forward index back LITA Regional Institute: Proxy Web Servers and Authentication
Atlanta, GA    May 30, 2003

Proxy Web Servers and Authentication > Interception Proxies > How do they work?

Follow the network path: normal web transaction with an interception proxy

  1. Requests leaves client machine destined towards origin server (no changes to the browser configuration).
  2. Network routers and switches move the transaction to the origin server, but one of the routers detects that the request is an HTTP transaction. Using a proprietary protocol, passes the request to the interception proxy.
  3. Received by the interception proxy server; request leaves proxy destined towards the origin server.
  4. Network routers and switches move the transaction to the proxy server.
  5. Received by the origin server: the IP address of the request is that of the interception proxy server.