Proxy servers are essential components for a good experience browsing the web. However, there are two variants that apply to both the client and server sides. Specifically, we are talking about the proxy server and the reverse proxy server. What are the differences? What is best for me to implement? We will explain everything you should know in this guide.
What is a proxy server?
It is a server that is installed locally within the professional network, or also on an Internet server. A proxy server has two main functions:
- Helps to circumvent restrictions imposed by one or more firewalls. These restrictions apply to websites, many institutions, organizations and governments restrict access to certain websites for various reasons: security, increased productivity of collaborators, parental control, etc. Let’s take an example: the organization blocks web browsing from certain sites. If we connect to an external proxy to which we do have access, we can evade these restrictions because all traffic will go to the Proxy server and not directly to the Internet. Of course, there are proxies that are HTTP, and others that are HTTPS to maintain point-to-point confidentiality.
- A proxy also serves to restrict access to different websites of an organization. All the PCs of that organization need to configure the proxy in their browser to be able to access the Internet and navigate through different pages, if you remove this configuration you simply will not have access because we will be cutting traffic with a firewall. If this proxy whitelists websites, you will only be able to access these sites.
Over time, website administrators have found ways to control proxies. However, there are both free and paid solutions. The paid ones have more advanced features such as changing the IP address every time you visit a website. So these administrators have even more difficulty monitoring visitors.
An interesting fact is that proxy servers can act as a cache server . This is very useful to improve the user experience when browsing recurring web resources, the most normal thing in a professional network where the Internet is accessed, is that it also acts as a cache to save bandwidth resources. This is possible thanks to the fact that this proxy server generates a cache-type copy and stores it so that any user who accesses that resource does so more quickly without having to request the web again. This is one of the most effective tricks to be able to navigate faster.
Historically, the proxy is known as the predecessor of NAT . So the latter was not available on routers forever. Remember that the nat eo process consists of translating private IP addresses to public ones. This serves so that we can have access to the Internet and have access to the millions of web resources available. So, before NAT can be applied, the proxy allowed multiple computers connected to the same network to have access to the Internet.
Are there any downsides? The main one is that the overall speed decreases. However, this depends on two fundamental factors: where the proxy is located and how many people are currently using the service. From this point on, we reinforce the importance of using payment services or, better said, those that can guarantee good connection speeds without precisely paying too much money. Free services do not always result in good browsing speeds and can result in security and privacy issues with your online data.
Reverse proxy: server side
This would be the essential difference. Web server administrators use the reverse proxy to improve accessibility to websites. The server acting as the reverse proxy is located in the middle of the link between the client and the web server. The client makes a web request, instead of going directly to the server, it goes to the reverse proxy. In turn, that request eventually goes to the web server.
This is actually a resource highly used by websites to improve page load speed. So important is the time that the sites load that, if a user perceives a minimum delay, by the time he finishes loading that slow page … the user will have already opted for another faster site. Next, we will share a couple of schemes that very practical illustrate the difference between the “normal” proxy (or forward proxy ) and the reverse proxy (or reverse proxy ):
The reverse proxy is located on the side of the web server so that it acts as an intermediary for all web requests from clients.
The proxy ( forward proxy ) is located on the client side and it can be said that it also acts as an intermediary to facilitate access to web resources.
Reverse proxy benefits
The benefits of reverse proxy would be summed up in increased web server performance and security. We will now quote in detail what the benefits are:
- Load balancing : the latter is also known as load balancing . Load balancing allows millions of users to have permanent access to a web resource quickly. It consists of distributing the load of web requests on several servers and the role of the reverse proxy is to guarantee that each one of them treats the same number of requests to avoid overflow.
- Protection against attacks. This is possible because the actual IP address of the web server is never revealed. The reverse proxy then acts as a “mask” for the actual web server and all requests are routed to it instead of the web server. By not knowing their IP address, cybercriminals have more difficulties in wanting to carry out attacks like DDoS . Even if they want to attack reverse proxy providers or similar services, if you have really hired one from a company recognized for its services and computer security, these should have the highest standards of security and protection against these events.
- Cache. We mentioned earlier that proxies, on the client side, can act as a cache server for frequently visited web resources, to maximize the user experience. However, on the server side this is also applicable, even more so if the original web servers are located in locations very distant from most of the users of a website.
- SSL encryption. This is extremely convenient to apply. Since the reverse proxy server will be able to easily decrypt all the web requests that are generated and when it has the response for the client from the original web server, it will encrypt them so that it can travel and reach it. And it’s convenient as it saves a lot of resources for the web server and so uses it in other ways to improve performance.
We recommend you visit the official website of Traefik , one of the softwares to configure a more recommended reverse proxy that we can currently find. It has support for HTTP and HTTPS, load balancing and many more really cool features.
Finally, what is the most convenient for me? Actually, a proxy and a reverse proxy serve completely different things from the point of view of their use. As we have seen, proxy servers have two ways of being implemented: the way that most know (the “traditional”) and the reverse proxy server. On the one hand, there is the client-side proxy that gives us freed access to many resources on the web that may be restricted for us, whether due to geographic, political, etc. issues.
On the other hand, the reverse proxy is focused and applied on the server side. This is one of the components that should be practically right-handed for website administrators. It has been seen that the main benefit is greater and better performance of the web server in general, since it helps to manage more efficiently all the web requests that are generated. In short, it acts as a protective shield against a wide variety of attacks that continue to be the order of the day.
