When you navigate the internet, your device doesn’t always connect directly to the destination server. Instead, requests are often routed through a proxy before reaching their destination. Proxies come in two primary formats: forward proxies and reverse proxies. A forward proxy sits between the client you’re using (for example, your web browser) and forwards its requests to the internet, while a reverse proxy sits in front of the destination server (for example, the server that holds a website’s data), and handles incoming requests.
Knowing the difference between forward and reverse proxies is key to understanding the broader roles that proxies play in web architecture and security.
- What is a forward proxy?
- What is a reverse proxy?
- Differences between forward and reverse proxies
- Similarities between forward and reverse proxies
What is a forward proxy?
A forward proxy is a kind of proxy server that manages requests between a client (for example, your web browser or a mobile application) and the internet. It’s called a “forward” proxy because it takes requests from your device and “forwards” them to the internet. The same way you can receive an email from one email address and forward it to another, a forward proxy acts as a middleman between your device and the internet.
Residential proxies, datacenter proxies, ISP proxies, and mobile proxies are all examples of forward proxies.
What is a forward proxy and how does it work?
Forward proxy use cases
Forward proxies allow computers on a private network to route their traffic through the proxy server before connecting to the public internet. This is useful in cases where people want to add extra control or security to their network traffic. For example, forward proxies can:
- Hide your IP address by masking it with the proxy server’s IP address
- Control access to websites by filtering which sites people on the network can visit
- Monitor network traffic for security or compliance purposes
- Access geo-restricted or region-specific data
Example
Imagine you run a price comparison company in the travel industry that aggregates prices for airline tickets, hotels, and car rentals. To provide your customers with the best deals, you need to scrape data from hundreds of travel websites. However, the websites you need to scrape often limit the number of requests a single IP can make, or block automated scraping activities altogether. To avoid an IP ban, you need to mask your web scraper’s IP address.
This is where forward proxies come in. Instead of your scraper making direct requests to the travel sites, it can send the requests through a forward proxy – most likely a residential proxy (the best kind of proxy for web scraping). This way, the website only sees the proxy server’s IP address, instead of your real IP.
By using a network of proxy servers, you can rotate between different IP addresses. This ensures that no single IP makes too many requests and triggers an IP ban, so you can continue to scrape the travel websites without interruptions.
What is a reverse proxy?
A reverse proxy is a kind of proxy server that handles requests from clients on behalf of a server (like the requests you send to a website from your web browser). When you visit a website, your request goes through a reverse proxy before it reaches the server that holds the website’s data. Once the website’s server has the information you’ve requested, it sends it back to the reverse proxy, which then delivers it to you.
What is a reverse proxy and how does it work?
Reverse proxy use cases
A reverse proxy lets people access a website by acting as a single entry point. Instead of connecting directly to the website’s servers, you can access the website through the reverse proxy, which enables websites to manage traffic and keep their servers secure. For example, reverse proxies can:
- Distribute traffic so visits to the website don’t overload any single server
- Hide the real server for security, so it’s harder for attackers to find and target the actual server
- Speed up access to the website by serving cached (previously saved) content
Example
Think of a large website like Amazon, that may have millions of people visiting the website at once. A single server wouldn’t be able to handle all the incoming requests, so instead, a reverse proxy sits between the users and Amazon’s network of servers. The reverse proxy distributes the requests efficiently, which makes sure that the traffic doesn’t overload the backend servers. This efficient distribution of traffic helps to maintain the website’s speed and security.
Differences between forward and reverse proxies
The main difference between a forward proxy and a reverse proxy is that a forward proxy acts on behalf of a client to access a server, whereas a reverse proxy works the other way around: it acts on behalf of the server to manage incoming requests from clients.
- A forward proxy acts as an intermediary for clients (like users or scrapers). It helps clients access the internet by hiding their IP addresses and managing requests to web resources.
- A reverse proxy acts as an intermediary for servers (like website servers). It manages incoming requests from users, to help with load balancing, security, and caching.
In short, a forward proxy helps clients access resources, while a reverse proxy helps servers manage and protect access to their resources.
|
Feature |
Forward Proxy |
Reverse Proxy |
|
Placement |
Sits between client and internet |
Sits between client and internet |
|
Primary function |
Controlling outbound traffic |
Managing inbound traffic |
|
Client awareness |
Client is typically aware of the proxy |
Client is unaware of the proxy |
|
Protocol support |
Primarily HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and SOCKS |
HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, UDP, WebSocket, gRPC (depending on implementation) |
|
Benefits |
Access control, content filtering, caching, anonymity, IP rotation |
Improved security, load balancing, caching, SSL termination |
|
Use cases |
Bypassing restrictions, accessing geo-blocked content, avoiding IP bans, bypassing request limits, corporate networks |
Web servers, content delivery networks, application servers |
Configuration and deployment
Forward and reverse proxies also have very different setup processes. The specific configuration steps for either forward or reverse proxies depends on your chosen proxy solutions and your specific requirements.
Forward proxy setup
Setting up a forward proxy typically involves configuring your browser, application, or device to route its traffic through a proxy server (or a network of proxy servers). You can complete this setup:
- In your device’s network settings
- Using your browser or operating system’s built-in proxy configuration tools
- Using specialized proxy management software (for more advanced configurations or for managing multiple proxy servers)
Reverse proxy setup
To deploy a reverse proxy, you may need to install and configure dedicated hardware and software. The configuration process generally involves:
- Setting up virtual hosts
- Defining routing rules to direct traffic to the appropriate backend servers
- Configuring load balancing algorithms
- Handling up caching settings
- Setting up security features
Similarities between forward proxies and reverse proxies
Although forward proxies and reverse proxies fulfill very different roles and have different configurations, there are some similarities between them:
- Both forward and reverse proxies act as intermediaries that sit between clients and servers
- They both intercept and process network traffic, allowing for content filtering, caching, and modification
- Both types of proxies can implement caching mechanisms to locally store content that you access frequently
- Although they handle different sets of protocols, both forward and reverse proxies deal with HTTP and HTTPS traffic, which are the fundamental protocols for web communications
- Both forward and reverse proxies can enhance security, albeit in different ways: Forward proxies can provide anonymity and access control, while reverse proxies can hide the origin server, filter malicious traffic, and implement security features like SSL termination
- Depending on their configuration and implementation, both forward and reverse proxies can play a role in optimizing network performance: Forward proxies can reduce how much bandwidth you use by caching content, while reverse proxies can improve response times by efficiently managing traffic
Use forward proxies with SOAX
If you’re looking to harness proxies for your web scraping projects, you’ll need forward proxies that help you to mask your IP address and automatically rotate, so you can make multiple requests to the same website without triggering rate limits or IP bans. The best kind of forward proxies for this purpose are residential proxies.
SOAX has a huge pool (155 million) of residential proxies that can help you scrape all the data you need, without being interrupted by CAPTCHAs or blocks. You can start using forward proxies with SOAX for just $1.99, which gets you 100MB of traffic to use over three days, so you can get to grips with web scraping for very little investment.
