System Design Series: Proxies
In my ongoing journey to learn more about system design, I’ve been exploring the concepts of Proxy and Reverse Proxy. As someone who is still in the process of mastering these topics, I’ve been using medium as a platform to share what I’ve learned so far and to deepen my own understanding of these important networking concepts. As always, I welcome feedback, comments, and critiques from readers as I continue to explore this fascinating area of study.
If you’ve ever surfed the internet, chances are you’ve heard of a proxy. But do you know what it is exactly? And a reverse proxy? What’s the difference between them? In this article, we’ll explain these concepts and their uses.
A proxy is a server that acts as an intermediary between your computer and the internet. When you connect to the internet through a proxy, your requests are sent first to the proxy server, which forwards them to the internet. When the response arrives, it’s sent back to the proxy server, which relays it to your computer.
There are different types of proxies, but the basic idea is the same: hide your computer’s real IP address and improve network performance. For example, if you’re browsing a site that’s blocked in your region, you can use a proxy to connect to a server in another region that has access to the site. The proxy server sends the requests on your behalf, and thus, geographical restrictions can be bypassed.
The reverse proxy, in turn, is a server that acts as an intermediary between your network servers and the internet. When a request arrives at the reverse proxy server, it forwards it to one of the network servers, which processes the request and returns the response to the reverse proxy server. Then, the reverse proxy server sends the response back to the client.
One of the main uses of the reverse proxy is load balancing among the network servers. In other words, if one server is overloaded, the reverse proxy can forward the requests to another available server. This helps ensure that the network is always running efficiently.
Another advantage of the reverse proxy is security. The reverse proxy server can act as a firewall, blocking malicious requests and protecting the network servers from attacks.
In summary, a proxy is a server that acts as an intermediary between your computer and the internet, while a reverse proxy is a server that acts as an intermediary between your network servers and the internet. Both have different uses, but are essential to improve network performance and security.
