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.
