What is a proxy and why is it needed. What is a proxy server

In this article, we will try to tell you as simply and accessible as possible about what proxy servers are and where you can buy them. In addition, we will dwell a little on the classification (i.e., tell you whichproxy happen). If you are just discovering cyberspace and want to have at least something in its expanses (money, fame, pleasure, etc.), then you will like this educational program very much - we will not load it. All you need is to read the material, get the basics, and then act according to circumstances, namely, you either continue to study the topic (in order to become an expert in everything related to proxy), or, based on the knowledge gained, reap the benefits that this miracle Yudo will supply you (and this, without any doubt, will happen).

Let's start the story a little unconventional and define " proxy server is..."We'll give it a little later. Let's start with a banal example, which very clearly demonstrates why some mere mortal users are actively starting to dig into the network in the hope of finding a well-functioning proxy server.

See.

Imagine this picture - you are connected to the Internet and want to download music. There are not so few places where this can be done, but, unfortunately, it often happens that exactly the music you need is located only in a single place. Either you don’t know how to use search engines, or really the archive with the album you need is posted only in a single copy - in a word, the devil knows - nowhere else, even if you crack!

So. Here you have found the opportunity to download what you need and click on download. Clap - get on free apple host entitled rapidshare.com. Excellent! We are waiting for the allotted time. for freeloaders not buying a premium account, there is always a little wait before downloading. The required 60-70 seconds passed and the desired button appeared Download file.

But it wasn't there - it turns out that someone is already downloading from Rapidshare, and on top of that, also from your IP address! The world is cruel and the system is not going to give you the go-ahead to download the file unambiguously - it simply says - " wait for the download, and then try again". You wait, wait, wait ... And so on without end.

But here's the thing - you have a static IP address and your provider, to put it mildly, is very bad (if you allow yourself such things).

Well, what to do - you say - how to download from rapidshares? Well, yes .. The answer is on the net - and now you are breaking into it in order to figure it out and understand, and then make it all work. And, of course, the first thing you find on the net if you type in Google " how to download from rapidshare", there will be useful advice - " use a proxy and you will be happy!"

Oops. What is a proxy? What is it eaten with? And where to get it? And how to set up? Yes... There are many questions, but you are alone... But don't despair! Now we will tell you everything (well, almost everything!)

What is a proxy server.

A proxy server is an intermediate computer that is an intermediary (from the English "proxy" - an intermediary) between your computer and the Internet. All your calls to cyberspace pass through the proxy server. The proxy server processes these requests and transfers the results (for example, files downloaded from the Internet) back to your computer.

If you explain on your fingers, then technically the procedure for the operation of a proxy server looks like this:

• - you configure your browser to the appropriate proxy server (see below for how to do this);
• - the browser sends a request to this proxy server through your provider;
• - the proxy server (if it is working and kind) sends a request to the site you need;
• - the site (if it is not evil and trusts a good proxy) accepts the request and gives the proxy server the information requested by it;
• - proxy, accepts this response and sends it to you (again - through your provider);
• - your browser accepts the received data;
• - you save a file to the screw or look at the page of the required site.

Read the last sentence carefully again, because. proxy server is not only the ability to download from rapidshares, but also anonymity on the Internet.

By the way, we'll talk about anonymity later, but now let's go back to the theory of using proxy servers in everyday life.

All that an ordinary network user needs to do in order to use a proxy server can be expressed in three points:

• - you need to find the address of the proxy server . The address can be, for example, like this - 59.39.71.201 8080. The last four digits are the port (it will also need to be entered into the browser);
• - you must enter the existing address in a special proxy form of your browser (this is done through the proxy settings, which you can easily find if you go to the "options", "settings" section, etc.)
• - enter the address of the required site in the address bar of the browser and press the "enter" button.

  And that's all - now all the sites you visit will receive requests exclusively from the new IP address that belongs to the proxy server you have chosen.

What else is the use of proxy servers?

If you are looking for information about what a proxy server is, then you have already encountered it and want to understand what it is and how it works?! To begin with, we will briefly consider the operation of the Internet, or rather, the procedure for accessing the Internet, or sending a request to the Internet.

For example, you need to go to the mail ru page, what do you do:

1) Connect to the Internet, or rather, you connect to a provider that provides you with Internet access.

