Networking Intermediate

What is Reverse Proxy?

A server that sits between clients and backend servers, forwarding client requests and returning server responses on their behalf.

A reverse proxy accepts requests from the internet and forwards them to backend servers. Unlike a forward proxy (which serves clients), a reverse proxy serves the backend infrastructure. Clients interact with the proxy, unaware of the actual servers.

Benefits include load balancing, SSL termination, caching, compression, and security (hiding backend server details). Nginx and Apache are popular reverse proxy solutions. CDNs like Cloudflare act as global reverse proxies.

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Related Terms

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A geographically distributed network of servers that caches and delivers web content from locations closest to users for faster load times.

The fundamental communication protocol suite of the internet that defines how data is packaged, addressed, transmitted, and received.

The seven-layer Open Systems Interconnection model that standardizes network communication functions from physical transmission to application protocols.

HTTP Keep-Alive

An HTTP mechanism that reuses a single TCP connection for multiple requests, reducing the overhead of establishing new connections.

SDN (Software-Defined Networking)

An approach that separates the network control plane from the data plane, enabling centralized, programmable network management.

A modern, lightweight VPN protocol that uses state-of-the-art cryptography and minimal code for fast, secure tunneling.

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