Reverse proxy server

• A reverse proxy is a server.
• It sits in front of other servers and forwards client requests to them.
• Is a middleman or broker on behalf of origin servers.

Usually used to:

• Increase security (keeping the IP addresses of origin servers private makes DDoS attacks much harder).
• Optimize performance (caching).
• Increase reliability (load balancing).

The client thinks that the reverse proxy is the end-point server.

Normal proxies

• Also called a web or forwarding (normal) proxy.
• Sits between client machines and hosts.
• Is a middleman on behalf of the clients.

The server thinks that the client is the proxy.

Source: cloudflare