About Configuring Proxies

A Web Gateway appliance uses its proxy functions to intercept web traffic sent by its clients and transmit it if this is allowed by the filtering rules.

Default settings are in place for these functions after the initial setup. You can configure and extend them to meet the requirements of your network.

Using these functions, one or more proxies can be run on Web Gateway to cover web traffic going on under different network protocols. With regard to the use of its proxy functions, Web Gateway is also itself referred to as proxy.

How Web Gateway uses its proxy functions depends on the way you have set it up within your network. Different modes can be configured to account for different setups.

So, the following are key settings when configuring proxies:

• Network mode — Is configured depending on how you have set up Web Gateway within your network.
  
  There is a network mode for running a proxy that clients must be explicitly made aware of if web traffic originating from them is to be redirected to it. For other network modes, this is handled transparently, which means the clients are not aware that their web traffic is redirected.
• Network protocol — Is configured depending on the type of web traffic that Web Gateway should intercept and transmit.
  
  Proxies can be set up for web traffic going on under HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and other protocols.

There are several other proxy settings that you can configure, for example, timeouts or the maximum number of client connections. You can also implement special proxy solutions, for example, a reverse HTTPS proxy configuration.