2) The provider checks your login and password, tariff, etc. etc. If everything is fine and you have no debt for the service, the provider lets you into the outside world, while giving you a unique IP address, which consists of 4 groups of numbers (octets) from 0 to 255 - 85.253.0.45. This is the address of your computer on the Internet. Through it, in the future, data will be exchanged with sites, services, etc. Here we consider a simple version of going out, on mobile providers there is often another layer or layers, as a result, several hundred users go to the Internet using one IP address.

3) After connecting and establishing a connection with the outside world, you begin to send requests to various sites and receive responses from these sites.

What are the "weak" points in this scheme?

By your address, at the level of the provider, you can easily determine your location, country, address, and the provider, in turn, can be easily accessed by the IP assigned to you using special services, which are full of free access.

Gain direct access to your PC in order to steal data or use your PC for bad intentions.

Your online presence becomes very open and visible. For ordinary users, in principle, there is nothing to be afraid of, but in some situations this creates problems.

The only way to secure your stay is to use a proxy server.

Proxy server is a computer that is located between your computer and the site, acting as an intermediary ("proxy" - an intermediary). All your requests to the Internet go through the Proxy-Server. Proxy receives responses from sites and sends them to your computer. Accordingly, the Proxy uses a different address or addresses when sending requests to the network. These addresses may change with each request.

What is this for, you ask?

First of all, it is anonymity and security on the network.

The second - recently, you can often find something like the following inscription "Access to this section (resource) for your region (country) is limited", often services with online video. Or "Free file download limit exceeded" for file hosting services.

The third is blocking access to games, services, forums, the so-called "BAN".

All these problems and restrictions can be removed by using the special services of some services. You can buy a proxy for your organization and secure your employees' Internet surfing. If you are an individual and are a resident of Russia, then it is quite possible to purchase Russian private proxies with an individual IP. This will be much cheaper than using packets with a large number of IPs. By purchasing a proxy, you can surf the Internet secure yourself, gain access to all sections of the sites of a particular country that interest you, watch videos and download files without restrictions.

Many netizens have come across the term proxy server more than once. But few people know what he really is. For some, it is associated with some specific terms of system administrators, for others it is associated with hackers who use proxies to hack computers over the Internet. So what is a proxy server and why is it useful at all? Let's try to figure it out

What is a proxy server

A proxy server is a remote computer that acts as an intermediary between you and network resources. In other words, it is a gateway through which information flows in both directions.

Let's say you want to open a website. In this case, the request from your computer goes to the proxy server, from where, after further processing, it goes directly to the web resource. In the opposite direction, it works in exactly the same way - information from the server enters the remote computer and returns to your PC after processing. This can provide several benefits, which we will discuss below.

Increasing the speed of data processing

A proxy server is often used by providers to provide faster access to popular Internet resources. How it works? Try to at least approximately imagine how many customers of your Internet provider access popular Internet resources daily. And on these resources, as well as on most modern sites, there is a huge variety of pictures, banners and other information. It would be unwise to download it from the Internet every time. That's why providers use them everywhere.

Since all data processing occurs through a proxy (note that you are not the only one using it), data from sites is cached on the hard drive of the remote computer. Considering that the average speed of the Internet channel is approximately 3-5 Mbps, and the speed between the proxy server and your PC is 100 Mbps (do not forget that when using this program your computer is an element of the local network), then the difference is noticeable. No, of course, the pictures weigh so little that there is little difference. And imagine how it is with more "heavy" content - movies, music, etc. Here the difference is much higher.

Data bypasses

Knowing the functions and capabilities of this connection, you can easily bypass bans and blacklists of various Internet resources. This is especially true in various chats and forums. Considering that your computer was blocked, and the proxy server is a completely different computer, with a different network address, you can be sure that the ban list system will not recognize your PC and will allow you to communicate further.

As you can see, this approach is very simple, but at the same time quite effective. In the same way, you can access resources that are closed to visit by your system administrator. After all, he does not sit all day, tracking your actions on the network - programs do this. And thanks to such a connection, it is quite easy to “deceive” the program.

Anonymity of the network

If you do not want your computer to leave any traces of your Internet activity, then using a proxy server will allow you to work in stealth mode. This, again, is achieved due to the fact that the IP address of not your PC appears on the network, but the PC of the proxy server. This method is used by attackers working on the Internet. This is where the stereotype came from that this connection is a tool of hackers (still the same reference to Hollywood films).

