What is a proxy and a reverse proxy? So that
is the topic of this video. So let's talk about what a proxy is. Now the definition of a proxy is
just someone or something that has authority to do something for another person or thing. So in terms
of computers and networks, a proxy is a server and a proxy server acts on behalf of clients on a
network, such as retrieving data for those clients. A proxy is a middleman that sits between a private
network and the public internet. So for example here we have a private network with a bunch of
computers or clients. Now all of these computers have access to the internet. But as most of us
know, with all these computers having the ability to access the internet, it could also create a
massive security concern. Because with all of these individual computers accessing the internet, they
could draw in malicious traffic that could wreak havoc inside this network. So this is where a
proxy, or to be more specific, a forward proxy can be beneficial. When a forward proxy server is
used on this network, the proxy server is now the guardian of this network. So when all of these
computers want to access the internet, they go to the proxy server instead and then the proxy server
will fetch the data out on the internet on their behalf. So by doing this, this creates a safety
barrier between a private network and the internet. Because a major benefit of a proxy is that it can
regulate traffic by blocking harmful websites. And some other benefits of a proxy is that it
hides the identity of clients by masking their IP addresses and using its own IP address. So when
these clients connect to websites and servers out on the internet, those websites and servers
only see the IP address of the proxy server and not the clients'. Another benefit is that
it logs user activity. A lot of organizations like to know what websites that their clients
are visiting. And by using a proxy it will keep track of the websites that were visited
and how long they were on those websites. And another benefit is that it can bypass
restricted content. Some organizations like schools and governments, may restrict access
to certain websites. But by using a proxy you may be able to bypass those restrictions
and access those restricted websites. And finally another benefit of using a proxy
server is speed. Because a proxy can cache or store copies of websites that are frequently used
by their clients. So instead of the proxy server fetching the same websites out on the internet
over and over again, those websites can be stored in the proxies cache database instead.
So this was an example of a forward proxy. Now a reverse proxy, just like the name says,
is the reverse of a forward proxy. A reverse proxy is also placed on a network, but instead
of regulating traffic going out of a network, a reverse proxy regulates traffic
coming into a network. So for example here we have a private network with servers.
And servers are just powerful computers that clients connect to if they want to access certain
data such as retrieving a website, or access a database, and so on. And these servers will
accept incoming connections from clients outside its network from the internet. So when a client
on the internet wants to access certain data on these servers, they will directly connect to one
of these servers. But by having direct access to a server, this can be a security risk and open
the door for hackers to create problems on these servers. So this is where a reverse proxy can
help. By using a reverse proxy on this network it creates a single point of entry that can regulate
incoming traffic. So now when computers from the internet want to access data on these servers,
they no longer directly communicate with the servers, they only communicate with the reverse
proxy server and then the reverse proxy will fetch the data from the server and then direct it back
to the computer. So what are the benefits of a reverse proxy? Well as I stated before, a reverse
proxy increases the security on a private network. And one of the ways it does this is by hiding the
IP addresses of the servers. So when a computer on the internet wants to access a website for
example, on one of these servers, they will not see the IP address of the server, they will
only see the IP address of the reverse proxy. Another security benefit is that it will block
malicious traffic such as what happens in a DDOS attack. A DDOS attack is a simultaneous attack
from a bunch of computers over the internet targeting a specific server by its IP address. And
a reverse proxy is an effective defense against this type of attack because it will sit between
the client and the server, acting like a buffer to stop the attack from ever reaching the server
and it will also hide the server's IP address. And another benefit is load balancing. Most
of the time in a network, multiple servers are used to handle incoming traffic. And some
servers may get overwhelmed with more traffic than others. So to solve this problem a reverse
proxy can act like a traffic cop that is used to evenly distribute traffic to multiple servers so
that certain servers don't get overloaded with traffic. So in short, a forward proxy is there to
protect clients, while a reverse proxy is there to protect servers. So now that we understand the
difference between forward and reverse proxies, you're probably wondering how to build your
own proxy network. And the good news is, you don't have to. Bright Data is an industry leader
that has developed a network of over 72 million proxy IPs globally. Bright Data's proxy network
consists of four proxy types. Such as residential proxies. Residential proxies offer anonymous
browsing using real residential IP addresses, popular for web scraping due to their low block
rate. ISP proxies, ISP proxies are fast reliable and used by businesses for web scraping benefiting
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Bright Data offers proxy management tools, web unlockers, and a scraping browser that
allows you to collect public web data just like a real user at scale. The proxy manager helps
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data you need unrestricted. And the scraping browser allows you to scale up with a seamless
data extraction experience from a real browser. So if you're interested in getting a proxy please
visit brightdata.com/powercert or just click the link below in the description of this video
and you'll get $25 off when you book a demo. So guys I want to thank you for
watching this video on proxies, please subscribe and I will
see you in the next video.
