Proxy Server: A Comprehensive Guide
Table of Contents
Server Types of Servers Website and Web Servers Web Servers Facilitate Proxy Server Proxy Server’s Functionalities
Use of Proxy Servers
Accessing services anonymously
Improving Performance Security Monitoring and Filtering Translation Types of Proxy Servers Reverse Proxy
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Web Proxy Server Anonymous Proxy High Anonymity Proxy Transparent Proxy CGI Proxy Suffix Proxy Distorting Proxy TOR Onion Proxy I2P Anonymous Proxy DNS Proxy Conclusion
Server ďƒ‰ A server is a computer or system which is meant to provide resources, services, data, as well as programs, over a network, to other computers that are known as clients. Whenever computers share resources with client machines these are known as servers. A single client can use multiple servers, as well as a single server can cater to many clients.
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Types of Servers YELLOW
Web Servers
Database Servers
File Servers
Mail Servers
Print Servers
Game Servers
Application Servers 4
Websites and Web Servers In the context of websites, every website is hosted on the web server of a web hosting company. These hosting companies provide the server space, services and technologies that a website needs to be accessible. When one refers to “Windows Hosting” or “Cloud Hosting” one is referring to a particular type of hosting service. When one talks about the “best Web Hosting Company” one is referring to a web hosting service provider who leases a web server for a website’s files to be stored on it and delivered from the server. 5
Web Servers Facilitate
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Web servers fulfil many functions. Some of those are mentioned here, in no particular order.
Accessibility to websites Configuration of website/directory security Configuration of log file settings Creation of an FTP site Configuration of custom error pages Creation of virtual directories
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Proxy Server A proxy server functions as an intermediary between a server and a user. It is used most often to isolate either the users or the servers for security reasons. Proxy servers accept the request from the user and then rather than responding to the user, these relay the request to another server or process. The response that is received by the second server is from the proxy server, which then replies to the original user as if it were replying on its own. This ensures that neither the user nor the responding server needs to be connected directly to each other.
Proxy Servers’ Functionalities 8
Proxy Servers’ Functionalities Proxy servers hide the user’s IP address and make it possible to conceal and make his network ID anonymous. The functionalities offered by proxy servers are mentioned below, in no particular order
Firewall and network data filtering
Data caching
Network connection sharing
Uses of Proxy Servers 9
Proxy servers are used for the following purposes Accessing services anonymously Improving performance Security Monitoring and Filtering Translation These uses are touched upon briefly in the following slides.
Accessing services anonymously 10
When proxy servers are used for this purpose, the anonymous proxy server sends the request to the destination server. This makes sure that no information about the end user is received by the destination server.
1-800-123 -8156 Whoa! That’s a big number, aren’t you proud?
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Improving performance Enhanced performance is achieved through it, as it retrieves content from the cache which was saved when previous request was made by the client.
Security Since the proxy server hides the identity of the user, it protects from spam as well as from any sort of other malicious cyberattack such as hacking.
Monitoring and Filtering With the aid of Proxy Servers, several kinds of filtering can be achievedContent Filtering Bypass filters Logging and eavesdropping Filtering encrypted data
Translation It aids in customizing the source site for local users. This is achieved by excluding the source content or substituting it with original local content. In this case, Translation proxy makes it possible to route the traffic from the global users to the source website.
Types of Proxy Servers The various types of Proxy Servers are touched upon in the following slides.
Reverse Proxy In it the requests are forwarded to one or more proxy servers. The response from the proxy server is retrieved in a way as if it came directly from the original server.
Web Proxy Server Here, the HTTP requests are forwarded. In it, only the URL is passed instead of a path. Request is sent and the proxy server responds to it. Apache, HAProxy are examples of it.
Anonymous Proxy In this type of proxy server, there isn’t any original IP address. Despite being detectable, these servers provides rational anonymity to the client device.
High Anonymity Proxy This type of proxy server ensures that the original IP address does not get detected. Moreover, this proxy server cannot be detected by anyone.
Transparent Proxy A Transparent Proxy is also known as an Intercepting Proxy, a Forged proxy and an Inline Proxy. The original IP address can be easily detected when Transparent Proxy is used. Hence, this type of proxy server doesn’t provide anonymity to the client. It is used as a cache for websites. A transparent proxy when combined with gateway, produces a proxy server where the connection requests sent by the client IP are redirected. For this redirection to take place, the client IP address configuration is not required. The HTTP headers present on the server-side can detect very easily this redirection. A Transparent Proxy intercepts the communication at the network level, without the need for any configuration. These types of proxies are usually used to enforce any policy over communication, at business level. A Transparent Proxy also tries to prevent any attack on TCP servers, such as a denial-of-service attack.
CGI Proxy Websites are made more accessible by CGI Proxy. Requests are accepted by it to target URLs by using a web form. It processes the request and returns the result to the web browser. Its popularity has been reduced due to VPNs and other privacy policies. Yet it receives a substantial amount of requests.
Suffix Proxy This type of proxy server is used for bypassing the web filters. It appends the name of the proxy to the URL to the content that has been requested to the proxy. It doesn’t preserve a higher level of anonymity. A Suffix Proxy is easy to use and implement but it is used less due to the large number or web filters that are present.
Distorting Proxy Distorting Proxy servers can generate an incorrect original IP address of clients. This type of server uses HTTP headers to ensure the confidentiality of the client’s IP address.
TOR Onion Proxy It aims to ensure online anonymity of the users’ personal information. It routes the traffic through various networks that are present globally to make it difficult to track the users’ address. It ensures that it becomes difficult for anyone doing traffic analysis to track the original address. For this purpose it uses Onion Routing.
I2P Anonymous Proxy It is an anonymous network enhanced version of Tor onion proxy. It makes use of encryption to hide every communication at various levels. This encrypted data is then relayed using various network routers that are present in different locations. I2P is a fully distributed proxy that ensures online anonymity. I2P router finds other peers to build an anonymous identity. This is done to protect the user’s personal information.
DNS Proxy Unlike other proxies, DNS Proxy accepts requests in the form of DNS queries. It then forwards those to the Domain server where these can be cached and the flow of request can also be redirected.
Conclusion Proxy servers come in handy in various types of situations where anonymity is required at different levels by either the client or the service provider. Different types of proxies are available which follow various routing protocols and serve different uses and provide different levels of anonymity which have been touched upon in this PPT.
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