- In this post we will see what is proxy and reverse proxy.
- We will also discuss the differnce between them.
What is proxy?
Proxy is an act where someelse doing something for you on your behalf.
Simple explantion of a proxy act in the below image.
What is Proxy server?
It is a server that sits in front of a group of client machines. When those computers make requests to sites and services on the Internet, the proxy server intercepts those requests and then communicates with web servers on behalf of those clients, like a middleman.
Proxy aka Forward proxy
Advantages of having a proxy on client machine
- Proxy act as a Firewall and protect the client machine
- Channels the traffic
- Security
- Caching - without need of fetching the data over and over from the internet the proxy will hold the cache for us hence improved performance
- Encyption and Decrption - Mask our data’s over the internet by not passing as a plain text.
What is Reverse Proxy?
A reverse proxy is a server that sits in front of web servers and forwards client (e.g. web browser) requests to those web servers.
Reverse Proxy
Advantages of reverse proxy
- Instead of exposing the server over the internet reverse proxy will act like a point of contact.
- Reverse proxy will filter the request and send it to the server.
- It also act as load balancer if there are many server connected to it.
- Help to compress the request by reducing the data pocket amount.