An proxy is also known for its role as a proxy. It is software that functions to act as an intermediary for a client and server over the internet. If there was no proxy in place, the user would send a request for anything directly to the server, and servers would serve any requested resources directly to the client. While this approach is straightforward to grasp and use however the addition of proxy servers may provide benefits including increased performance, privacy and security, among others. In addition to providing a layer of security, proxies act as a security guard for the internet, separating clients from servers.




The consensus is that the hardware for servers, paired with proxy software is commonly called proxy servers. However, this article will concentrate on proxy servers that are typically categorized as software, specifically in relation to servers on the internet. This article will provide a brief overview of the two major types of proxy that are a forward proxy and a reverse proxy. Each type has a different use, and can be confusing due to the identical name convention.




This article will give you an idea of types of proxies, their subtypes are, as well as their importance for the most common setups. Through this article you'll recognize the situations where you can benefit from a proxy and determine the best choice between reverse proxy and forward proxy in any given scenario.



Understanding Forward Proxies



Forward proxy also referred to as the open proxy is a proxy for a user who wants to make a request over the internet to a source server. In this case every request made by the user will be handled by this forward proxy. A forward proxy that is in instead of the user will review the request. It first will determine if the client is allowed to accept requests via this particular forward proxy. Then, it can either reject any request, or redirect it to the server from which it originated. The client is not capable of having directly access to internet; it can only be capable of accessing the information that forward proxy grants it access to.




The most common applications for forward proxy servers is increased privacy or security on internet. A forward proxy is able to access the internet in lieu of a specific client and during that process it could use an alternative IP address in comparison to the original IP address of the user.




Based on the way it's set up, and how it's configured forward proxy could provide a range of features and allow you to:




Beware of tracking ads.


Circumvent surveillance.


Establish restrictions based upon your location.




Forward proxies are also employed in systems to provide central security as well as permission-based access to the internet, for instance in a workplace. If all internet traffic is routed through an open forward proxy layer, an administrator is able to allow only specific clients access to the internet. The web is blocked by a common firewall. Instead of putting firewalls for the client layer that could comprise a variety of machines with various configurations and users, a firewall can be placed on an intermediary layer.




Remember that forward proxies must be set up manually for be used, while reverse proxies can be disregarded in the eyes of the user. Depending on the type of IP address of a client is sent to the server that originated it by the forward proxy security and privacy can be made more transparent.




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




Apache is an well-known open-source web server which provides forward proxy capabilities.


Nginx is another well-known open-source webserver which has forward proxy capability.


Squid: A free and open forward proxy open source that uses the HTTP protocol. It does not contain the entire web server. It is possible to refer to our guide on the best method for installing Squid proxy to permit private connections in Ubuntu 20.04.


Dante is a forward proxy which uses the SOCKS protocol instead of HTTP this makes it appropriate for situations such as peer-to-peer traffic. You can also learn how to configure a Dante proxy to allow connection to private networks in Ubuntu 20.04



Understanding Reverse Proxies



Reverse proxy is the web server, which takes care of the requests of customers on behalf of the server. This server can serve as a one server, or a number of servers. In addition, it could include an application servers, like Gunicorn. In all of these scenarios it is possible to send a request via the web at large. In the majority of cases, the request is sent directly to the web server along with all the information the client requires. A reverse proxy serves as an intermediary and separates your server from communications with the web's public.




From the point of view from a client's perspective reverse proxy use is not any different than connecting directly to an internet server. It's functionally the same but the client can't discern the difference. The client requests the resource, and receives it, with no additional configuration needed by the client.




Reverse proxies offer various features, including:




A centralized layer of security to protect the server.


The direction of traffic that is using rules that you can establish.


A new feature for caching is now available.




Central security is an advantage of both forward and reverse proxy service, reverse proxies provide this feature to the server layer and it is not available to the client layer. In lieu of maintaining firewalls at the server level which could include multiple servers with different configurations, the majority of firewall security could be focused at the reverse proxy layer. Additionally, removing the burden of communicating with firewalls and responding to requests from clients that are not on web servers lets them focus solely on meeting the requirements of their customers.




If there are multiple servers being hosted through a reverse proxy the reverse proxy handles the routing of requests to the servers. Multiple web servers could be operating on the same server, or serving various kinds of resources, or a combination of the two. They may use an HTTP protocol to function as a normal web server, but they can additionally include application server protocols such as FastCGI. You can create reverse proxy servers to direct clients to particular servers according to the requested resource, or to observe certain rules for traffic volume.




Reverse proxies also can make use of their position prior to web servers by offering caching capabilities. Large static files can be set by caching rules to avoid getting to web servers for each time a request is made. There are solutions that offer an option to serve static content directly, without having to connect with a webserver. Furthermore, reverse proxy can handle compressing these assets.




The renowned Nginx webserver is known as a well-known reverse proxy option. Although it is true that the Apache web server does have the ability to reverse proxy as an additional feature that is available to Apache but Nginx was originally designed to and is focused on reverse proxy functionality.



Distinguishing Forward Proxy from Reverse Proxy Examples



Since "forward" as well as "reverse" are associated with the perception of directionality, they can lead to inaccurate comparisons to "incoming" or "outgoing" traffic. They can confuse because both types of proxy servers process requests and responses. Instead, a better way to differentiate between reverse and forward proxy servers would be to study the requirements of the app that you are building.




Reverse proxy is a vital feature in the development of a method to run web applications on the internet. They act as your servers when you interact with the Internet.




Forward proxy can be helpful for displaying customers to your personal use or for use in a working environment. The forward proxy is a representation of the information of the customer whenever you interact on the internet.




A distinction based upon use case rather than focusing only on naming conventions that are similar will help avoid confusion.



Conclusion



In this article, we clarified the definition of a proxy with two types of them being the reverse and forward proxy. Practical applications as well as an exploration of the beneficial attributes were utilized to distinguish forward proxies from reverse proxies. If you're interested in the benefits of proxy servers, follow our tutorial on how to set up Nginx as web service and reverse proxy in Apache in Ubuntu 20.04 Server. Ubuntu 20.04 Server.



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