Forward Proxy
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
A forward proxy sits in front of clients (users), not servers. It sends requests on behalf of users so the destination can't see who's really asking. Companies use forward proxies to control what their employees can access. VPNs are a type of forward proxy.
Real Talk
A forward proxy intercepts outgoing requests from clients within a network and forwards them to the internet. It's configured on the client side (or network level). Use cases include corporate content filtering, anonymizing clients, and bypassing geo-restrictions.
Show Me The Code
# Set forward proxy in terminal
export http_proxy=http://proxy.company.com:8080
export https_proxy=http://proxy.company.com:8080
# Or in curl
curl -x http://proxy.company.com:8080 https://example.com
When You'll Hear This
"The corporate forward proxy blocks social media." / "Use a forward proxy to hide your IP from the target site."
Related Terms
Firewall
A firewall is the bouncer at your network's door. It checks every incoming and outgoing connection against a list of rules and blocks anything suspicious.
Proxy
A proxy is a middleman between you and the internet.
Reverse Proxy
A reverse proxy sits in front of your servers and handles incoming traffic on their behalf.
VPN (Virtual Private Network)
A VPN creates an encrypted tunnel from your device to a server somewhere else.