Proxy Server and its uses

A proxy or proxy server is basically another computer which serves as a hub through which internet requests are processed. By connecting through one of these servers, your computer sends your requests to the proxy server which then processes your request and returns what you were wanting. In this way it serves as an intermediary between your home machine and the rest of the computers on the internet. Proxies are used for a number of reasons such as to filter web content, to go around restrictions such as parental blocks, to screen downloads and uploads and to provide anonymity when surfing the internet.

Why Use a Proxy?

If you are wanting to surf the web anonymously then proxies can provide you with a means to hide your home IP address from the rest of the world. By connecting to the internet through proxies, the home IP address of your machine will not be shown but rather the IP of the proxy server will be shown. This can provide you with more privacy then if you were simply connecting directly to the internet. There are number of proxies that can provide you with service. You can find a list of these simply by typing "Proxy List" into any search engine. There are some proxies which are free and some which charge money, the choice is up to you but we have found that the paid proxies are more reliable, faster and more secure.

What is a proxy server?

Proxy server is a computer that sits between a client computer and the Internet, and provide indirect network services to a client. It may reside on the user's local computer, or at various points between the user's computer and destination servers on the Internet. A proxy server intercepts all client requests, and provide responses from its cache or forwards the request to the real server. A client computer is connected to the proxy server, which acknowledges client requests by providing the requested resource/data from either a specified server or the local cache memory. Client requests include files or any other resources available on various servers.

Types of Proxy Servers

Proxy servers are classified into several types based on purpose and functionality. Some of the most common types and their uses can be described as below:

Web Proxy is the most common type of proxy application, which responds to the user requests by accessing resources from cached web pages and files available on remote web servers. This facilitates quick and reliable access to data for local network clients. If the requested resource is not found in the cache, then a web proxy fetches the file from the remote server, and saves a copy in the cache before returning it to the client.

Transparent Proxy is mostly used for caching websites and overcoming simple IP bans. However, such proxies do not provide any user anonymity since user’s original IP address is exposed. Transparent proxies are not specifically configured on the client computers.

Anonymous proxies do not hide the original IP address of the user; however, they provide adequate anonymity to most users. Anonymous proxies are easily detectable.

A distorting proxy, identifies itself as a proxy server, and modify the HTTP headers to disguise the original IP address.

Tunneling proxies are capable of passing client requests and return responses without making any modifications. These are also referred to as gateway proxies.

A forward proxy responds to client requests by retrieving data from a wide range of sources on the internet. It is also referred to as an Internet-facing proxy.

Open proxies belong to the category of forwarding proxy servers, which are accessible by any internet user since they can receive and return requests from any client computer. Meanwhile, anonymous open proxies are used for user anonymity to conceal the IP address.

Reverse proxies, also known as surrogates, usually receive requests from the Internet and forward them to internal network servers. A reverse proxy server forwards requests to one or more proxy servers, whose response is returned to the client computer, the user of which has no knowledge on the origin of the response.