Proxy Server and firewalls!!!

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Hey,

This seems to be a problem for so many people so I thought I'd be the one to look a plonker and ask once and for all!! How can you check you are downloading to the best of your computers and connections ability?? Also what is a proxy server (i have a feeling it is something to do with running your connection through a router but im not sure)???

Cheers


dan
 

muckshifter

I'm not weird, I'm a limited edition.
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... what is a proxy server
A server that sits between a client application, such as a Web browser, and a real server. It intercepts all requests to the real server to see if it can fulfil the requests itself. If not, it forwards the request to the real server.

Proxy servers have two main purposes:



Improve Performance: Proxy servers can dramatically improve performance for groups of users. This is because it saves the results of all requests for a certain amount of time. Consider the case where both user X and user Y access the World Wide Web through a proxy server. First user X requests a certain Web page, which we'll call Page 1. Sometime later, user Y requests the same page. Instead of forwarding the request to the Web server where Page 1 resides, which can be a time-consuming operation, the proxy server simply returns the Page 1 that it already fetched for user X. Since the proxy server is often on the same network as the user, this is a much faster operation. Real proxy servers support hundreds or thousands of users. The major online services such as Compuserve and America Online, for example, employ an array of proxy servers.


http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/proxy_server.html

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/kb/24/how-a-proxy-works

:thumb:
 
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cheers for that!!

Just one more thing. My connection is through a wireless card to a router. Is there anything I should bear in mind with this? I've heard people talking about running download programs through certain ports?? Any ideas or is it all gobedygook???

cheers again


dan
 
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I have a proxy client on my webserver, i access it through a normal webpage URL, helps me get around these blocking issues that happen at college.

They start blocking the forums i go on etc.. in lunchtime.

It is a great facility, helpful.

All it does is route the website through the proxy client thus not 'directly' accessing it, and as each request to the proxy server is different, it cannot be blocked as the URL gets scrambled each time.

IMO, firewalls are essential, if you don't use one then you must be mad, as your practically inviting hackers to pick your machine to play with.

Chris,
 

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