This article will introduce the role of a reverse proxy. Often misunderstood, this service will provide you more than expected.
The main role of a reverse proxy and the most known of people is to distribute request behind multiple servers.
If one of these servers fail, the reverse proxy detect a problem and will distribute the request another available server in the pool.
This function is commonly called: Load Balancing.
The reverse may act as a security barrier by hiding the topology of your back-end servers and by acting as an intermediary that filters good and bad requests.
For example, a reverse proxy handles secured requests (HTTPS), but do you know it can also simplify the management and time spent on the certificate ?
Acting as the main entry point, the reverse proxy may handle certificates between the internet and your network.
When your public certificates are expired, you just need to add the new ones and configure the new security settings on the reverse proxy without changing anything on the server side. The communication between the internet and your network are again trusted with the new certificate on the reverse proxy.
Reverse Proxy may help you to manage flows and protect your website, web apps and more commonly your business service.
Think about it !