Nginx Proxy vs Reverse Proxy (Nginx Proxy vs Reverse Proxy)

Although we often hear the terms about Nginx proxy and reverse proxy, do you know the difference between them? Let's talk about this topic today and find out how they are different.

Difference between Nginx Proxy and Reverse Proxy

Imagine you're eating in a restaurant and you order a pasta dish, only to realize that there is no pasta chef in the kitchen. So the waiter goes and finds the chef who specializes in pasta. This is akin to the Nginx proxy, which acts as a waiter, relaying instructions between the guest and the chef so that the chef knows what the guest needs.

However, when you are eating in a restaurant, you realize that all the ingredients you need are not available. So, the restaurant asks the waiter to go to another restaurant to borrow the ingredients. This is akin to a reverse proxy, which not only communicates instructions, but is also able to fetch resources on the server side and return them to the client.

Nginx Proxy vs. Reverse Proxy

The Nginx proxy is an intermediate layer between the client and the server, it is responsible for forwarding requests to the back-end server and returning responses to the client. The reverse proxy, on the other hand, sits on the server side, where the client sends the request to the reverse proxy, which then forwards the request to the back-end server and returns the response to the client.

For example, let's say you're surfing the web and you want to visit a website. If the site uses an Nginx proxy, your request goes through Nginx before being forwarded to the real server. If the site uses a reverse proxy, your request is sent directly to the reverse proxy and then forwarded to the real server.

With these two analogies, we can more clearly understand the difference between an Nginx proxy and a reverse proxy. While they both play a role in connecting clients and servers, they are slightly different in exactly how they work.

Hopefully, through this article, you have gained a deeper understanding of Nginx proxies and reverse proxies. I believe you will be more comfortable using them in your future studies and work.