Imagine that you are a bouncer working in an upscale nightclub. But instead of stopping rowdy partygoers from ruining your dance floor, the bouncer is managing traffic and safeguarding your servers. It’s not unlike a Reverse proxy, only it has a lot more sophistication, and no bass-heavy sounds.
Imagine yourself running a popular website, with lots of visitors. Although it’s exciting, the headaches could be endless. Reverse proxy servers help spread the load among multiple servers. You can think of reverse proxies as the load balanced at the parquet dancing floor. They help keep everything flowing smoothly, by directing dance-happy visitors to the proper patch of polished wood.
Why use a Reverse Proxy when you can simply access the server directly? The same as deciding whether to make sandwiches with or without plates. Yes, it’s doable, but a mess is inevitable.
This reverse proxy conceals your server’s location, working like a secret agent. This anonymity increases security and makes it difficult for malicious hackers to identify specific servers. As if a hacker was Sherlock Holmes, then your server became Moriarty with a hidden disguise.
Additionally, SSL termination is a key function of these servers. It means that they decrypt the incoming traffic, before it even reaches the servers. This helps to keep them from getting bogged down. The wingman can decode that mysterious text message sent by your crush. But this is all about encrypted data.
It’s important to not underestimate caching. Suppose that you have a website with a great deal of static data, whether it’s images, videos or comedic GIFs. Reverse proxy servers can deliver these popular requests by using a cache. Instead of bugging backends over and over again, visitors can get their content faster. Like having tasty leftovers.
Data can be compressed by reverse proxy services, which is also a matter of speed. Just like packing efficiently a suitcase, they lighten the load for travel. It is not necessary to carry a bulky load, if it can be zipped down. This will speed up the downloading process.
The web accelerator is another feature of the digital Swiss Army knife. When the reverse proxy is sending data one-by-one, it’s called web acceleration. It’s like the juggler in a show tossing a few balls.
Talk about yet another great feature. They are excellent at dividing up service. Imagine the restaurant with three waiters: one who handles the appetizers, the other the main meal, and the last the clearing of the table. It makes dining a pleasant experience. By using reverse proxy, you can give your server a lighter workload to manage, instead of having a chaotic array.
A variety of configurations are available to help businesses scale quickly. In the event of a traffic increase, additional servers are easily added. Like having a backyard that can be expanded; how about more guests? You can always pitch tents to continue the party.
We’ll call this company ‘Widget Wonders. ‘They faced a traffic storm after a post went viral. As if a car stuck on a muddy pit, servers were slow and drowning. It was zing when they deployed reverse proxy. It balanced the load and spread traffic. Widget Wonders has become the face of ecommerce.
Now let’s talk a little bit about the technical side of things. In reverse proxies, protocols are used such as HTTPS. For forward proxy servers, protocols include SOCKS. The jargon is not important. Instead, focus on the fact that these proxies are able to handle large volumes of Internet traffic.
Reverse proxy should be considered the next time that you want to make improvements to your website server architecture. Reverse proxy serves as more than a middleman.