WebSphere Proxy Server

WebSphere® Proxy Server (PS) is a new type of server supported in the WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment (ND) package (in version 6.0.2 and later). This Proxy server receives requests from clients initially on behalf of content servers and work load manages, and routes the requests across content servers depending on the policies and filter classification definitions.

WebSphere Proxy servers can secure the transport (using SSL), secure the content, and protect the identity of application servers using the response transformation feature (URL rewriting). The Proxy server can also cache responses to improve throughput and performance. Another good feature to note is SSL offload at the Proxy server. When using this feature you can terminate an SSL (HTTPS) connection at the proxy server after receiving the request from the client and use HTTP as transport protocol between proxy server and the content servers (which are application servers). You can administer and configure this Proxy server from the deployment manager's administrator console (or wsadmin) in an ND environment.

This Proxy server is much more capable than the reverse proxy servers (the Edge caching server and the WebSphere plugin) with its advanced configuration capabilities, dynamic routing policies, and integrated system management in ND topology. It is interesting to note that the Proxy server can also route requests across multiple cells and supports session affinity and failover.