Proxies

Composable Architecture Platform is a very network centric product. As such there are a number of network level definitions that can be confusing - especially when it comes to the large number of potential proxies being involved. The following is a list of the terms used for various proxies within and used by the product.

Web proxy

A web proxy is a proxy server that is installed as a performance optimizer or security feature betweenComposable Architecture Platform and the World Wide Web. Typically, this is a corporate proxy that Composable Architecture Platform must traverse to access services such as the update server, MaxMind, SMS services etc.

Composable Architecture Platform built in proxy (forwarder)

The built in Composable Architecture Platform proxy, called Proxy Server in the console, is a forwarding proxy used to protect sites that are unable to take advantage of the inline filter (e.g. all non-J2EE sites). It is also used to test Composable Architecture Platform rules against any site, without performing any installation. The latter is achieved using the built in browser proxy.

Browser proxy

The browser proxy is a feature of the built in forwarding proxy. The browser proxy allows configuration of a proxy within browser settings and have the requests from that browser sent through the Composable Architecture Platform built in proxy. This provides a convenient method for testing rules against sites without installing any additional software.