What are the different types of proxies?

--> Proxy is a hardware or software solution that acts as an intermediary between a client and the server.

--> There are different types of proxy solutions are available.

i) Forward Proxy

--> Forward Proxy takes connections from the clients present in inside network ( Intranet) and connect them to servers outside on the Internet.

--> Forward Proxies generally web proxies that provide the number of services but mainly focus on web services and content filtering.

-->   Forward Proxies also authenticate and authorize clients before allowing the access to the Internet.

ii) Reverse Proxy

-->  Reverse Proxy takes connections from the clients present on outside network ( Internet) and connect them to servers present in the private network.

--> Reverse Proxies basically used to protect the web servers.

--> Load Balancers, Application Delivery Controllers and Web Application Firewalls are good examples for Reverse Proxies.

--> Reverse proxies are good for traditional load balancing, optimization, SSL offloading, server-side caching, and security functionality.

--> Reverse Proxies are mainly focused on HTTP based applications, but nowadays they are supporting other applications such as RSTP, FTP and any general application that is forwarded via UDP or TCP.

iii) Half Proxy

--> Half Proxy either it can be Forward Proxy or Reverse Proxy.

--> In the case of Half Proxy, requests are processed by the proxy but responses do not return through the proxy, but rather are sent directly to the client.

--> This is useful particularly in case of streaming protocols.

--> This configuration is known as half proxy because only half the connection is proxies while the other half, the response is not.

iv) Full Proxy

--> A full proxy maintains two separate connections - one between the proxy and the client and one between the proxy and the destination server.

--> Full proxies can look at incoming requests and outbound responses and can manipulate both if the solution allows it.

--> Many reverse and forward proxies use a full proxy model today.

-->  A full proxy completely understands the protocols and is itself acts an endpoint and an originator for the protocols.

--> Full proxies are named because of they completely proxy connections - incoming and outgoing.

Reference: F5 and CITRIX