If you have been in the community for any length of time, you may have heard the term Proxy. They act as intermediaries between the content provider and user. A proxy can be used for a number of different purposes. If you have heard the term transparent proxy, it is a bit different. Simply put, they are proxies that the providers are using without the knowledge of the user. It will intercept the request to perform various actions. Now, we’ll take a look at some of the uses for transparent proxies.
Transparent Proxy Uses
Because of the way they work, transparent proxies have quite a bit of versatility. Here are some of the most common ones and their explanations.
- As a filtering proxy – This is what would be a typical firewall that you would see at a school or organization. It prevents access to certain websites or web services that could be disruptive to the organization. An example of this type of filtering is sometimes referred to as a “net nanny”. It will make sure you do not go sites that the organization does not consider appropriate.
- As a proxy cache – In this case, it will create copies of the data stored on a server and serve the cached content to users. This reduces the strain on the web service and generally make the website faster.
- As a gateway proxy – What this does is modify or block network traffic based on certain rules. Locations that offer public Wi-Fi often implement gateways that require users to register or accept an agreement before they can use the service. Those types of pages are common to see if you use WiFi from almost any establishment. If you have ever been a to a hotel or place like Starbucks where you can only access their internet after you have agreed to their terms of service.
Transparent Proxy Benefits
While you may not realize it, the system of transparent proxies is quite useful in an enterprise setting. That is because it gives them greater control over over customer interactions. Additionally, it allows companies to provide web services more easily.
Conclusion
As you can see, transparent proxies definitely shape web interaction by caching, filtering, and providing more control over webites. It is how major companies like Google, Amazon, and many more provide new services with minimal down time.