It requires provisioning the host with appropriate specifications, configuring the operating system and firewall, deciding on which proxy software to use (such as NGINX or HAProxy), enumerating and configuring the downstream servers in the proxy configuration files, setting up audit logging, and configuring the firewalls in all the downstream servers.Īn administrator will need to optimize the proxy software to adjust for performance and availability requirements. While a reverse proxy can greatly simplify the process of managing access to a network, setting it up and configuring it properly can get complicated. Setting up a Reverse Proxy for Access Management This greatly simplifies the configuration process and helps ensure access is granted and revoked correctly by doing so through a single source. As such, the backend servers only need to trust and communicate with the proxy directly. However, with a reverse proxy, administrators can configure the access rights directly on the proxy server and have the user route all traffic through it. In a large organization with many servers, this can be a time-consuming and error-prone process. Traditionally, an admin has to configure each server for which users need access. When onboarding a new user to a network, administrators must configure access control and firewalls to ensure the user can access the appropriate resources.
In addition to simplifying client configuration, an admin can configure a reverse proxy to load-balance traffic so that requests can be more evenly distributed to the backend servers and improve overall performance. Because clients interact directly with the proxy, they only need to know its hostname and don't need to worry about changes to the backend network topology. Using a reverse proxy can also allow administrators to easily swap backend servers in and out without disrupting traffic. All existing servers behind the proxy will be protected accordingly, and whenever admins add a new backend server to the network that is configured to only accept requests from the proxy server, the new backend server is protected according to the proxy configuration. They can configure backend servers to only accept traffic directly from the proxy and then configure the granular access control configurations on the proxy itself.įor example, admins can configure the reverse proxy’s firewall to whitelist or blacklist specific IP addresses. Reverse proxy configurationīy routing client traffic through a reverse proxy, admins can simplify security administration. It handles all the access policy management and traffic routing, and it protects the identity of the server that actually processes the request. A reverse proxy, on the other hand, routes traffic on behalf of multiple servers.Ī reverse proxy effectively serves as a gateway between clients, users, and application servers. For instance, a business may have a proxy that routes and filters employee traffic to the public Internet. The client only communicates directly with the reverse proxy server and it does not know that some other server actually processed its request.Ī traditional forward proxy server allows multiple clients to route traffic to an external network. A reverse proxy is a server that accepts a request from a client, forwards the request to another one of many other servers, and returns the results from the server that actually processed the request to the client as if the proxy server had processed the request itself. Unlike a traditional proxy server, which is used to protect clients, a reverse proxy is used to protect servers. What Is a Reverse Proxy? A reverse proxy is a type of proxy server. Proxy servers expose a single interface with which clients interact without having to enforce all of the policies and route management logic within the clients themselves. Systems with shared networks, such as business organizations or data centers, often use proxy servers. By doing so, it can regulate traffic according to preset policies, convert and mask client IP addresses, enforce security protocols, and block unknown traffic. What Is a Forward Proxy (Proxy Server)? A proxy server, sometimes referred to as a forward proxy, is a server that routes traffic between client(s) and another system, usually external to the network. In this post, we’ll dissect the two concepts and explain how administrators can use a reverse proxy for easy access management control. There’s often confusion, however, on how this differs from a reverse proxy. Many businesses use proxy servers to route and secure traffic between networks.
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