LDAPWiki: Proxy Server

Overview#

Proxy Server is a proxy Service (a computer server or an application) that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. A client connects to the Proxy Server, requesting some resource, such as a file, connection, WEB page (URL), or other resource available from a different server and the Proxy Server evaluates the request and determines which server to connect the client.

Proxy Server is an Application Layer device which is an Observer and by definition a Man-In-The-Middle.Proxy Server may not meet the strict definition of a Proxy as the End-User may not have Consented or provided Permission to the proxy.

Proxy Server Classifications #

A Proxy Server 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 that passes requests and responses unmodified is usually called a gateway or sometimes a tunneling proxy or Transparent Proxy. (SOCKS)
A forward proxy is an Internet-facing proxy used to retrieve from a wide range of sources (in most cases anywhere on the Internet).
A Reverse Proxy is usually an internal-facing proxy used as a front-end to control and protect access to a private Local Area Network (LAN). A Reverse Proxy commonly also performs tasks such as
Access Proxy
TLS Proxy
Application routes

Uses of Proxy Server [2]#

There are of course many legitimate uses for Proxy Server including:

Load Balancing
providing single point of entry to a private network

Security Considerations #

Proxy Server is an Observer and by definition a Man-In-The-Middle.

Privacy Considerations #

Proxy Server is an Observer and by definition a Man-In-The-Middle.

More Information#

There might be more information for this subject on one of the following:

[#1] - Types of Proxies - based on data observed:2015-12-27
[#2] - Uses of Proxies - based on data observed:2015-12-27