029 | Proxy Servers in Action: HAProxy — High-Performance Load Balancer

June 21, 2025

029 | Proxy Servers in Action: HAProxy — High-Performance Load Balancer⚡️🔗

In our series of articles on proxy servers, we’ve already discussed Nginx, a versatile tool combining the roles of a web server and a reverse proxy. Today, we’ll take a look at HAProxy (High Availability Proxy) — a specialized solution focused on a single but extremely important task: high-performance load balancing and ensuring high availability.

What is HAProxy?

HAProxy is free, open-source software that acts as a load balancer and reverse proxy for both TCP and HTTP protocols. It is designed to handle very large volumes of simultaneous connections and is a key component for building highly available and scalable web applications and services. HAProxy is often used as the “brain” in front of a group of servers, distributing incoming traffic among them.

028 | Proxy Servers in Action: Nginx — A Powerful Reverse Proxy and Web Server

June 20, 2025

In the previous article, we explored the general principles of proxy servers and their classification. Now it’s time to dive into specific solutions, and we’ll start with Nginx (pronounced “engine-x”) — one of the most popular and high-performance web servers and a powerful reverse proxy. Nginx plays a key role in modern web infrastructure, powering millions of websites worldwide.

What is Nginx?

Nginx is a free, open-source software that was originally developed as a web server to solve the C10k problem (handling a large number of simultaneous connections). Over time, its functionality has expanded significantly, and today Nginx is widely used as:

027 | Proxy Servers: Your Reliable Network Middleman — Why You Need Them and How They Work

June 19, 2025

In today’s internet-driven world, where data constantly travels between millions of devices, it’s often not enough to establish a direct connection — you may need a “middleman.” That’s where a proxy server comes in. It acts as a bridge between you (the client) and the destination resource (server), handling network requests on your behalf. Understanding how proxies work is critical for network security, optimization, and access management.

What is a Proxy Server?

A proxy server (from the English proxy — representative, intermediary) is a server in a computer network that acts as an intermediary between a user (client) and other internet servers. All client requests go through the proxy first, which then forwards them to the destination server. Responses from the destination server also return to the proxy first before being sent back to the client.