General Information on Proxies & Proxy Lists

Part and parcel of network security, be it in a corporation LAN or school university, is the installation of a firewall or web content filter. However as any user will attest to, this can hamper the flow of work, as it restricts access to websites that actually have bearing on their activity.

Proxy Servers

One can go to the administrator and have the web content filter removed temporarily, but to have to go through this procedure over and over will be tedious. A far more convenient method is to use proxies on proxy servers.

Proxy servers, or websites, allow a user to overcome the website blockade. The process itself is not difficult to comprehend: what goes on is that once you are on a proxy server or site, you enter the address or URL of the blocked site. The site will be displayed in a separate window, and you will be able to access it as you would any normal web page.

Not only do you overcome the web content filter, but your IP address is hidden so that the website you are visiting will not be able to tell who is visiting it. The reason is that it is the proxy serverýs IP that will be displayed, and not your computerýs.

Advantages of Using Proxy Servers

Aside from circumventing content filter applications, the proxy server has other benefits, one of them is that because the page being accessed does not directly interact with your computer or the network, there is less danger of having the security breached.

Another advantage is that by accessing the web page from a proxy server, the pages are cached on the proxy site. This is important because it makes retrieval of the page much quicker; instead of reloading a page, which can take time if the network or Internet is busy, the file is loaded from the cache instead.

Proxy Lists

This is very convenient for Web users, but unfortunately, due to its popularity, proxy servers can be difficult to access at times, and there will be some webmasters who will try to block proxy servers. The way to go around this is by going to a proxy list site.

There are several proxy list sites available, but the good ones should be regularly maintained; that is, the contents are updated on a consistent basis. In addition, the contents of the proxy list should also include proxy software, links to other sites, and other vital information.

Setting up a DMZ

As has been shown, there will be times when using proxy servers will be necessary. If you have a firewall, there is no need to disable it just so you can use a proxy. Instead, you can configure the firewall so that there will be a DMZ (demilitarized zone). This term is used to refer to that section of the network system that is not covered by the firewall.

There are several ways that you can configure a DMZ on a network. One of the easiest is to select one of the computers and use it as a go between a firewall and the Internet. It usually entails using a directory on the computer as a DMZ. Check the firewall manual for instructions. Once this is setup, you can use a proxy server, and access all websites, while keeping up your security.

Peter Garant is writing articles about an Anonymous Proxy List for a site about Proxy Lists.