Click here

proxy server

A server that sits between a client application, such as a Web browser, and a real server. It intercepts all requests to the real server to see if it can fulfill the requests itself. If not, it forwards the request to the real server.

Proxy servers have two main purposes:

  • Improve Performance: Proxy servers can dramatically improve performance for groups of users. This is because it saves the results of all requests for a certain amount of time. Consider the case where both user X and user Y access the World Wide Web through a proxy server. First user X requests a certain Web page, which we'll call Page 1. Sometime later, user Y requests the same page. Instead of forwarding the request to the Web server where Page 1 resides, which can be a time-consuming operation, the proxy server simply returns the Page 1 that it already fetched for user X. Since the proxy server is often on the same network as the user, this is a much faster operation. Real proxy servers support hundreds or thousands of users. The major online services such as America Online, MSN and Yahoo, for example, employ an array of proxy servers.
  • Filter Requests: Proxy servers can also be used to filter requests. For example, a company might use a proxy server to prevent its employees from accessing a specific set of Web sites.
  • See the Server Types page in the quick reference section of Webopedia for a comparison of server types.



    Top Terms
    • 1

      private cloud project

      Companies initiate private cloud projects to enable their IT infrastructure to become more capable of quickly adapting to continually evolving...

      Read more »

    • 2

      cloud backup

      A cloud backup (cloud computer backup) refers to backing up data to a remote, cloud-based server. As a form of cloud storage, cloud backup data is...

      Read more »

    • Click Here!

    Connect with Webopedia

    • Android Apps for Remote Computer Access

      Remote access is useful when you need to collaborate with co-workers, help a friend with PC problems or grab files from your desktop.

      Read More »

    Did You Know? Archive »

    • Quick Reference Archive »