Multi-tiered Proxy

Multi-tiered Proxy

Proxy servers can be chained together as illustrated in the following diagram. Multi-tiered proxy is identical to Single-tiered Proxy except that intervening proxy servers connect to other proxies rather than to an origin server.

In the preceding diagram, the client uses P1 as a proxy server, and P1 uses P2 as a proxy. Depending on how they are configured, P1 and P2 can have any of the following characteristics:

• P2 can forward an upstream authentication challenge from the origin server.
• P1 can forward an upstream authentication challenge from P2.
• P1 can propagate remote events from the client to P2.
• P2 can propagate remote events from P1 to upstream servers.
• P2 can proxy content from the origin server to P1.
• P1 can proxy content from the P2 to the client.
• P2 can redirect P1 to an alternate proxy server or origin server.
• P1 can direct the client to an alternate proxy server.
• P2 treats P1 as a downstream client.
• P1 and P2 can cache content and stream content from a cache.

The following diagram illustrates the use of multi-tiered proxy servers in an intranet. By caching content on one or more cache proxy servers, you can reduce costs by decreasing the required bandwidth between a corporate intranet and the Internet. Also, multi-tiered proxy simplifies security administration by decreasing the number of access points to the intranet.

See Also

• Standard Cache Proxy Topologies