Proxy Web Servers and Authentication > Definitions

Proxies

Proxy

A server which accepts entity requests from clients and retrieves that entity from the origin server or another proxy server.

Transparent Proxy

A proxy that passes requests and responses unmodified, except as required for proxy authentication.

Non-transparent Proxy

A proxy that somehow modifies the request or response to provide some added value to the client or user.

Cache

A collection of entities (resources and metadata) that can be used as responses to client requests.

Caching Proxy

A proxy server with a cache. Sometimes referred to as "proxy caches" or simply "caches", but the term "proxy" is often misinterpreted to include the "caching" component.