What Is a Proxy Server?
A proxy server is a server that is situated between a client application, such as a Web browser or a Winsock application, and a server to which the client connects. All client requests are sent to the proxy server. The proxy server creates a new request and sends the request to the specified server. The server response is sent back to the proxy server, which then replies to the client application. A proxy server can provide enhanced security and performance for Internet connections.
The most important reason for using a proxy server is to make the user’s connection to the Internet more secure. Proxy servers make the Internet connection more secure in the following ways:
1- User authentication When a user requests a connection to an Internet resource, the proxy server can require that the user authenticate, either by forcing the user to enter a user name and password or by using the cached credentials stored on the client computer. The proxy server can then grant or deny access to the Internet resource, based on the authenticated user.
2- Filtering client requests The proxy server can use multiple criteria to filter client requests. In addition to filtering the request based on the user making the request, the proxy server can filter requests based on the IP address, the protocol or application that is being used to access the Internet, the time of day, and the Web site the user requests.
3- Content inspection Proxy servers can inspect all traffic to and from the Internet connection and determine if there is any traffic that should be denied. This may include examining the traffic content for inappropriate words, scanning for viruses, or scanning for file extensions.
4- Logging user access Because all traffic flows through the proxy server, the server can log whatever the user does. For HTTP requests, this can include logging every URL visited by each user. The proxy server can be configured to provide detailed reports of user activity that can be used to ensure compliance with the organization’s Internet usage policies.
5- Hiding the internal network details Because all requests for Internet resources come from the proxy server rather than from the internal client computer, the details of the internal network are hidden from the Internet. In almost all cases, no client computer information, such as computer name or IP address, is sent to the Internet resource. In some cases, such as when creating a Remote Desktop Protocol connection to a server on the Internet, the client computer name is transmitted on the Internet.
Another benefit of using a proxy server is to improve Internet access performance. The Web proxy server improves performance by caching requested Internet pages on the Web proxy server’s hard disk. When another user requests the same information, the proxy server provides the page from the cache rather than retrieving it from the Internet.
How Proxy Servers Work
Proxy servers can be used to secure both inbound and outbound Internet access. When a proxy server is used to secure outbound Internet access, it is configured as a forwarding proxy server. When a proxy server is used to secure inbound Internet access, it is configured as a reverse proxy server.
How Does a Forward Proxy Server Work?
Forward proxy servers are usually located between a Web or Winsock application running on a client computer on the internal network and an application server located on the Internet. The proxy server may be running at the connection point between the Internet and the internal network. In this case, the client computers may have no physical connection to the Internet other than through the proxy server. In other cases, a firewall may be deployed between the Internet and the proxy server, but all client computers will still be configured to use the proxy server.
The following steps outline how a forward Web Proxy server works for a Web application:
1. A client application, such as a Web browser, makes a request for an object located on a Web server. The client application checks its Web proxy configuration to determine whether the request destination is on the local network or on an external network.
2. If the requested Web server is not on the local network, the request is sent to the proxy server.
3. The proxy server checks the request to confirm that there is no policy in place that blocks access to the requested content.
4. If caching is enabled, the proxy server also checks if the requested object exists in its local cache. If the object is stored in the local cache and it is current, the proxy server sends the object to the client from the cache. If the page is not in the cache or if the page is out of date, the proxy server sends the request to the appropriate server on the Internet.
5. The Web server response is sent back to the proxy server. The proxy server filters the response based on the filtering rules configured on the server.
6. If the content is not blocked and it is cacheable, ISA Server saves a copy of the content in its cache and the object is then returned to the client application that made the original request.
Lesson 2: Configuring ISA Server as a Proxy Server
