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How to use a proxy server: basic concepts and settings. What is a proxy server and why is it needed?

A proxy is an intermediary link between the computer used by the subscriber and the system of Internet servers. Without going into terminology, this is a remote intermediary computer for the user to access the Internet. Its main tasks are to broadcast all user requests to the Network and send back the received responses. We will tell you more about what a proxy is, how the server works and for what purpose it is used.

How a proxy connection works

Each computer from which you access the Internet is assigned a unique IP address. Its task is to identify the Internet user. The IP address carries information about the country and region, the number of the Internet provider and the personal computer on its network. Proxy servers are also assigned unique IP addresses. After connecting to the proxy and transmitting requests to the Network, verification will show that they come from an intermediary server, and the subscriber himself will be able to remain incognito (in the case of working with free servers, information about the client is saved on paid servers).

To connect to a proxy, you will need to make settings in the browser that will be used to send user requests. All subsequent network connections will be made to the proxy server's IP address. When you need to access any web resource, the local computer will open a connection to the proxy and make a request. After checking the correctness of the request, a connection to the resource will be opened. Then the received response will be transmitted to the subscriber's computer.

Why and who needs a proxy

Today, proxy servers are used mainly to hide the true IP address. There may be several reasons for this. The most popular are the desire to visit a site to which access is blocked for your IP, and the need to send mail anonymously. There are several other reasons when you need a proxy:

  • protecting a network or local computer from certain types of network attacks and the need to protect confidential information;
  • restricting user access to certain types of web resources. Practiced in companies to prevent employees from wasting their time;
  • desire to connect several computers to the Internet with one IP address. The settings can be made in such a way that information about local machines will be hidden from external machines; only the intermediary will be able to see them;
  • the need to save consumed traffic - information received from the Network will be transmitted to the user in a compact form;
  • the need to reduce the load on the Internet channel and provide customers with prompt access to information. For such cases, files are cached and subsequently stored on a proxy server.

Proxies can be found on some sites where they are posted for free. The second option is to download using special software that allows you to use a filter by country and test the speed and operation of the proxy server. And another way is to buy an “authorized” server on special sites.

Advantages

They gained the greatest popularity in the corporate segment - it is through them that access to the online network is made from local networks of legal entities. The following advantages contributed to this:

  • proxy servers are supported by the vast majority of well-known web browsers;
  • Full access control is provided, convenient traffic accounting and filtering (in cases of integration with antiviruses);
  • ability to work with minimal rights on any operating system;
  • the absence of Internet access via other protocols significantly increases the security of information exchange on the corporate network.

Despite the increasing popularity of certain network protocols, proxy servers continue to dominate the enterprise. This is despite the emergence of relatively inexpensive hardware routers with NAT functionality. This is mainly due to the fact that the above routers are not able to provide sufficient control over Internet access and content filtering.

Kinds

Transparent- a communication scheme that redirects part of the traffic (or all) by the router to the proxy server. The advantage of this type of communication is the client’s ability to enjoy all the benefits of a proxy server without making any settings. This is also a disadvantage, since it deprives the user of choice.

Back- a proxy server used to balance the network load between several web servers. In addition, its task is to increase their safety. In this case, the reverse proxy server plays the role of a firewall at the application level. When using it, user requests are relayed from the external network to one or more servers located on the internal network.

In addition to the fact that proxies are divided into transparent and reverse types, they can be classified as follows:

  • HTTP- the most popular and universal type of proxy that can be used to solve a wide range of problems. Most modern software supports working with it;
  • Socks- a type of proxy with which not every program is compatible. Requires installation of additional software in browsers, since they do not support Socks by default;
  • CGI- interaction with them is carried out only through the browser; other software does not support CGI. Another name for this type of proxy is an anonymizer;
  • FTP- a type of proxy, often used in corporate networks as one of the components of a unified system for protecting equipment from external threats.

Many people have heard about the concept of a proxy server. This term is quite common in the computer environment. Now we will look at what it is and how to use a proxy server depending on its type. In addition, a basic understanding of preferred settings will be given.

What is a proxy server?

In general, the concept of a proxy server for an uninitiated user, especially in terms of operating principles, may seem quite complicated. Let's try to describe all this in the simplest language.

At its core, a proxy server is a service that acts as an intermediary between the user's computer terminal and resources located on the Internet. Unlike a direct connection to resources, in this case an indirect connection is made, so to speak. First, the user request is transmitted to the proxy, then the information is searched in the cache, and only then the request is transmitted to the appropriate resource with subsequent loading of the information.

However, the question of how to use a proxy server is quite simple, because all operations occur without the participation of the user. Another thing is the correct setting. This is what we will talk about now.

Standard proxy server settings in Windows

Let's start with the simplest settings that are made when the computer terminal is first connected to a local network or the Internet.

In the browser settings, you enter the connections menu, where you select the “Network Settings” button. At the bottom there are two fields related to the proxy server. In most cases, these options are disabled, since many providers today simply do not use such servers.

