Proxy Server?

Hey I wanted to ask about Proxy Servers. I cannot understand the use of Proxy Servers in a network. I understand what they do (from Wikipedia), but not sure of an example where we would actually implement them...

Any help please?

Thanks.

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tiersten

You're posting in the wrong forum.

An example of where you'd use a proxy server is at an ISP or company who is trying to reduce the amount of data transferred from outside. They may do this due to being charged for the amount downloaded or because they'd be able to use a lower speed connection.

msethk

Well I looked up the "wikipedia" answer to your question as you suggested and it gives a pretty good self-explanatory explanation: A proxy server is a server that acts as a go-between for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource, available from a different server. The proxy server evaluates the request according to its filtering rules.

Alot of school systems use a proxy server to filter web traffic via filtering rules. AKA: Blocking websites. That's probably one of the more common uses of a proxy in a network.

Turgon

gallardo1 wrote: »

Hey I wanted to ask about Proxy Servers. I cannot understand the use of Proxy Servers in a network. I understand what they do (from Wikipedia), but not sure of an example where we would actually implement them...

Any help please?

Thanks.

Webcaching is one use. Better internet bandwidth use. Security is another use, both security from the outside and also control of who can surf the web on the inside. Site blocking and content filtering are other uses. There are actually many potential uses. Much depends on the facilities of the proxy solution you deploy. There are many variants. It's actually an interesting subject. Things have moved on since MS Proxy Server and Novell BorderManager.

Nice wiki...

Proxy server - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

gallardo1

sorry for posting in the wrong spot...

how can i move it?

i think i get it..

i know it says:
Load balancing: the reverse proxy can distribute the load to several web servers, each web server serving its own application area. In such a case, the reverse proxy may need to rewrite the URLs in each web page (translation from externally known URLs to the internal locations).

but can it also load balance for other types of servers? or specifically web?

tiersten

gallardo1 wrote: »

sorry for posting in the wrong spot...

how can i move it?

Only moderators can. Just telling you for next time anyway.

gallardo1 wrote: »

Load balancing: the reverse proxy can distribute the load to several web servers, each web server serving its own application area. In such a case, the reverse proxy may need to rewrite the URLs in each web page (translation from externally known URLs to the internal locations).

but can it also load balance for other types of servers? or specifically web?

A proxy server can do any protocol if you write one to handle that protocol. It isn't specifically for web servers only.