Ask which side the proxy represents#
A forward proxy acts for clients reaching outward. A reverse proxy acts as a public or internal entry point in front of servers. Both relay traffic, but their trust boundary and owner differ.
| Role | Acts for | Common uses |
|---|---|---|
| Forward proxy | Clients | Outbound policy, privacy, corporate egress |
| Reverse proxy | Servers | TLS termination, routing, caching, load balancing, hiding backend topology |
In System Design interviews, reverse proxies appear more often because they provide a controlled entry point. Product categories overlap: a reverse proxy can load balance, and a gateway can proxy. Describe the responsibility needed rather than arguing over labels.
Related practice problems
Use the manifest-backed prompts below to apply this lesson in a complete design.
- RFC 9110: HTTP SemanticsIETF / RFC Editor
Reach this point to mark the lesson as read.