If there is a problem with how to use the proxy server in terms of settings, you first need to enable it, and then enter the preferred address provided by the provider. The default port value is “80”, but it can be easily changed.

In most cases, there is no need to use proxies for local addresses, since they all belong to the same network environment. It goes without saying that all these actions must be performed with automatic configuration disabled. Otherwise, the specified fields will simply be inactive. In addition, almost the same procedure is provided for those cases in which there is only a modem connection. Only here you will have to specify the name of the connection: for example, the name of the operator servicing the USB modem.

Again, after entering the name, you will need to enter the server address, port, login and password, if provided by the operator.

How to set up and use an Internet proxy server?

On the other hand, in any browser, not just Internet Explorer or its new modification called Edge (Windows 10), you can make similar settings.

For example, in the Mozilla Firefox browser, to access such functions, you use the network connections settings in the tools menu. First, it is indicated that the proxy will be configured manually, after which the above procedures are repeated. In the Opera browser, everything is done by changing the network settings in the general settings menu.

As is already clear, this applies mainly to free servers, of which you can find a huge number on the Internet. Before you start using it directly from the site, you just need to write down all the configuration data, and then apply them in any Internet browser.

The situation is interesting when you need to know how to use an anonymous proxy server. Such services are capable of changing the external IP address of any computer, which allows you to remain “unrecognized” on the Internet, as well as hide traces of your presence there from prying eyes.

As a rule, in most cases there is no need to configure anything here. You just need to go to such a server and that’s it. True, in some cases registration and subsequent authorization may be required, but even if such a procedure is provided, it only takes a few minutes. Most anonymous proxy servers do not set such conditions, except for servers with increased anonymity. You can also apply standard settings in browsers indicating all parameters.

Problems and errors

As for situations where a proxy server error occurs, this can mainly only be due to incorrect settings. Here you will have to re-check all the entered parameters, and if necessary, simply change them. And the server itself may, for example, temporarily not work.

Separately, it is worth saying that if the provider does not provide services for using proxy settings, there is no point in trying to change anything, anyway, nothing will get better, or even the connection will be interrupted altogether.

Recently, questions related to what a proxy server is, how to safely surf the Internet by 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) was written based on Wikipedia or simply copied from the corresponding material there. This was done in order to save time, as well as from the point of view of expediency, because I see no point in rephrasing something that has already been beautifully written and almost completely coincides with what I wanted to write.

Proxy server(from English proxy- "representative, authority") 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 a 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:

  • Providing access from local network computers to the Internet;
  • Data caching: if there are frequent calls to the same external resources, then you can keep a copy of them on the server and issue it upon request, thereby reducing the load on the channel to the external network and speeding up the client’s receipt of the requested information;
  • Data compression: The server downloads information from the Internet and transmits the information to the end user in a compressed form. Such proxy servers are used mainly to save external traffic;
  • Local network 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 the local network to the external one: for example, you can deny access to certain websites (which, in fact, is what we evil admins do :)), limit the use of the Internet to some local users, set traffic or bandwidth quotas, filter advertising and viruses;
  • Anonymization of access to various resources. The proxy server may hide information about the request source or user. In this case, the target server only sees information about the server, such as the IP address, but has no way to determine the true source of the request. There are also corrupting proxy servers, which transmit false information about the true user to the target server;
  • Well, it allows you to protect the client computer from some network attacks.

Proxy servers 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 let’s take a closer look at them.

Open proxy - anonymous and regular

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

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

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

  • Anonymous, are those that hide the real ones IP-customer addresses and thereby provide the opportunity to anonymously use Internet services.
  • Regular, - these are ordinary ones, they do not hide anything from anyone and give away your real IP and all other typical data.

In addition to anonymity, in the event of a difference in the price of traffic in different networks, an open proxy server located in “its” network can be used to receive more expensive traffic from a “foreign” network. For example, many Russian users who are prohibited from accessing foreign sites at work can still gain such access through an open proxy server.

Proxy speed

As for the speed of work, it is much lower, because, in fact, the traffic, in the form of a request, goes through an additional server, and the delays are much greater than when requesting directly. Open proxies are used, as a rule, to perform a specific operation, when it is not speed that is 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 one to violate the law and terms of service on the Internet 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 postal services).

Okay, theory laid out. Let's start practicing.

How to work through a proxy server?

There are several ways to work through a proxy: either by network settings (globally), or by program settings (specifically, that is, let’s say only for).

In this article we will look at the global option of 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 changing settings globally is, frankly speaking, not entirely 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 programs that can take proxy settings from Internet Explorer’ah.. 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. This can be done with a simple request to: " 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, although not all of them work, so you will have to suffer when selecting them.

What is important to know when choosing a proxy

See:

  • It's 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 be and, as a result, the slower your page loading will be;
  • It is important to understand that the address 127.0.0.1:80 means that 127.0.0.1 is the proxy server address, 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 if from this country because your IP will IP dedicated proxy. Well, of course, the distance 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 access to all resources (for example, a US server can only allow you to access com sites, etc., etc.), and the resources themselves may not allow you access, suspecting that you are accessing them through an open proxy server.

