A proxy is any software that supportsthe http proxy protocols.  In it’s simplest form a proxy is a relay for data between two computers.  A proxy is a intermediate server that forwards information between to points.  A proxy is like a middle man, between the host, the server that you are trying to download files off, and you sitting in front of your computer.  A Proxy is a central machine on the network that allows other machines in that network to use a shared Internet connection.

Proxy

Proxy servers can be configured to be light or heavy.  Proxy servers are a bit like Swiss Army Knives: Just as the capabilities of a Swiss Army Knife extend beyond simple cutting, today's proxy servers act as traditional proxies, but they also have a huge variety of security features.  If you've ever accessed the Internet from an office environment,chances are your communications passed through a proxy.  You may not already kmow what a proxy does.  The only IP address an Internet host is aware of is the IPaddress of the proxy.  There are further security advantages to using a proxy.  A proxy will also typically have a cache of previous requests which cansave bandwidth.  A transparent proxy will intercept theclient request, ensure that it is allowed, and then forward it on to theserver.  For every Internetapplication, there is a separate software proxy.  The most common usage of a reverse proxy is to protect aweb server.  When a user on the Internet requests data from a web serverprotected by a reverse proxy, the reverse proxy intercepts the request andensures that the data contained in the request is acceptable.

Proxies

Proxies are capable of keeping you totally anonymous from hackers and logs.  Proxies normally have a rather short lifetime, typically 12 hours.  Proxies help reduce outside security threats while still allowing internal users to access Internet services.  These protocols have anadditional advantage in that they allow multiple proxies to share theircache information.  We've seen proxies written multi-threaded to gain speed when their big speed loss was in cryptographic activity.  The task of such proxies, as a rule, is information caching and/or support of Internet access for several computers via single connection.

A proxy isn't neccessary, but is sometimeconvienient.  A proxy is a gateway machine which sits between you and the rest of the network and relays your machine's HTTPrequests.  In its simplest form, a proxy is a piece of software that "acts onbehalf of" a network client.