This PPT aims at providing information about web servers in general and in brief initially, to create the foundation for grasping more detailed information about Proxy Servers in particular. The major content of this PPT is meant to provide useful information about Proxy Servers that will enable one to understand this type of server and its uses and types.

1. Proxy Server: A
Comprehensive Guide

2. Table of Contents
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 Server
 Types of Servers
 Website and Web Servers
 Web Servers Facilitate
 Proxy Server
 Proxy Server’s Functionalities
 Use of Proxy Servers
 Accessing services anonymously
 Improving Performance
 Security
 Monitoring and Filtering
 Translation
 Types of Proxy Servers
 Reverse Proxy
 Web Proxy Server
 Anonymous Proxy
 High Anonymity Proxy
 Transparent Proxy
 CGI Proxy
 Suffix Proxy
 Distorting Proxy
 TOR Onion Proxy
 I2P Anonymous Proxy
 DNS Proxy
 Conclusion

3.  A server is a computer or system which is meant to provide resources, services,
data, as well as programs, over a network, to other computers that are known as
clients. Whenever computers share resources with client machines these are known
as servers. A single client can use multiple servers, as well as a single server can
cater to many clients.
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Server

4. YELLOW
 Web Servers
 Database Servers
 File Servers
 Mail Servers
 Print Servers
 Game Servers
 Application Servers
Types of Servers
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5. Websites and Web Servers
 In the context of websites, every website is hosted on the
web server of a web hosting company. These hosting
companies provide the server space, services and
technologies that a website needs to be accessible. When
one refers to “Windows Hosting” or “Cloud Hosting” one is
referring to a particular type of hosting service. When one
talks about the “best Web Hosting Company” one is
referring to a web hosting service provider who leases a
web server for a website’s files to be stored on it and
delivered from the server.
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6. Web Servers Facilitate
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Web servers fulfil many functions. Some of those are mentioned here, in no
particular order.
 Accessibility to websites
 Configuration of website/directory security
 Configuration of log file settings
 Creation of an FTP site
 Configuration of custom error pages
 Creation of virtual directories

7. Proxy Server
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A proxy server functions as an intermediary between a server and a user. It is used
most often to isolate either the users or the servers for security reasons. Proxy
servers accept the request from the user and then rather than responding to the
user, these relay the request to another server or process. The response that is
received by the second server is from the proxy server, which then replies to the
original user as if it were replying on its own. This ensures that neither the user nor
the responding server needs to be connected directly to each other.

8. Proxy Servers’ Functionalities
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Proxy Servers’ Functionalities
Proxy servers hide the user’s IP address and make it possible to conceal and make
his network ID anonymous. The functionalities offered by proxy servers are
mentioned below, in no particular order-
 Firewall and network data filtering
 Data caching
 Network connection sharing

9. Uses of Proxy Servers
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Proxy servers are used for the following purposes-
 Accessing services anonymously
 Improving performance
 Security
 Monitoring and Filtering
 Translation
These uses are touched upon briefly in the following slides.

10. Accessing services anonymously
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When proxy servers are used for this purpose, the anonymous proxy server sends the request
to the destination server. This makes sure that no information about the end user is received
by the destination server.

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1-800-123 -8156
Whoa! That’s a big number, aren’t you proud?

12. Improving performance
Enhanced performance is achieved through it, as it retrieves content from the cache
which was saved when previous request was made by the client.

13. Security
Since the proxy server hides the identity of the user, it protects from spam as well as
from any sort of other malicious cyberattack such as hacking.

14. Monitoring and Filtering
With the aid of Proxy Servers, several kinds of filtering can be achieved-
 Content Filtering
 Bypass filters
 Logging and eavesdropping
 Filtering encrypted data

15. Translation
It aids in customizing the source site for local users. This is achieved by excluding the
source content or substituting it with original local content. In this case, Translation
proxy makes it possible to route the traffic from the global users to the source
website.

16. Types of Proxy Servers
The various types of Proxy Servers are touched upon in the following slides.

17. Reverse Proxy
In it the requests are forwarded to one or more proxy servers. The response from the
proxy server is retrieved in a way as if it came directly from the original server.

18. Web Proxy Server
Here, the HTTP requests are forwarded. In it, only the URL is passed instead of a
path. Request is sent and the proxy server responds to it. Apache, HAProxy are
examples of it.

19. Anonymous Proxy
In this type of proxy server, there isn’t any original IP address. Despite being
detectable, these servers provides rational anonymity to the client device.

20. High Anonymity Proxy
This type of proxy server ensures that the original IP address does not get detected.
Moreover, this proxy server cannot be detected by anyone.

21. Transparent Proxy
A Transparent Proxy is also known as an Intercepting Proxy, a Forged proxy and an
Inline Proxy. The original IP address can be easily detected when Transparent Proxy
is used. Hence, this type of proxy server doesn’t provide anonymity to the client. It is
used as a cache for websites. A transparent proxy when combined with gateway,
produces a proxy server where the connection requests sent by the client IP are
redirected. For this redirection to take place, the client IP address configuration is not
required. The HTTP headers present on the server-side can detect very easily this
redirection. A Transparent Proxy intercepts the communication at the network level,
without the need for any configuration. These types of proxies are usually used to
enforce any policy over communication, at business level. A Transparent Proxy also
tries to prevent any attack on TCP servers, such as a denial-of-service attack.

22. CGI Proxy
Websites are made more accessible by CGI Proxy. Requests are accepted by it to
target URLs by using a web form. It processes the request and returns the result to the
web browser. Its popularity has been reduced due to VPNs and other privacy
policies. Yet it receives a substantial amount of requests.

23. Suffix Proxy
This type of proxy server is used for bypassing the web filters. It appends the name
of the proxy to the URL to the content that has been requested to the proxy. It
doesn’t preserve a higher level of anonymity. A Suffix Proxy is easy to use and
implement but it is used less due to the large number or web filters that are present.

24. Distorting Proxy
Distorting Proxy servers can generate an incorrect original IP address of clients. This
type of server uses HTTP headers to ensure the confidentiality of the client’s IP
address.

25. TOR Onion Proxy
It aims to ensure online anonymity of the users’ personal information. It routes the
traffic through various networks that are present globally to make it difficult to track
the users’ address. It ensures that it becomes difficult for anyone doing traffic
analysis to track the original address. For this purpose it uses Onion Routing.

26. I2P Anonymous Proxy
It is an anonymous network enhanced version of Tor onion proxy. It makes use of
encryption to hide every communication at various levels. This encrypted data is then
relayed using various network routers that are present in different locations. I2P is a
fully distributed proxy that ensures online anonymity. I2P router finds other peers to
build an anonymous identity. This is done to protect the user’s personal information.

27. DNS Proxy
Unlike other proxies, DNS Proxy accepts requests in the form of DNS queries. It then
forwards those to the Domain server where these can be cached and the flow of
request can also be redirected.

28. Conclusion
Proxy servers come in handy in various types of situations where
anonymity is required at different levels by either the client or the
service provider. Different types of proxies are available which
follow various routing protocols and serve different uses and
provide different levels of anonymity which have been touched
upon in this PPT.

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