.


Squid is an open-source forward proxy which makes use of the HTTP protocol. This option doesn't include an entire web server service. We've got a guide on how you can install Squid proxy to allow private connections on Ubuntu 20.04.


Dante Forward Proxy that utilizes the SOCKS protocol instead of HTTP which makes it better suitable for situations like peer-to peer traffic. It is also possible to look at how to create a Dante proxy for private connections on Ubuntu 20.04



Understanding Reverse Proxies



Reverse proxy is an agent for a web server that handles the incoming requests of clients on its behalf. The web server could comprise a single server, or even multiple servers. It can also function as an application server, such as Gunicorn. In any of these situations the request may come from a customer on the internet. In the majority of cases it will be routed directly to the server that hosts the services the customer is in need of. Reverse proxy is an intermediary that separates Web server from direct interaction with the open internet.




From a client's perspective that is the user's perspective, interfacing with reverse proxy isn't different from connecting directly to your website server. It's exactly the same, but clients can't be able to tell the distinction. The customer makes a request for an item, and it is delivered with no additional configurations that need to be performed by the client.




Reverse proxy proxies can provide options, such as:




A central layer of security to protect the server.


Controlling traffic that is inbound on rules that you establish.


A new feature for caching is now available.




While central security is an advantage of both reverse and forward proxy solutions, reverse proxies give this benefit to the level of an internet server, not clients. Instead of focusing on the maintenance of firewalls in the layer of web servers that may contain multiple servers with various configurations, the majority of firewall security is focused on this layer. In addition, the absence of interfacing with firewalls as well as responding to client requests off of web servers allows them to concentrate on the requirements of their clients.




If multiple servers are that are running reverse proxy the reverse proxy takes care of the way requests are routed to which server. Many web servers may be offering the same content but each serving different types of resources, or some combination of both. These servers could use the HTTP protocol just like a standard web server, however, they may include applications server protocols such as FastCGI. It is also possible to set up reverse proxy servers to direct clients to specific servers in accordance with the service requested or to follow specific rules regarding traffic load.




Reverse proxies also can make use of their position on top of web servers by providing the ability to cache data. Large static files can be set with caching rules to stop the web server from being hit on each request and some solutions even offer the option to provide static files directly, without involving the web server in any way. Furthermore reverse proxy may be able to handle compressing these files.




The well-known Nginx web server has become a wildly popular reverse proxy option. Although Apache is also a reverse proxy solution, the Apache webserver is also equipped with a reverse proxy feature as an added option. Apache in contrast to Nginx was designed initially for and focused on reverse proxy functionality.



Distinguishing Forward Proxy from reverse Proxy Use Situations



Because "forward" along with "reverse" are ascribed to the notion of directionality and false comparisons between "incoming" as well as "outgoing" traffic These labels can be confusing since both types of proxies handle requests and responses. Instead, a better way to distinguish between forward and reverse proxy services is to consider the requirements of the application you're creating.




Reverse proxy can be useful in the design of a solution that can deliver web-based apps via the internet. They are your web servers in all interactions with the internet.




Forward proxy can be useful when used before traffic from clients for your personal use or in a workplace environment. They represent your client traffic every time you connect to the internet.




Differentiating by use case rather than focusing solely on the common naming conventions will help in avoiding confusion.



Conclusion



This article describes what a proxy is, with the two primary types, namely the forward proxy and reverse proxy. Application scenarios that are practical as well as an analysis of the most useful attributes were used to determine forward proxies and reverse proxies. If you're interested to learn more about the process of implementing proxy servers, check out our tutorial on how you can configure Nginx as an internet server and reverse proxy with Apache running on one Ubuntu 20.04 server.



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