Reverse Proxy Server

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What Does Reverse Proxy Server Mean?

A reverse proxy server is a type of proxy server that manages a connection or any specific requests coming from an external network/Internet toward an internal network. It secures, routes and manages the traffic from the Internet, to the internal intranet, Web servers or a private network.

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Techopedia Explains Reverse Proxy Server

A reverse proxy server primarily hides the origin of traffic sources from the Internet Web server or network. It has many implementations in protecting the internal network from externally perpetrated attacks. It enables only authenticated and legitimate users to access and manage the internal Web server or network. When configured on a Web server, a reverse proxy server can present all or specific URLs to the requesting users. Moreover, the proxy server is also used to load balance the server by routing the incoming traffic between different Web servers based on their current workload/utilization.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.