Why is the Nginx webserver called a “reverse proxy”?
Why is the Nginx webserver called a "reverse proxy"? I know any "proxy" to be a "medium" and this touches a more basic question of "how can a medium be forward or reverse".
nginx terminology reverse-proxy
add a comment |
Why is the Nginx webserver called a "reverse proxy"? I know any "proxy" to be a "medium" and this touches a more basic question of "how can a medium be forward or reverse".
nginx terminology reverse-proxy
add a comment |
Why is the Nginx webserver called a "reverse proxy"? I know any "proxy" to be a "medium" and this touches a more basic question of "how can a medium be forward or reverse".
nginx terminology reverse-proxy
Why is the Nginx webserver called a "reverse proxy"? I know any "proxy" to be a "medium" and this touches a more basic question of "how can a medium be forward or reverse".
nginx terminology reverse-proxy
nginx terminology reverse-proxy
asked Feb 15 at 2:22
JohnDoeaJohnDoea
7811134
7811134
add a comment |
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
A typical "forward" proxy (commonly just called "proxy") is used to allow internal clients to reach out to external sites.
For example, a corporation may have desktop users who want to reach the internet, but firewalls block them. The users can configure their browser to reach a proxy server, which will make the connection for them.
A "reverse" proxy allows external clients to reach in to internal sites.
For example, a corporation may run a dozen different web sites behind a firewall. A reverse proxy would be programmed so that incoming requests for "site1.corporate.example.com" will be forwarded to the real web server for that site. In this way the corporation only needs to expose one real web server.
There are many use cases for both forward and reverse proxies.
nginx
is a web server, similar to apache
and IIS
. Like many web servers it can be configured to work in forward proxy mode or reverse proxy mode.
The phrase "nginx reverse proxy" means the nginx server configured as a reverse proxy.
add a comment |
Why is the Nginx webserver called a "reverse proxy"?
"Reverse proxy" refers to a specific function that a specific Nginx instance can take on. Other Nginx instances can be ordinary web servers, or mail proxies or even load balancers (which often refers to "reverse proxy across multiple servers").
I know any "proxy" to be a "medium"
A more accurate term is "intermediary", as in "I'm accessing some resources on your behalf". "Medium" as a noun can also refer to the transport mechanism over which you're communicating.
and this touches a more basic question of "how can a medium be forward or reverse".
The difference between forward and reverse proxies lies in the association, which basically asks the question: "Whose interests am I serving?"
In a forward proxy, the association is with the clients, i.e. "I'm helping my select group of users access arbitrary servers".
In a reverse proxy, the association is with the servers, i.e. "I'm helping my select group of servers manage all incoming requests from arbitrary clients".
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "106"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2funix.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f500761%2fwhy-is-the-nginx-webserver-called-a-reverse-proxy%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
A typical "forward" proxy (commonly just called "proxy") is used to allow internal clients to reach out to external sites.
For example, a corporation may have desktop users who want to reach the internet, but firewalls block them. The users can configure their browser to reach a proxy server, which will make the connection for them.
A "reverse" proxy allows external clients to reach in to internal sites.
For example, a corporation may run a dozen different web sites behind a firewall. A reverse proxy would be programmed so that incoming requests for "site1.corporate.example.com" will be forwarded to the real web server for that site. In this way the corporation only needs to expose one real web server.
There are many use cases for both forward and reverse proxies.
nginx
is a web server, similar to apache
and IIS
. Like many web servers it can be configured to work in forward proxy mode or reverse proxy mode.
The phrase "nginx reverse proxy" means the nginx server configured as a reverse proxy.
add a comment |
A typical "forward" proxy (commonly just called "proxy") is used to allow internal clients to reach out to external sites.
For example, a corporation may have desktop users who want to reach the internet, but firewalls block them. The users can configure their browser to reach a proxy server, which will make the connection for them.
A "reverse" proxy allows external clients to reach in to internal sites.
For example, a corporation may run a dozen different web sites behind a firewall. A reverse proxy would be programmed so that incoming requests for "site1.corporate.example.com" will be forwarded to the real web server for that site. In this way the corporation only needs to expose one real web server.
There are many use cases for both forward and reverse proxies.
nginx
is a web server, similar to apache
and IIS
. Like many web servers it can be configured to work in forward proxy mode or reverse proxy mode.
The phrase "nginx reverse proxy" means the nginx server configured as a reverse proxy.
add a comment |
A typical "forward" proxy (commonly just called "proxy") is used to allow internal clients to reach out to external sites.
For example, a corporation may have desktop users who want to reach the internet, but firewalls block them. The users can configure their browser to reach a proxy server, which will make the connection for them.
A "reverse" proxy allows external clients to reach in to internal sites.
For example, a corporation may run a dozen different web sites behind a firewall. A reverse proxy would be programmed so that incoming requests for "site1.corporate.example.com" will be forwarded to the real web server for that site. In this way the corporation only needs to expose one real web server.
