Proxy Deep Dive | Forward & Reverse Proxy Explained – System Design

In this video of the System Design Series, we break down one of the most fundamental concepts — Proxy Servers. Understanding Forward and Reverse Proxies is essential before diving into topics like Load Balancers, API Gateways, and CDNs — so make sure you get this right! 🕐 Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 00:09 What is a Proxy? Basic Difference 00:53 Forward Proxy – Use Cases (Security, Access Control, Caching) 05:34 Reverse Proxy – Use Cases (Load Balancing, Caching, SSL Termination & more) 10:10 Confusion 🔥 What you'll learn: ✅ What is a Forward Proxy and when is it used? ✅ What is a Reverse Proxy and when is it used? ✅ How Load Balancers & API Gateways relate to Reverse Proxies ✅ Real-world tools — NGINX, HAProxy, Kong Gateway ✅ Key differences between Forward and Reverse Proxy 📌 This is part of the System Design Series — where we cover core concepts you need to design scalable, reliable systems from scratch.