forward proxy VS reverse proxy

Question

I am new to proxy servers implementations in micro service architecture. So In micro-service architecture what are forward and reverse proxy? what are the best practices for implementing them in java and what are the advantages of having both in place?

Answer 1

A proxy is a service which forward data between two points.

A forward proxy is a proxy which will initiate a connection to a server on the client demand. It is commonly used in company networks to control employees connections to forbid some sites. If you want more informations about proxy protocols, you can look for SOCKS4, SOCKS5 or HTTP Connect proxies.

A reverse proxy however, will act as the server: you connect to it as if it was the real server, it hides it. It is commonly used to hide the real location of the server or to distribute the network load between multiple servers. A popular one is NGINX.