There are many use cases for both forward and reverse proxies.
nginx
is a web server, similar to apache
and IIS
. Like many web servers it can be configured to work in forward proxy mode or reverse proxy mode.
The phrase "nginx reverse proxy" means the nginx server configured as a reverse proxy.
A typical "forward" proxy (commonly just called "proxy") is used to allow internal clients to reach out to external sites.
For example, a corporation may have desktop users who want to reach the internet, but firewalls block them. The users can configure their browser to reach a proxy server, which will make the connection for them.
A "reverse" proxy allows external clients to reach in to internal sites.
For example, a corporation may run a dozen different web sites behind a firewall. A reverse proxy would be programmed so that incoming requests for "site1.corporate.example.com" will be forwarded to the real web server for that site. In this way the corporation only needs to expose one real web server.
There are many use cases for both forward and reverse proxies.
nginx
is a web server, similar to apache
and IIS
. Like many web servers it can be configured to work in forward proxy mode or reverse proxy mode.
The phrase "nginx reverse proxy" means the nginx server configured as a reverse proxy.
answered Feb 15 at 2:52
Stephen HarrisStephen Harris
26.4k24779
26.4k24779
add a comment |
add a comment |
Why is the Nginx webserver called a "reverse proxy"?
"Reverse proxy" refers to a specific function that a specific Nginx instance can take on. Other Nginx instances can be ordinary web servers, or mail proxies or even load balancers (which often refers to "reverse proxy across multiple servers").
I know any "proxy" to be a "medium"
A more accurate term is "intermediary", as in "I'm accessing some resources on your behalf". "Medium" as a noun can also refer to the transport mechanism over which you're communicating.
and this touches a more basic question of "how can a medium be forward or reverse".
The difference between forward and reverse proxies lies in the association, which basically asks the question: "Whose interests am I serving?"
In a forward proxy, the association is with the clients, i.e. "I'm helping my select group of users access arbitrary servers".
In a reverse proxy, the association is with the servers, i.e. "I'm helping my select group of servers manage all incoming requests from arbitrary clients".
add a comment |
Why is the Nginx webserver called a "reverse proxy"?
"Reverse proxy" refers to a specific function that a specific Nginx instance can take on. Other Nginx instances can be ordinary web servers, or mail proxies or even load balancers (which often refers to "reverse proxy across multiple servers").
I know any "proxy" to be a "medium"
A more accurate term is "intermediary", as in "I'm accessing some resources on your behalf". "Medium" as a noun can also refer to the transport mechanism over which you're communicating.
and this touches a more basic question of "how can a medium be forward or reverse".
The difference between forward and reverse proxies lies in the association, which basically asks the question: "Whose interests am I serving?"
In a forward proxy, the association is with the clients, i.e. "I'm helping my select group of users access arbitrary servers".
In a reverse proxy, the association is with the servers, i.e. "I'm helping my select group of servers manage all incoming requests from arbitrary clients".
add a comment |
Why is the Nginx webserver called a "reverse proxy"?
"Reverse proxy" refers to a specific function that a specific Nginx instance can take on. Other Nginx instances can be ordinary web servers, or mail proxies or even load balancers (which often refers to "reverse proxy across multiple servers").
I know any "proxy" to be a "medium"
A more accurate term is "intermediary", as in "I'm accessing some resources on your behalf". "Medium" as a noun can also refer to the transport mechanism over which you're communicating.
and this touches a more basic question of "how can a medium be forward or reverse".
The difference between forward and reverse proxies lies in the association, which basically asks the question: "Whose interests am I serving?"
In a forward proxy, the association is with the clients, i.e. "I'm helping my select group of users access arbitrary servers".
In a reverse proxy, the association is with the servers, i.e. "I'm helping my select group of servers manage all incoming requests from arbitrary clients".
Why is the Nginx webserver called a "reverse proxy"?
"Reverse proxy" refers to a specific function that a specific Nginx instance can take on. Other Nginx instances can be ordinary web servers, or mail proxies or even load balancers (which often refers to "reverse proxy across multiple servers").
I know any "proxy" to be a "medium"
A more accurate term is "intermediary", as in "I'm accessing some resources on your behalf". "Medium" as a noun can also refer to the transport mechanism over which you're communicating.
and this touches a more basic question of "how can a medium be forward or reverse".
The difference between forward and reverse proxies lies in the association, which basically asks the question: "Whose interests am I serving?"
In a forward proxy, the association is with the clients, i.e. "I'm helping my select group of users access arbitrary servers".
In a reverse proxy, the association is with the servers, i.e. "I'm helping my select group of servers manage all incoming requests from arbitrary clients".
answered Feb 15 at 3:35
AdrianAdrian
96268
96268
add a comment |
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Unix & Linux Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2funix.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f500761%2fwhy-is-the-nginx-webserver-called-a-reverse-proxy%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown