Modern web applications rely heavily on infrastructure components that sit between users and servers. One of the most important of these is the reverse proxy. Even though it powers many high-traffic systems, it is often misunderstood. This article explains what a reverse proxy is, how it works, and why it is widely used in modern web architectures. What is a reverse proxy? A reverse proxy is a server that sits between clients (users or applications) and backend servers, forwarding incoming requests to the appropriate backend system. Instead of users connecting directly to your application server, they connect to the reverse proxy first. The reverse proxy then: receives the request forwards it to a backend server returns the response to the user From the user’s perspective, they are interacting with a single system. In reality, the reverse proxy is distributing and managing the traffic behind the scenes.…