Ping to the proxy server and in general the existence of anything at the address you found can be checked by doing the following: Start- Execute- cmd- OK. In the window (console) that appears, you need to 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 packet (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 pass 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 a method), which have a fundamental difference:

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

To do this we go: Start- Settings-Control Panel - Internet Options - Connections- Network configuration. There we check the box “use a proxy server”, enter the address and port, click OK.

It is important to read the checkbox carefully, 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, Corbina), nothing will work.
Next you should show it to local services. Depending on the operating system you are running on, issue the command:

On Windows XP:

On older Windows:

netsh winhttp import proxy source=ie

The result will be like this:

Local method
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’s convenient because if you don’t need any anonymity anywhere except on web pages or ICQ, then, in fact, all this can be configured.

Well, or, as an option, you can configure the operation of different programs through different proxies. Where to configure? Each program has its own place, but in general it’s not difficult to find. IN Mozilla FireFox settings are located at " Tools- Settings- Additionally- Net- Compound- Tune"

Half-measure or expansion
If you need to get to a page that is blocked for some reason or you don’t want to show your IP, but you’re too lazy to look for and configure proxies, then you can use this site or extension (like );

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

There are other ways, but I don’t want to announce them yet. In addition, the software method will be more practical and convenient. In general, it’s worth waiting for the second part of the article, rather than dwelling on the first.

Afterword

To be honest, it’s hard for me to imagine a person who would use a SIM card to hide his IP and surf the Internet anonymously.

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

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

As always, if you have questions, thoughts, additions, etc., please feel free to comment on this article.

Many people 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 should know about proxies. I’ll say right away that the article is intended for the average user. It is strictly not recommended for advanced users to read this article!

In this article you will learn:

  • Using a proxy
  • What types of proxy servers are there?

A proxy server (from the English proxy - the right to use on someone else's behalf) is a remote server, which, when you connect your computer 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 operation and tell in detail what a proxy is. In most cases, this is not particularly important; what is much more important is 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 ones. 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 still many cases when you will need to change the proxy.

Types of proxies

HTTP proxy

HTTP proxy. As the name suggests, proxies of this type support only one protocol, the HTTP protocol, and are suitable for downloading files and browsing the Internet. Considered 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 you connect to 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 to which you connect through this type of proxy can determine that you are using a proxy, but cannot determine your real IP address.
  • Level 3 (Transparent, transparent proxies) - the server to which you connect through a transparent proxy can detect that you are using a proxy and can establish 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 that supports the CONNECT method via 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 run through a SOCKS proxy. For example, you can use a SOCKS proxy to work with ICQ or an email client. The 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 update 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 keeping logs (operation report), saving 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 under the control of intelligence services or attackers, and sometimes they are created deliberately 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, click your social network button. And don’t forget to subscribe to our updates, on public VKontakte

What is a proxy server is a computer on the Internet (more precisely, a service on the computer), which allows you to make not direct, but indirect requests to other network resources. Such a server is an intermediary between your computer and a resource on the Internet. It helps you stay anonymous when traveling online.

Where can I find the proxy server address? Many providers provide clients with their proxy addresses. But you can also use others. They are easy to find on the Internet. Most often, a proxy server is specified by an IP address and port number. To enable a proxy server for your browser, you must specify the proxy address and port in its settings. (For example, 188.134.19.102:3129) In Firefox it is written like this: Settings - Advanced - Network - Configure

Why do you need a proxy server? I’ll explain with simple examples.. You need to download a cartoon, program or book from a file hosting service. And when you log in, you receive a message that your IP address limit has been reached. The reason may not be your fault at all, since you haven’t downloaded anything yet. But your provider distributes one common address to half of the area, which is recorded by the file hosting service. What to do in this case? You can, of course, wait a few hours, but there is no guarantee that your quicker neighbor won’t get ahead of you again. It is much easier to open a list of sites that have free proxies and access the file hosting service through them.

A proxy server is very convenient for use on a local network, when several computers use a common Internet connection.

If you frequently access the same external resources, a copy of them on the proxy server is provided upon request. So external network. And the requested information is transmitted to the client faster. Another option is that during your lunch break at work, you would like to go to your favorite social network and congratulate your girlfriend or friend on something. But your prudent bosses long ago blocked all social networks so that employees could work productively and not chat with friends or look at pictures. But login through proxy server maybe you will succeed.

You can also use other proxy features, for example, use them to hide annoying advertisements. Through a proxy you can hide your geographical location. For example, if you told your annoying girlfriend or friend that you went on a business trip to Spain, and you yourself are chatting from the next street. Change the country via proxy and you are already in Madrid.

On November 1, 2017, a law prohibiting the use of anonymizers to access blocked Internet resources came into force. Anonymizers, VPN services, and even browsers with traffic proxying functions are banned in Russia. In a word, all those tools that allow you to bypass sites on the Internet blocked by Roskomnadzor.

But do not forget that your data transmitted to the Internet through a proxy is also cached on it and can become accessible to attackers. Don't use proxies a server for operations with your electronic wallets and for important correspondence.

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