Illustration of how a forward proxy works

Hello everyone, I'm your good friend, the editor who specializes in demystifying web technologies! Today, I'm going to demystify a mystery for you, to talk about how forward proxies work.

What is a Positive Proxy

I'll start by popularizing what a forward proxy is. Simply put, a forward proxy is a kind of intermediary located between the client and the target server, playing the role of the requesting party, sending requests to the server on behalf of the client, and forwarding the results of the server's response to the client.

How Positive Proxies Work

Below, I'll take you through the process!

1. The client sends a request to the forward proxy server.

Suppose Xiao Wang wants to access a certain website, his request will first be sent to a forward proxy server. Wang may be at home or at work and can set the address of the forward proxy server.

2. Positive proxy servers receive requests.

When the forward proxy server receives Xiao Wang's request, it sends a request to the target server on behalf of Xiao Wang and disguises its IP address as Xiao Wang's IP address.

3. The target server returns a response.

The target server receives the request, unaware of Xiao Wang's presence, and sends the response to the forward proxy server.

4. The forward proxy server forwards the response to the client.

The forward proxy server receives the response from the target server and then forwards the response to Xiao Wang. It is as if Xiao Wang is communicating directly with the target server, completely unaware of the existence of the forward proxy.

5. The client successfully receives the response.

Finally, Xiao Wang smoothly received the response result from the target server and enjoyed a smooth Internet experience.

give an example

To help you better understand the positive agent, let me give you an example, suppose you are a thief and the goal is to knock on a door to enter someone's home, and you don't want to be caught by the owner. At this point, you can ask a friend to act as a positive agent and knock on the door for you.

You give the request to this friend (the forward proxy server), your friend knocks on the owner's door on your behalf (the target server), and then tells you the status of the door, so you can decide your next move based on the status of the door.

In this way, you have successfully accomplished your goal using a positive agent. The owner didn't have the slightest idea that someone was secretly knocking on the door, the editor was too smart for that!

Difference between forward and reverse proxy

I mentioned forward proxies, so let's talk to you about reverse proxies!

Forward proxies emphasize the role of the proxy, sending requests to the server on behalf of the client, while reverse proxies emphasize the role of the proxy server, sending responses to the client on behalf of the server.

Let's take an example to illustrate. Suppose you are going to steal from your house again, but this time the person knocking on the door is your friend. So that the owner doesn't recognize you from your friend, you ask a stranger (a reverse proxy server) to knock on the door for you.

This stranger knocked on the owner's door on behalf of your friend and told you the status of the door; while the owner only knew that a stranger knocked on the door and had no idea of your relationship with the stranger. Hey, you have successfully fooled the owner again, and you are really a smart editor!

summarize

Do you have some initial understanding of how a forward proxy works? With our own middleman, we can easily access blocked websites and improve the speed and security of network access.

Today, I have unveiled the mystery of forward proxy for you, and I hope it can help you better understand and apply this technology. See you next time, to benefit everyone is the purpose of the editor!

Ahem, the article is not over yet, but let me tell you a little secret. In fact, during the forward proxy process, you may encounter some minor troubles, such as proxy server downtime, request timeout and other problems. However, as long as the relationship between Xiao Wang and the forward proxy remains close, all these problems can be solved!