However, more often, the anonymity of work is used, on the contrary, to ensure the security of computers within the local network. In this case, the proxy server is an intermediary between the entire local network and the Internet. Your computer will not be visible "outside", from the Web. Like all other computers on your network, except for that very proxy server. In other words, your entire network will look like one - a single computer. This ensures the security of each individual segment in the network. And that means important documents stored on your PC.

Where else is it used

Typically, a proxy server is not so important for an ordinary user and is practically not used in everyday work. And in most cases, the presence of such a server goes unnoticed by the user. However, if you need to use it, then you can meet it in your browser settings, for example. This approach is the simplest and allows you to "mask" the computer's IP address. Also, this type of connection is found in the form of separate applications that give you much more options.

Have you come across a resource that is only available to users from a certain country? Or is there a promotion available, say, only to users from the USA? In these cases, the use of such applications is fully justified - they allow you to "disguise" your computer in such a way that the system will think that you are from the USA, Germany, and any other country you choose.

But not only personal computers and laptops can boast the ability to work with proxy servers. Mobile devices also have this feature. Quite often, on mobile forums, in topics devoted to setting up an Internet connection, questions from the series “what is a proxy server or url address” pop up, why this menu item is needed, and what should be written in it. It is this item that is responsible for setting up on mobile devices.

This article, of course, describes the capabilities of proxy servers very superficially, but it allows you to give at least a brief idea of ​​​​some functions, explain why this type of connection is needed, what it is, and simply dispel some myths associated with this concept. This means bringing the user one step closer to understanding the principles of operation of modern networks and showing him even more opportunities and ways to work on the Internet.

Watch the video: Proxy. What is, how to set up, check and where to buy a proxy?

Tatiana Mironova

Many have heard the word Proxy, but not everyone knows what it really means. In this article I will tell you what a proxy is and what proxy servers exist. We will not dig deep, I will tell you only the most necessary things that you need to know about proxies. I must say right away that the article is designed for the average user. Advanced user reading this article is strictly not recommended!

In this article you will learn:

• Proxy usage
• What are the types of proxy servers

A proxy server (from the English proxy - the right to use on behalf of someone else) is a remote server that, when your computer is connected to it, becomes an intermediary for the subscriber to access the Internet. The proxy broadcasts all requests from the subscriber's programs to the network, and, having received a response, sends it back to the subscriber.

I will not dwell on the principles of work and tell in detail what a proxy is. In most cases, this is not particularly important, it is much more important to know what proxy servers exist and how they differ from each other.

Why do we need proxies

Today, proxy servers are mainly used to hide or change one's IP address. There can be many reasons to do this, let's look at the most common of them. We will need to use a proxy in cases where it is required. Go to a site to which, for one reason or another, access is blocked for your IP. In cases where you need to send mail anonymously. There are many more cases where you need to change the proxy.

Proxy types

HTTP proxy

HTTP proxy. As the name implies, this type of proxies support only one protocol, the HTTP protocol, and are suitable for downloading files and browsing the Internet. Considering from the point of view of anonymity, depending on the content of the sent HTTP headers, proxy servers of this type are divided into:

• Level 1 (High anonymous/Elite, proxies with a high level of anonymity, they are also called elite proxies). The server to which you connect through such a proxy will not be able to determine your real IP address, and will not even be able to determine the fact that you are using a proxy, which in some cases is a very important fact.
• Level 2 (Anonymous, anonymous proxies) - the server you connect to through this type of proxy can determine that you are using a proxy, but cannot determine your real IP address.
• Layer 3 (Transparent, transparent proxies) - the server you connect to through a transparent proxy can determine that you are using a proxy and can determine your real IP address.

HTTP proxy

HTTP proxy. Proxies of this type support data exchange using the CONNECT method, and can work with remote servers using the secure SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protocol. When using an SSL connection, the transmitted HTTP headers are inside encrypted user packets, therefore, when working through an HTTPS proxy, your connection will be completely anonymous.

But, you need to know that if you work through a transparent HTTP proxy server with support for the CONNECT method over the HTTP protocol, the connection will be transparent, i.e. the remote server will be able to establish your real IP address, and if you work through it using the secure HTTPS protocol, the connection will be anonymous.

