Proxies and Load Balancers

Some network services sit in the middle of traffic, between clients and servers, to add control, security, or scalability. Two key examples are proxies and load balancers.

Rather than letting clients and servers talk directly, these middle services intercept and manage the conversation, improving performance, security, and reliability along the way.

A proxy server acts as an intermediary that makes requests on behalf of clients. Instead of connecting straight to a website, a client asks the proxy, which fetches the content and passes it back.

This indirection lets the proxy filter, log, cache, and control traffic, giving an organization a central point to manage and secure outbound internet access.