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What is a proxy service? -Web proxy server


       crux points:
  1. Proxy service is a server that acts on behalf of a client in order to access another service.
  2. In simpler terms, we can say that proxies are the servers which act as an intermediary between the client and another server.
  3. Data will be sent in this way: Client→Proxy server→Server.
  4. Proxies exist at almost every layer of the networking model.
  5. Some examples are web proxies, reverse proxies.
We all know that most of the data communications follow a client-server paradigm.
A client, which requests data and the server, which serves the data requested by the client.
Then, why are we using proxies in between?
Proxies provide some additional features like:
→Anonymity
→Security
→Content filtration
→Increased performance
These are some of the reasons why we are using proxies in between client and server.

There are dozens and dozens of proxies available at this moment. But, we will cover only about web proxy in brief.

Web Proxy:
As from the name only, we can say that it is built to manage web traffic.
Long years ago, when the internet was not so popular, organizations used web proxies in between client and server for optimized performance.
→Web proxies store data as a cache which is received from the server and send it whenever the same data is requested by the client.
→Web proxy has the ability to authorize and unauthorize specific data requested by the client.
Don't worry! I will let you guide this with a small example.

When I (client) entered "www.facebook.com", Facebook should open immediately, right?
So, what happens here is, the web proxy asks the Facebook server that the client is asking to establish a connection with you, now the Facebook agrees and sends data to the proxy.
When data is sent to proxy from server, this web proxy not only forwards this data to the client but also stores this data in the form of cache.

Why does web proxy stores the data from the server as a cache?
The answer is pretty simple.
From the above example, web proxy stored data in the cache and also forward it to me(client).
Now, after some time, my friend (another client) from his home entered "www.facebook.com".
This webpage data is already stored in proxy in the form of cache, now proxy does not ask the server about this information, it directly sends to my friend (another client).
In this way, web proxies are useful.

But, this became very old-fashioned in this era of the internet world.
Because, nowadays, everyone's Facebook page is different.
When I open my Facebook page, I will see the posts according to my likes.
When my friend opens his Facebook page, he will see the posts according to his likes, which clearly shows that data is different from one another.

What is the role of web proxies now?
Let's again start with an example.
There is a company named 'ABCD' which wants to restrict its employees to visit 'www.youtube.com' during work hours because everyone's watching youtube without doing their work. How unfair is that, right?!
Now, How does this company achieve this?
There will be a web proxy arranged in between employees (clients) and 'www.youtube.com'(servers).
This web proxy will be arranged in such a way that it only authorizes websites other than 'www.youtube.com'.
when one of his employee, like me(client) typed 'www.youtube.com', he can't enter into that site because of web proxy which stops from accessing the site.

We have covered a whole lot in this post!
Proxies are cool, isn't it?!




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