Types of Proxy Servers

We all use computers and surf the internet, even though many of us are not familiar with the technology or the terminology. Most of us have heard the word proxy, but we are not sure what exactly it means and why we need it. It is a term in the network technology which refers to a server that acts as a medium through which demands from clients are passed on to the sources.

For example, if you are looking for something, like a website, or a link, you connect to the server and it supplies you with the service from another source. The job of a proxy server is to filter the requests that come from clients.

For this purpose it may use the IP address or the protocol. If the demand you have is legitimate and validated the server will provide it for you. The server might change your request or provide you with the needed data without even waiting for a response.

• Free proxies

The idea was implemented for the first time in the period when distributed systems were still a novelty, and they were used as a tool that would decrease their complexity and make them simpler. Nowadays most servers are connected with the web and enable you to browse the web easily.

There are few different kinds of proxies and each of them serves a different purpose. Most of them are only sub-types of the forward type. The forward proxy is the most commonly used one and it does submit the requests from a network to the internet source.

The most popular forward proxy types are, the free proxies. These servers are available to anyone that has a valid internet connection and there are millions such servers on the internet. If the user doesn't want to reveal his/her identity, i.e. the IP address, they will use a free proxy when surfing the internet.

• Reverse proxy

The reverse proxies. These servers are often called surrogates. This server does seem like a regular server to the visitors. They send the requests of the visitors to the sources. Afterwards, the responses are sent as they are from the proxy server and not from the source.

These servers are usually placed near web servers, and all of the requests that are supposed to come to those servers go through the web proxies. The term 'reverse' is used as an opposition to forward, because the reverse server is much closer to the web server and it is responsible only for one or few web servers.

These proxies can serve more purposes, and they are often used to accelerate the encryption. In order to be able to encrypt a website, the web proxy server must have a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). It can also be used as a balance for the load which is sent to more than one web server.

• Performance enhancing proxies

Another way to enhance your internet security is through the use of performance enhancing proxies. This is designed to be able to deal with exact issues and problems that links might cause. It is commonly used to ensure a better performance of the TCP.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6987824