A proxy server allows the user to browse without identifying themselves.
The idea of proxy is used in reference to the agent that has authorization to perform an action on behalf of another entity . The term is usually used in the field of computing to refer to the server that, in a network, acts as an intermediary when a client requests resources from a server.
a mediator
The proxy server , or simply proxy , allows traffic to be recorded and monitored, ensures that communication is anonymous and helps to optimize performance, for example. In some cases, however, the use of a proxy is considered illegitimate.
A proxy, in short, is a mediator or a link. Suppose that computer A needs to request a resource from computer C. If you do it through a server B , it is responsible for transferring the request to C , so C does not register that the original request came from A. As you can see from what was expressed above, in this case server B is the proxy server .
In practice, the proxy is dedicated to intercepting connections made from a client to a destination server. When browsing the World Wide Web , the web proxy appears in this frame.
The proxy, in turn, can be local (the client that makes the request itself seeks the interception, thus allowing the establishment of filtering rules) or external (the implementation of the proxy is decided by an external entity).
Proxy server: advantages and disadvantages
Let's look at some advantages:
* control user access through restrictive permissions , since the proxy is the one that must fully access the information;
* since the proxy is the only one that must have the functional resources to handle the real work, this allows savings on the other teams;
* The proxy server can make copies of the resources requested by the clients in a cache to speed up the process when they are needed again, since in this way new contact with the destination is avoided.
And some disadvantages:
* that many clients communicate through the same proxy represents a problem in a case in which identification is necessary;
* since the proxy receives requests from multiple clients and must provide responses, if access control is not meticulous it can become overloaded;
* The aforementioned cache and the fact that the proxy is an intermediary is annoying for some users who highly value their privacy.
Other concepts
The notion of proxy is also used in other contexts. A climate proxy , also called a paleoclimatic indicator , is a record of biophysical particularities of the past that is intended for the measurement of meteorological conditions and thus serves to reconstruct the climatic characteristics of historical moments.
A proxy video is a lightweight copy of the original for easy editing.
In the field of digital video editing, on the other hand, we speak of a proxy video to refer to a lower quality copy that serves to speed up the process before publication . If we have a project filmed in a considerable resolution, a high refresh rate and very rich in colors, it is likely that we will not be able to edit it easily unless we have an extremely powerful computer. Thanks to the use of a video proxy, however, the impact on the processor, RAM and graphics card is drastically reduced.
A proxy variable , finally, is a statistical variable to which no interest is attributed in itself, but is important in making it possible to obtain others of greater interest through a correlation with the inferred value.