Proxy Tutorial:what a proxy server is and how to use one

[FreeWorm]

The original article comes from
http://www.rohitab.com/discuss/lofiv...php/t9511.html




Proxy Servers: Explained

This tutorial is going to attempt to explain what a proxy server is and how to use one.


Http Headers

The internet has millions of user***8217;s world wide. There are people from almost every country in the world connecting to it. So what exactly happens when you go to a website? Let***8217;s say you go to Yahoo.com. This is an example of everything that happens.


1. The domain name Yahoo.com is translated to the servers I.P. Address that host Yahoo.com using the Domain Name System otherwise known as DNS.

2. The web browser you are using connects to the server Yahoo.com is hosted on & sends an Http header to Yahoo.com. In the header contains the following information

-Your I.P. Address (See below for details)
-Your Browser & Os Information
-An Http request

And a few other things are included in the header.

3. Yahoo.com can now send back its homepage (index.html) to the I.P. Address contained within the header.


Note: I.P. stands for Internet Protocol. Each computer on any kind of network has a unique numeric I.P. address that no other computer on the network has. When you connect to the internet you are assigned an I.P. address by your ISP.


Now if you understood the above you should have a basic idea of how headers work. You only need to know this much in order to understand how a Proxy server works.


Proxy Servers

A Proxy server allows you to connect to it and send http request. It will then fullfill the request and send the page back to you. Here is an example of a proxy server in action.

Let's say I have configured my browser to use a proxy server. When I type Http://www.Yahoo.com in my browser does the following.

1. Resolves the name Yahoo.com into the I.P. Addy of the server Yahoo.com is hosted on.

2. My Browser then connects to the proxy server and sends the http request with the following information

-My I.P. Address
-My Browser & Os Information
-An Http request

And some other information.

3. The Proxy Server then looks at the request. It sees that I wanted to connect to Yahoo.com and get Index.html. So the proxy sends a new Http request to Yahoo.com but this time instead of my information in the header the proxy servers I.P. addy is sent.

4. The Proxy Server sends back to me Yahoo.com.

Basically a proxy server is the man in the middle. Look at the following image. It shows you what your connection looks like without the use of a proxy server.



The following image shows you what your connection looks like
while using a proxy server.




I hope you understand how a proxy works. If you do not then please reply to this thread with your questions on it.


How to use a proxy

This part of the tutorial is going to show you how to configure your browser to use a Proxy Server. You 1st need to get a Proxy. You can get them all over the internet. Here are a few sites you can get them at:

http://www.allproxies.com

http://www.stayinvisible.com

http://www.proxymania.com

Now you can follow the steps below.


Internet Explorer Steps

The following steps will help you configure Internet Explorer to use a proxy server.

1. Open a new instance of the browser.

2. Go to Tools > Internet Options on the file menu as seen below.





3. The Internet Options dialog should have now appeared on your screen. Click on the tab that is labeled ***8220;Connections.

4. Now hit the button entitled ***8220;LAN Settings***8221; and another dialog will appear.



5. You should now see a area on your screen were it says Proxy Server. Enter the address & port number of the proxy server as seen below.



It took forever for me to write this were I was satisfied with it. I hope you like it and I will add on to it later explaining more technical details. If any part of this tutorial is inaccurate please pm me so I can correct it.


Credits

Http://www.ImageShack.us ***8211; Thanks for hosting my images. This is a wonderful website if you want an image hosted for free but don***8217;t want to sign up for an account.

Http://www.Rohitab.com ***8211; Wonderful website for anyone who loves computers.

Shouts to: Alexia, Blademaster, Dumbtech, eZtar, Jon, Machewy and all the other l33t h4k0rs out there...

[ito]

my question is that the proxies or socks we scans and get from forums are illegal i mean we use them without permission, if a person using the comuter at the same time when i connected with this computer and i suft internet, may this person caught me that i am connected with his computer? may he know which websites i am visiting?

[anlownlrwre]

Thank for good Tutorial proxy.

[DarkLander]

Originally Posted by ito

my question is that the proxies or socks we scans and get from forums are illegal i mean we use them without permission, if a person using the comuter at the same time when i connected with this computer and i suft internet, may this person caught me that i am connected with his computer? may he know which websites i am visiting?

that's an important question, but as far as i know, u wont be connected directly to another computer, if the same proxy is been used by at least hundreds of users in the same time, dont u think it will cause the computer owner of that IP (proxy) for his connection to be dead ?
alot of ISPs use the webproxy thingy where all its users can connect to that proxy automatically when they join the internet, and this is to hide the user's real IP, so these webproxies arent limited for the same ISP users, since they leave open port for their users to connect from outside with open ports..
and proxy hunters can find these web proxies which work as proxies..
why u think proxies dont live for long?
coz when they the huge traffic on it, they block it or do something else.. and the proxy will stop working for public users..

this is what i know , if some1 have more info, me and other would be thankful

regards

[v-kangji]

thanks. I am a fresher here. And you article is the first one i have read here.
It means too much for me

[rudyzhou2]

thanks for the info, now i know how to use proxies xD

[keizer]

Many thanks for this tutorial for networking illiterate like mine. Do i need smtp when i use proxy if i use a bulk mailing software?

[jlane0]

Originally Posted by ito

my question is that the proxies or socks we scans and get from forums are illegal i mean we use them without permission, if a person using the comuter at the same time when i connected with this computer and i suft internet, may this person caught me that i am connected with his computer? may he know which websites i am visiting?

ccproxy or another proxy software is running on the remote computer and the administrator of the remote computer goes to command prompt and types in netstat -n and your ip comes up on a list if you are using the proxy at that time
[it show's everyone's ip that he's connected to, even local connections]

there is a possibility [i think] that they can packet log the proxy file and see what information is being relayed by his computer, but he would have to go thru an extent to find out your information because it's probably heavily encrypted


but the truth is, most proxies are hosted on cracked servers [linuxes, vpses] or were created by mean's of a glitch or malfunction
and are usually unknown to the owner of the server

Originally Posted by DarkLander

that's an important question, but as far as i know, u wont be connected directly to another computer, if the same proxy is been used by at least hundreds of users in the same time, dont u think it will cause the computer owner of that IP (proxy) for his connection to be dead ?
alot of ISPs use the webproxy thingy where all its users can connect to that proxy automatically when they join the internet, and this is to hide the user's real IP, so these webproxies arent limited for the same ISP users, since they leave open port for their users to connect from outside with open ports..
and proxy hunters can find these web proxies which work as proxies..
why u think proxies dont live for long?
coz when they the huge traffic on it, they block it or do something else.. and the proxy will stop working for public users..

this is what i know , if some1 have more info, me and other would be thankful

regards

i always assumed proxies in a range only are on for a few hours per day because that's all the owners of that range need the proxies for,

the owner of the range would probably set up his router(s) to only allow internet connection to the proxy hosting computer during those hours
or the fact that the servers were just plain powered off, at that time

but i guess there are some people hosting a proxy for short periods of time on there home computers too

Originally Posted by keizer

Many thanks for this tutorial for networking illiterate like mine. Do i need smtp when i use proxy if i use a bulk mailing software?

yes smpt are proxys that work well for email spaming

[BuffIsMyLife]

Lol nice dude , Many Thanks Very HelpFul!!!

[wealthinpjs]

Guess I am not a novice as I thought! This makes perfect sense. Just coming to terms with different types of proxies, how to find proxies and what is the best way to manage proxies with different programs.