SOCKS proxy

SOCKS proxy. Almost all network applications can work through a SOCKS proxy. For example, you can use a SOCKS proxy to work with ICQ or an email client. A big advantage of SOCKS proxies is that you can use several SOCKS proxies in a chain at once, increasing the degree of your . SOCKS proxies are anonymous by definition, as they are not tied to high-level protocols and do not modernize request headers. SOCKS proxies support different versions of the SOCKS 4, SOCKS 4a and SOCKS 5 protocol.

When working with a proxy, you must remember that the proxy server is capable of logging (work report), storing all information about your IP address and all requests that were made from it, including passwords, logins and other important confidential data. Also, proxy servers can be controlled by special services or intruders, and sometimes they are created intentionally for. We wrote in more detail about the dangers of using public proxies in the article ""

In principle, you now know all the most important things about proxies. I hope you liked the article, if you liked it, press the button of your social network. And do not forget to subscribe to our updates, to public VKontakte

Recently, questions have become more frequent related to what is a proxy server, how to safely surf the Internet, hiding your IP, and how to get to sites blocked at work (after all, they are cunning, users, because they want to deceive one admin with the help of another admin :)).

To write this article, we took several IPv4 proxies from a service we tested in order to clearly demonstrate all the settings in the form of step-by-step instructions.

Well, therefore, I decided to write an article, as far as possible, answering these questions.

What is a proxy?

All terminology (but not the entire article) is written based on Wikipedia or simply copied from the relevant material there. This was done in order to save time, as well as from the point of view of expediency, because I see no reason to paraphrase what is already beautifully written and almost completely coincides with what I wanted to write.

Proxy server(from English. proxy- “representative, authorized”) is a service in computer networks that allows clients to make indirect requests to other network services.

First, the client connects to such a server and requests from it some resource located on another server on the network / Internet. Then the server either connects to the specified server and receives the resource from it, or returns the resource from its own cache (that is, from the resource already saved to itself) (if, of course, it has this cache).

What is a proxy server used for?

Most often they are used for the following purposes:

• Ensuring access from computers on the local network to the Internet;
• Data caching: if the same external resources are often accessed, then you can keep a copy of them on the server and issue them on request, thereby reducing the load on the channel to the external network and speeding up the client to receive the requested information;
• Data compression: The server downloads information from the Internet and transmits the information to the end user in compressed form. Such proxy servers are mainly used to save external traffic;
• LAN protection from external access: for example, you can configure the server so that local computers will access external resources only through it, and external computers will not be able to access local ones at all (they “see” only such a server);
• Access limitation from a local network to an external one: for example, you can block access to certain websites (which, in fact, we do, evil admins :)), limit the use of the Internet to some local users, set quotas for traffic or bandwidth, filter ads and viruses;
• Access anonymization to various resources. The proxy server can hide information about the source of the request or the user. In this case, the target server sees only information about the server, such as an IP address, but is unable to determine the true source of the request. There are also distorting proxies, which send false information about the true user to the target server;
• Well, it allows you to protect the client computer from some network attacks.

Proxies are divided into open and closed. Open ones are those that can be accessed by any Internet user. Closed, of course, on the contrary.

In this article, we are interested in open proxies, and therefore we will take a closer look at them.

Open proxy - anonymous and regular

An open proxy server is a server that allows almost any network node (client, let's say, you) to access other network nodes through itself (to all sorts of sites or somewhere else).

For reference: when I say network, I mean not only local, but also the Internet.

Open proxies are also divided into two subspecies:
Anonymous and ordinary.

• Anonymous, are those that hide the real IP-addresses of customers and thus provide an opportunity to anonymously use the services of the Internet.
• Ordinary, are ordinary, they do not hide anything from anyone and give out your real IP and all other typical data.

In addition to anonymity, in case of a difference in the price of traffic in different networks, an open proxy server located in "its own" network can be used to receive more expensive traffic from a "foreign" network. So, for example, many Russian users who are denied access to foreign sites at work can still get such access through an open proxy server.

Proxy Speed

As for the speed of work, it is much less, because, in fact, the traffic, in the form of a request, goes through an additional server, and these delays are much greater than when requesting directly. Open proxies are used, as a rule, to perform a specific operation, when speed is not important, but the achievement of a goal (access to some resource, etc., etc.).

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As you understand, an open proxy poses a certain problem, since such anonymity can allow you to violate the law and terms of service on the Web with impunity, and therefore, as a result, the sites of some Internet services prohibit access to their resources from open proxy servers (for example, - These are Yandex mail services).

Okay, theory out. Let's get down to practice.

How to work through a proxy server?

