Web Servers & Reverse Proxies

When millions of users connect simultaneously, backend applications cannot be exposed directly to the public internet. Web Servers and Reverse Proxies (NGINX, Caddy) handle SSL termination, load balancing, and rate limiting.

Core Duties of a Reverse Proxy

1. TLS / SSL Termination

Decodes encrypted HTTPS at the edge so internal microservices communicate in lightweight HTTP.

2. Load Balancing (L7 / L4)

Distributes requests across multiple application workers using Round-Robin, Least-Connections, or IP-Hash.

3. Static Asset Caching

Serves images, CSS, and JS directly from RAM without touching Node.js/Python backend processes.

4. Security & Rate Limiting

Blocks abusive IPs, stops DDoS floods, and obfuscates private backend IP topologies.

Quick Summary

Reverse proxies protect backends while load balancing high-concurrency internet traffic.
Next, we explore Content Delivery Networks (CDNs).