Proxy List Port 3128

Advantages of Reverse Proxy

There are several major advantages of a reverse proxy with squid. The first advantage is that the proxy server will cache web pages and images on the proxy server so that the load is minimized for the internal server. People who request the site will pull most of their information from the proxy not the web server itself. The second advantage is security. The reverse proxy will add an additional layer of security as hacking attempts will be focused on cached pages rather than the site itself. This defense layer is not the ultimate answer but only provides an additional layer. Another advantage is that the backend may be able to have multiple servers providing the full content of the page. For example, you could build a web page that has images from multiple web servers and a database that is pulled from a separate server. All of this will be transparent to the user. Again, security is enhanced based on the fact that you can focus security on the proxy server to protect the internal servers.

Disadvantages of the Reverse Proxy

Of course on big disadvantage is that if your proxy server crashes nothing will work as it is all dependent upon the proxy server. Another disadvantage is that if your reverse proxy is compromised you will be providing them with a comprehensive view of the internal network. The final disadvantage is that you may see some issues with speed. Speed must be weighed against the value of a cache, and how much time it takes the request to traverse several firewalls. This issue may be trivial or may not be an issue at all. Much of it depends on the resources and number of requests that your server receives.