The term "proxy" refers to a proxy is also known as the software for proxy servers that serves to act as a mediator between server and user on the internet. With no proxy in place, a client could submit a request for a resource directly to a server and the server could serve the requested resource directly back at the requester's. Although this method is easy to grasp and implement, the addition of proxies can bring advantages such as increased performance, privacy, security, and much more. As an additional pass-through layer the proxy serves as a gatekeeper of the internet between servers and clients.

Generally speaking, the combined combination of server hardware and proxy software is usually called proxy servers. This article will concentrate on proxies that are traditionally defined as software, and specifically in relation to web servers. This article will present a detailed breakdown of two types: forward proxy and reverse proxy. reverse proxy. Each type has its own usage situation, and it is frequently misunderstood because of the identical terminology.

This article will provide details about the different types of proxy services, what their subtypes are and how they work in various configurations. Through this article, you'll be able to recognize the instances where using proxy services is beneficial, and choose the most appropriate solution between forward and reverse proxy depending on the situation.

Understanding Forward Proxies

The forward proxy sometimes called the open proxy acts as a representative for a user who wishes to send a request via the internet to an the server that made it. In this situation, the entire effort to send requests made by the user will instead be sent through the forward proxy. A forward proxy, acting in place of the client, will look at the request. It will then determine if this client has the right to send requests via this particular forward proxy. It then decides whether to refuse any request or send it to the server that originated it. The client has no direct access directly to internet. It is able to access only the information that the forward proxy allows the client to connect.

A popular use for forward proxy is to provide greater privacy and security when surfing the internet. Forward proxy is able to access the internet instead of a client and in this way, it could use a different IP address than the IP address used by the client.

Depending on how it's been configured, based on the way it is configured, forward proxy may offer you a variety of features based on how it is configured and enables you to:

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  Do not be a victim of ad trackers.
  
  
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  Circumvent surveillance.
  
  
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  Recognize restrictions based on geographical location.
  
  

Forward proxies can also be used for security systems that are centralized and also for access based on permissions for instance, such as at work. If all traffic on the internet passes through an open forward proxy the administrator can grant only a small number of clients online access filtered by the standard firewall. Instead of setting up security firewalls at the layer of clients which can comprise a variety of machines that have different environments and types of users A firewall can be positioned in the intermediate layer of forward proxy.

It is important to remember that forward proxies must be manually setup to use while reverse proxies will be hidden from the user. Based on the type of the IP address that the user, they are transferred to the origin server via forward proxy Privacy and anonymity may be granted or denied.

There are numerous options to consider for forward proxy services.

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  Apache A well-known open source web server that provides forward proxy capabilities.
  
  
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  Nginx: Another popular open-source webserver that comes with forward proxy capabilities.
  
  
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  Squid: A free forward proxy using an HTTP protocol. It doesn't provide the complete web server. You can read our article on how to set up Squid proxy for private connections in Ubuntu 20.04.
  
  
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  Dante is a forward proxy that makes use of the SOCKS protocol instead of HTTP and HTTP, which makes it more suitable for use instances such as peer-to-peer traffic. You can also check out how to configure Dante proxy to permit private connections with Ubuntu 20.04
  
  

Understanding Reverse Proxies

A reverse proxy acts as an intermediary for the web server which manages any requests that come in from clients on its behalf. The web server could comprise a server, or multiple servers. Also, it could become an application-server, such as Gunicorn. In any of these scenarios, the request will come via the internet at large. Most of the time requests will then be transmitted directly to a web server with the information the user is looking for. Reverse proxy acts as an intermediary, isolating the webserver from direct communications via the open internet.

From the point of view of the user, the experience of interacting with reverse proxy isn't different than communicating with an internet server directly. It's basically the same, but the user is unable to be able to discern the difference. The client requests a resource and then receives it without extra configuration required from the client.

Reverse proxies can provide features such as:

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  Security centralized to web server.
  
  
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  The direction of traffic coming in according to rules you have set.
  
  
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  New feature added to caching.
  
  

While centralized security is an advantage of both forward and reverse proxy servers. Reverse proxy providers provide this service only to the layer of the webserver and not clients. instead of the maintenance of firewalls in the layer of web servers that could include multiple servers and different configurations, the majority protection of firewalls is targeted to the reverse proxy layer. In addition, getting rid of the responsibility of interfacing with firewalls and responding to requests from clients off of web servers enables them to concentrate solely on addressing the needs of their customers.

In the case of multiple servers operating with a reverse-proxy the reverse proxy also handles the direction in which requests are directed to which servers. There could be multiple web servers running on the same server, offering various kinds of resources or a mix of the two. They may use the HTTP protocol as a traditional web server, but they may also be able to be equipped with application server protocols such as FastCGI. You can set up reverse proxy to direct visitors to specific servers based on the services you request, or to specific rules pertaining to the amount of traffic.

Reverse proxies can also benefit from their placement on top of web servers by providing the ability to cache. The large static resources can be created by using caching rules in order to avoid needing to connect with web servers every time. Certain solutions allow you to directly serve static assets without having to interact with the webserver at all. Additionally reverse proxy solutions are capable of handling the compression of these files.

The popular Nginx web server functions as an extremely popular reverse proxy option. Although Apache is a reverse proxy service it is not the only one. Apache web server also has reverse proxy capabilities, however, it's an additional feature that is available to Apache as opposed to Nginx was designed initially to and focuses on the reverse proxy feature.

Distinguishing Forward and Reverse Proxy Use

Since "forward" and "reverse" are ascribed to an impression of directionality and misleading comparisons with "incoming" and "outgoing" traffic, the names could be confusing because the two types of proxies deal with both requests and replies. The best way to differentiate between reverse and forward proxy is to take into account the needs of the application you're creating.

Reverse proxy can be useful when you are developing a solution that can deliver web-based apps over the internet. They are your web servers during any interaction on the web.

Forward proxy is helpful when put in front of users either for personal use, or in the workplace. They serve as a representation of your client's traffic every time you connect to the internet.

The practice of segregating by use case instead of using only standard naming conventions can help ensure that you don't get confused.

Conclusion

This article will explain the significance of a proxy, focusing on the two major types, namely the reverse proxy and forward proxy. Examples of practical use and an overview of advantageous features were used to differentiate forward proxies from reverse proxy. If you're interested to learn more about the possibilities of proxies, you can check out our guide on how to configure Nginx as an internet server and reverse proxy in Apache on one Ubuntu 20.04 server.

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