What is a proxy server?

Answer

A proxy server is a server that sits between a client application, such as a Web browser, and a real server. A client application is configured to ask a proxy server to get information from the real server. Proxy servers have two main purposes:

• Improve Performance: Proxy servers can dramatically improve performance for groups of users, because it saves the results of all requests for a certain amount of time. Consider the case where both user X and user Y access the World Wide Web through a proxy server: user X requests a certain Web page, which we'll call Page 1. Sometime later, user Y requests the same page - the proxy server simply returns the Page 1 that it already fetched for user X. Real proxy servers support hundreds or thousands of users. The major online services such as Compuserve and America Online, for example, employ an array of proxy servers.
  

• Filter Requests: Proxy servers can also be used to filter requests. For example, a company might use a proxy server to prevent its employees from accessing a specific set of Web sites. However, this is not foolproof, as employees can bypass the proxy!

First answer by anonymous. Last edit by anonymous. Question popularity: 86 [recommend question]

Can you answer other questions about computers and the net?