What is a reverse proxy Explained 2024 How a reverse proxies works!

What is the opposite of a proxy?

A reverse proxy is a server located in front of web servers that forwards client requests (such as a web browser) to these web servers. Reverse agents are usually implemented to help increase  security  ,  performance  , and reliability. In order to better understand how a reverse proxy works and the benefits it can provide, let's first define what a proxy server is.

What is a proxy server?

A front proxy, often called a proxy server, proxy server, or web proxy, is a server located in front of a group of client machines. When these computers make requests to sites and services on the Internet, the proxy server intercepts these requests and then contacts the web servers on behalf of those clients, like a middleman.

As an example, let's list 3 computers shared in a typical front-end proxy connection:

• A: This is the user's home computer
• B: This is a front end proxy
• A: This is the website's original server (where website data is stored)

In a standard Internet connection, computer A can access directly to the computer C, where the client sends requests to  the server the  original and the original server responds to the client. When the front agent is in place, A will instead send requests to B, who will then send the request to C. C and then send a response to B, who will send the response back to A.

Why would anyone add this extra medium to their online activity? There are several reasons why one might want to use a frontal agent:

• To avoid governmental or corporate browsing restrictions  - some governments, schools, and other organizations use firewalls to give their users access to a limited version of the Internet. A front-end proxy can be used to circumvent these restrictions, as it allows the user to contact the agent instead of directly contacting the sites it visits.
• To block access to certain content  - on the contrary, proxies can also be set up to block a group of users from accessing certain websites. For example, a school network might be configured to connect to the web through a proxy that enables rules for content filtering, and to refuse to forward responses from Facebook and other social media sites.
• To protect their online identity  - In some cases, ordinary internet users simply want to increase online anonymity, but in other cases, internet users live in places where the government could impose dire consequences on political opponents. Criticism of the government in an online forum or on social media can lead to fines or imprisonment for these users. If one of those opponents used a front proxy to contact a website where they were posting politically sensitive comments,  it would be difficult to trace  the IP address  used to post the comments back to the defector. Only the proxy server IP address will be visible.

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How is the reverse proxy different?

A reverse proxy is a server located in front of one or more web servers that intercepts incoming requests from clients. This differs from the front dealer, in that the dealer sits in front of the clients. With a reverse proxy, when clients send requests to the originating server of a website, those requests are intercepted at the  edge of the network  by the reverse proxy server. The reverse proxy server will then send requests to the original server and receive responses from it.

The difference between forward and reverse agent is subtle but important. The simplified way to sum this up is to say that the front-end agent sits in front of the client and ensures that no root server communicates with that specific client. On the other hand, the reverse proxy sits in front of the originating server and ensures that no client communicates directly with the originating server.

Once again, let's clarify by naming the computers involved:

• D: Any number of users' home computers
• E: This is a reverse proxy server
• F: One or more original servers

Usually all incoming requests go from D directly to F, and F sends responses directly to D. Using a reverse agent, all requests from D will go directly to E, and E will send their requests to F. Then pass the appropriate responses to D.

Below we explain some of the advantages of the Reverse Agent:

• Load Balancing  - A popular website that receives millions of users every day may not be able to handle all of the traffic coming to the site with a single origin server. Alternatively, a site can be distributed among a group of different servers, all of which handle requests for the same site. In this case, the reverse proxy can provide a load balancing solution that will evenly distribute the incoming traffic between different servers to prevent any one server from being overloaded. In the event that the server fails completely, other servers can sprint to handle the traffic.
• Attack Protection  - With a reverse proxy in place, a website or service never needs to disclose the IP address of the parent's server (s). This makes it more difficult for attackers to take advantage of an attack directed against them, such as  a DDoS attack  . Instead, attackers will only be able to target a reverse proxy, such   as Cloudflare's  CDN , which will have stricter security and more resources to fend off a cyber attack.
• Global Server Load Balancing  (GSLB)  - In this form of load balancing, a website can be distributed to multiple servers around the world and the reverse proxy will send clients to the server geographically closest to them. This reduces the distances that requests and responses need to travel, reducing load times.
• Caching  - can reverse the agent also  store  content  temporarily  , which leads to faster performance. For example, if a user in Paris visited a website with a reverse proxy with web servers in Los Angeles, the user might actually connect to a local reverse proxy server in Paris, which would then have to contact a Los Angeles parent server that the proxy server could then store Response data temporarily (or temporarily saved). Subsequent Parisian users browsing the site will then have the locally cached copy of the Parisian reverse proxy server, resulting in much faster performance.
• SSL encryption  -  can be  encrypt  and decrypt  connections SSL  (or  the TLS  ) for each client in charge of the calculation for the server originally. A reverse proxy can be configured to decrypt all incoming requests, encrypt all outbound responses, and free up valuable resources on the originating server.

How to implement the reverse proxy

Some companies build their own inverter agents, but this requires extensive software and hardware engineering resources, plus a significant investment in physical hardware. One of the easiest and most cost-effective way to reap all the benefits of a reverse proxy is to subscribe to a CDN service. For example,  Cloudflare CDN provides   all the performance and security features mentioned above, plus many others.

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