Role of a Proxy Server

A number of components facilitate in browsing the internet from a home PC. The PC at home is connected to the ISP’s server through the modem. The ISP server is in turn, interconnected with the servers across the globe. These servers host websites that the users access.

Now, what role does a fast web proxy server play when we browse the internet? We send a request to access a particular site by typing the site’s address from the web browser. Once we hit “Enter”, this request is sent to the ISP’s server. A proxy server with cached requests in the ISP enables it to retrieve the request , look up the information in the proxy server’s cache and find out if the proxy can comply or not.

If the proxy server complies, it sends the requested information to our PC from its cache. If the proxy server cannot comply, it will send the same request to the original server hosting the specific website.

The host server sends the required information to the proxy which saves it for future requests and then sends it to the PC. Thus, an online proxy server saves all user requests in its cache. If another user makes the same request the next time, information need not be retrieved from the original server.

Sites like MSN, Yahoo, AOL have more than one proxy server that respond to requests from their cache. This decreases the burden on the main server and saves the response time.

In corporate networks, web proxy server can block attempts to access specific content from the employees’ web browsers. Some companies also have mail servers to store and distribute emails over the local network and WAN. Servers filter potential viruses before they reach an employee’s PC. In addition, they provide security via firewalls either from a dedicated firewall server or from the proxy itself.