What is a Proxy Server and How it Works in 2023

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Today everyone uses more and more internet, so you must have heard about the server, but do you know What is a Proxy Server. here I will tell you about a server that perhaps very few people will know about it, its name is proxy server, its main job is to present to you websites that have been banned or blocked.

You must be wondering What is a Proxy Server and How it Works, today I am going to tell you about this, read the article till the end so that you can get complete information.

What is a Proxy Server

What is a proxy server, let me tell you that proxy server is a server that acts as a bridge between the user and the Internet, which connects the user between the internet worlds. Proxy server is a computer that acts as a gateway between the client and the Internet. The word proxy means to present to someone else. Working on behalf of someone else, the proxy server sends a request on the Internet on behalf of the client and then sends information to the Internet client.

There is a special Internet address i.e., IP address for every computer on the Internet, you can understand the IP Address in such a way that there is an address of your home where the letter or package of your name is delivered to your address.

In the same way, IP address is used to transmit data from the Internet to your device, due to the IP address, the location of your device can be detected from the Internet, many people use proxy server to hide the IP address of their computer.

When you use a browser to access a website on the Internet, you connect directly to this website, the website you want to visit, but the proxy server communicates with the website using other IP addresses on your behalf and delivers information to you, which hides the IP address of your device.

This means that we can see the website on our computer system or other device, but the system connecting to the website’s server is something else called proxy server, with the help of this server, we can access a website through proxy server instead of directly accessing it from the computer.

Types of Proxy Server

Above we know what is proxy server and let us now know how many types of proxy servers are there, so let me tell you that there are many types of proxy servers and everyone’s work is different, so let us first know how many types of proxy servers are there.

Reverse Proxy Server
Web Proxy Server
Anonymous Proxy Server
Highly Anonymity Proxy
Transparent Proxy
CGI Proxy
Suffix Proxy
Distorting Proxy
Tor Onion Proxy
12P Anonymous Proxy
DNS Proxy

How does a Proxy Server Work?

Proxy server acts as a medium between the user and the website server. When the user needs any information, he searches for a web page or website in the web browser. The user’s request then reaches the website’s server through the proxy server and then the website’s server sends the content or file to the proxy server based on the request received from the proxy server. Information is sent from the server to the user’s device.

Whenever a user wants access to a website through a proxy server, he is not able to direct it, for that most goes to the proxy server and then that request goes from proxy server to main web server. In this way, instead of sending the data directly to the client of the web server, it first sends data to the proxy server, if it is said in easy language, the user is getting data indirectly from the Internet|

Use of Proxy Server

Proxy is mostly used to hide your IP address for security reasons, apart from this it is also used to access a blocked website.

Let us now know in detail what is the work of proxy server and why it is used:

To increase internet speed: Network performance can be increased by installing a good proxy server in an organization. The proxy server stores a website or file in its cache memory, so that whenever you want to see that website, it can reach you directly from the local storage of the proxy server, that is, there will be no need to send a request to the website’s server, this will save time and bandwidth.

To hide the IP address: If you access a website directly from your computer, your IP address reaches the server where that website is hosted, which can gather some other personal information about you in addition to your location. But you can hide your IP and other identities with the help of proxy.

For monitoring: You can set up a proxy server in your office to help monitor internet usage by your employee. Apart from this, parents can find out which websites their children visit by putting it in their home.

To access blocked websites: You may have noticed that your school, college, or office computer has some restrictions so that you can not see some things on the Internet. Apart from this, many websites are also banned by the company or government according to geographic location or country, proxy can be used to bypass all these security restrictions and filters.

To increase the security of the system: There is always a risk for any organization to hack its servers and data loss. In this case, the proxy largely provides some benefits. You can encrypt the communication with the client and the server by configuring your proxy server so that no third party can read it. You can also block malicious websites. The proxy server adds an extra security layer between your server and outside traffic. Hackers can access your proxy server, but they will have to face trouble in reaching your actual server where all the data is stored. Although it is not possible that your system will be completely saved from being hacked only by installing a proxy server and changing the IP, but with proxy you can increase security to some extent.

What is the Role of Proxy Server in Opening a Blocked Website

In a country or a government organization, some websites are blocked, no matter how much you try, you can not open that blocked website in your system, but if you try to open a blocked website using a proxy server, you will be able to easily see their content.

When you open a blocked website through a proxy server, your IP address is hidden on the Internet and replaced by an IP address. If you want to open a blocked website, type a free proxy server list and you will find many websites from where you will get a list of free proxy servers, from which you will get a list of free proxy servers, you can select a proxy server and open it and type the URL of the blocked website on the search box. Search and as soon as you search, your searched website will open.

Advantage Of Proxy Server

Now we tell you what are the benefits of proxy server.

Proxy servers are mostly used for caching
The proxy server has hidden data to the IP address
Blocked website can be opened by proxy server, a website can also be blocked on the request of the user
Protects proxy servers from being hacked for any organization.

Disadvantages Of Proxy Server

Along with the advantages of proxy server, it also has its disadvantages which are as follows: –

Users’ data is stored in the proxy server’s cache, no other user can access the data present in it, but here the problem can arise from the proxy server itself because only the employees working through the proxy server can try to access these data.
Proxy servers provide privacy but it does not fully secure data because its encryption capacity is a bit weak. There are many proxy servers that use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) to keep the data safe. Which is not enough to stop today’s hackers can access the data of any other user, which is why the data in proxy servers is much less secure.
Proxy server servicing is expensive, due to which small companies are unable to buy it.

FAQs

Q1) What is the main Function of a Proxy Server?

Ans: The main job of the proxy server is to access the blocked website and allow its content to be read.

Q2) Can a Proxy Server be Used for Free?

Ans: Yes, there are many proxy servers that can be used for free but it is a bit difficult and nothing can be said about the reliability of the data, so the paid server is considered more reliable, so if possible, use the paid proxy server.

Conclusion

As you read above, proxy server has many advantages, but it also has some disadvantages, but it is also not that all the proxies have all the advantages or disadvantages given above depends on its configuration and administrator.

Before using any proxy server, you should have all the information about it, you should know whether it can be trusted or not. We advise you to be careful while using any public proxy and do not provide your sensitive information such as username, password, credit card details etc.

We hope you liked this information about proxy server. For more such information, keep visiting our website TheTechHere. You can also put your thoughts or suggestions in the comment box below.