There are several ways to work through a proxy: this is either through network settings (globally), or through program settings (pointwise, that is, say only for).

In this article, we will consider the global option for changing settings, and within the framework of all the others, I will tell you how, for example, based on a plugin for or a program for the entire system.

I want to say right away that the option of a global change in settings, frankly, is not quite global. The point is that in Windows there is no concept of a global proxy as such, there is only the ability to configure a "conditionally global option", i.e. only for such programs that can take proxy settings from Internet explorer'a .. For everyone else, you will have to indicate the desire to use a proxy in their own (program) settings.

First we need to find an open proxy server. You can do this with a simple query in : " list of anonymous proxies" or " list of open anonymous proxies" or " open proxy list"or whatever else comes to mind. There are quite a lot of sites with lists of proxy servers, though not all of them work, so you will have to suffer when choosing.

What is important to know when choosing a proxy

See:

• It is important that it works;
• It is important to understand that the higher the value ping, if it is specified, the slower the requests to the proxy and back will go and, as a result, the slower the page loading will work for you;
• It is important to understand that the address 127.0.0.1:80 means that 127.0.0.1 is the address of the proxy server, and 80 - this is its port;
• The country indicated opposite the proxy server (if it is indicated again) means the location of the server, i.e. in fact, for everyone, you will be, as it were, from this country, because your IP will be IP dedicated proxy. Well, of course, the remoteness of the country from yours affects the ping to the server;
• Not all of them are equally useful because they all have different settings and may not allow you to access all resources (for example, a US server may only allow you to visit com sites, etc., etc.), and the resources themselves may not allow you, suspecting that you are accessing them through an open proxy server.

Ping to a proxy server and in general the existence of something at the address you found can be checked by doing the following: Start- Run- cmd- OK. In the window (console) that appears, enter " ping space server address"and press the button enter. Example:
ping 127.0.0.1:80
If the server is available, it will pass 4 package (maybe smaller), which will show, in fact, ping, and the presence of ping confirms the existence of anything according to the specified IP.
If it is not available, then nothing will go anywhere.

How to send traffic through a proxy

Having found a working server, we need to somehow indicate to the computer that, in fact, we want to drive traffic through it. This can be done in two ways (the third is not quite the way), which have a fundamental difference:

Global way
You can send all computer traffic through a proxy, i.e. set the global setting. In this case, ALL programs that somehow work with the Internet (browser, ICQ, FTP, etc., etc.) will access through it.

To do this we go: Start- Setting-Control Panel - Internet Options - Connections- Network configuration. There we put a tick "use a proxy server", prescribe the address and port, click OK.

It is important to carefully read the checkmark, because it says that it does not apply to remote and VPN- connections. Those. if you have one of these types of connections (for example, corbin) - nothing will come of it.
The next step is to show it to local services. Depending on the operating system you are running, issue the command:

In Windows XP:

On older Windows:

netsh winhttp import proxy source=ie

The output will be like this:

local way
Almost every program in the settings has the ability to specify proxy. Accordingly, each program in which you specify it will work through this very protocol, and the rest will access the Internet as usual, directly. It is convenient that if you do not need any anonymity anywhere except for web pages or ICQ, then, in fact, all this can be configured.

Well, or, as an option, you can configure the work of different programs through different proxies. Where to set up? Each program has its own place, but in general it is not difficult to find. AT Mozilla FireFox settings live at " Tools- Settings- Additionally- Net- Compound- Tune"

Half measure or extension
If you need to get to a page that is blocked for any reason or you do not want to show your IP, but too lazy to look for and configure a proxy, then you can use a sort of site or extension (like);

Can be used VPN. A series of articles on this topic lives on.

There are other ways, but I do not want to disclose them yet. In addition, the software method will be more practical and more convenient. In general, it is worth waiting for the second part of the article, and not dwell on the first.

Afterword

To be honest, it's hard for me to imagine a person who will use a sim to hide his IP and surf the internet anonymously.

This method of self-defense somewhat smacks of paranoia or evil intentions, but still .. Still, it’s useful to know about this, if only because local networks (office, educational, home, etc.) are often organized through them, and indeed you never know why, when and where it can be useful.

Well, yes, it can be useful if you are suddenly banned somewhere by IP and you need to sneak onto the site on the sly .. Then yes :)

As always, if you have questions, thoughts, additions, and so on, then welcome to the comments on this article.