what is proxy

[smiles]

dont force me to google , you maybe have a way to explain it more easily and I want to hear thanks !

[Xtazy]

It's a thing that modifies your IP WikiA proxy server is a computer that offers a computer network service to allow clients to make indirect network connections to other network services. A client connects to the proxy server, then requests a connection, file, or other resource available on a different server. The proxy provides the resource either by connecting to the specified server or by serving it from a cache. In some cases, the proxy may alter the client's request or the server's response for various purposes.WebopediaProxy 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.Somewhere on the internetA firewall mechanism that replaces the IP address of a host on the internal (protected) network with its own IP address for all traffic passing through it. A software agent that acts on behalf of a user, typical proxies accept a connection from a user, make a decision as to whether or not the user or client IP address is permitted to use the proxy, perhaps does additional authentication, and then completes a connection on behalf of the user to a remote destination.Hope that was helpful,Xtazy

[jesh]

Also, more abstractly, here's the definition of proxy:

proxy:

1. A person authorized to act for another; an agent or substitute.
2. The authority to act for another.
3. The written authorization to act in place of another.

So, with computers, a proxy can be a computer which allows other computers access to the internet while at the same time hiding the identities of those computers from the internet.

[justsomeguy]

A proxy is a machine set up to provide access to network resources. A computer makes a request for a web page or other resource to the proxy server, the proxy server goes out and gets the requested resource, and the proxy server sends the resource to the machine that originally requested it.

[Xtazy]

It's another identity for your computer...Let's say that your name is X. If Y wants to change his identity, he uses yours, X.If you lost your credit card, and somebody founds it, he will use it because he doesn't want to spend his money...There are 1000 examples...there's also a film about a lost identity, with Sandra Bullock...

[justsomeguy]

It's not another identity for your computer, it's an entirely different computer. You are just using that computer to get your network resources instead of asking yourself.

[smiles]

for e.g , I am not in USA , so I am different server , I access to this forum hosted by a different server does it means Proxy server helped me

[Xtazy]

No!The proxy is another identity for YOUR computer...In your example, you are in USA and you CAN access that DIFFERENT SERVER with a proxy...this identity (proxy) is represented by IP's.Look: http://www.proxy4free.com/page1.html

[justsomeguy]

This forum is only on one server, w3schools.invisionzone.com, which happens to point to 67.15.248.142. If you wanted to mask your identity when you connected to this server, you would use a proxy server. You would ask the proxy server to get you the page hosted at 67.15.248.142, and the proxy server would get that page and return it to you. The server here would see that request coming from the IP of the proxy server, not your computer.That is only one use for proxies, to mask identity. Some corporate networks use proxy servers to allow their entire network to connect to the internet. The place I'm sitting at now was using a Windows NT proxy server to do this up until a couple years ago .

[Xtazy]

A final example:If you have ban on a forum, you can use a proxy server (a different identity that modifies your IP) to go back on that forum and post. (that works only if the forum hasn't a protection, but mostly have).Roger that? Copy me? Understood?

[justsomeguy]

Here's an example. Go to this site:http://www.freeproxy.ca/And type in the address whatismyip.com into the URL field. You will notice that the IP listed is not the same as if you just type in whatismyip.com into your browser.

[smiles]

Thanks a lot !!! All of you