Whats proxying, then?
Proxying is the technique of having outgoing requests (eg for web pages) passed to a ‘proxy server’, which performs the request on behalf of the original client and then forwards the results. This can be useful both if the clients can’t be given direct access to the Internet, and because it allows the proxy server to perform caching and reduce the external bandwidth needed. FTP, HTTP and gopher are easy to proxy, given suitable clients. Telnet is virtually impossible to proxy transparently. B.18 Now I’m confused! It sounds like proxying and masquerading are pretty much the same. To some extent they do the same thing, yes. The difference is a bit like that between routing and bridging. Masquerading works at a low level in the network stack; the datagrams are simply rewritten as they pass through the gateway. Proxying requires that you talk to a server, which then talks to the outside world on your behalf. B.19 What Ethernet cards are available? Several have been produced, though I’m not
