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Home  |  Helpdesk  |  Technical Library  |  FAQs  |  Proxy Server

Proxy server

Proxy Server

The Demon WWW Proxy Service provides proxy facilities for Web (HTTP), file transfer (FTP) and Gopher protocols.

What is a Proxy?

A Proxy Server is a machine that sits between your computer and the Web Server whose pages you are accessing. It holds an archive (called a 'cache') of the most popular recently accessed pages. These can then be served to your computer far more quickly than if they had been requested from the original Web Server.

Proxy systems are designed to speed up file requests, reduce international bandwidth requirements, and ease the load on Web and FTP servers by only requesting updated or new files that they do not already have in store.

A recent development in proxy cacheing is the Automatic Proxy Service, or AutoProxy. This gives your browser access to the very latest information on which Proxy Servers are available, which types of Internet access can be used, and whether some pages should be downloaded direct from their own server.

Why would I want to use a Proxy Service?

In summary, the benefits you will notice are:

  • Significant speed increases when accessing more popular documents.
  • Overloaded sites will still be accessible to you - since they are likely to be available from the Proxy.
  • It helps speed up your access to the Internet as a whole - the more people who use the Proxies, the less bandwidth is consumed.

Details of the "Cache Now!" Web Proxy campaign, and links to more cacheing resources, can be found at http://vancouver-webpages.com/CacheNow/.

For a brief summary of the issues involved in WWW Cacheing, read Alan J Flavells WWW Cache Briefing.

How would using Automatic Proxy Configuration help me?

Demon now has an improved Web Proxy service in place that will help ensure your web access is faster and more reliable. Part of this scheme involves updating the proxy system continuously. For full effectiveness you will need to set up the "Automatic Proxy Configuration" (AutoProxy) feature of your browser.

The benefits that you will see from using Automatic Proxy Configuration are:

  • Improved resilience - you will be able to access the Web even if a Proxy server becomes unavailable. We reconfigure for you.
  • Consistency of performance - we can ensure consistent service by balancing the load on the Proxy servers.
  • Access more sites quickly - we can even ensure the optimum Proxy setting is used for individual sites.

Other browsers that don't support automatic proxy configuration can be set up using the standard proxy configuration.

Internet Explorer Proxy setup

You should be using the latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer to get the most out of your Web browsing. You can check the Microsoft Web Site to see if there is a more recent version for you to install. We recommend that you should be using at least version 3.02.

If you are using Internet Explorer version 3.02 or 5 for Windows 95 or NT4, then you will be able to take advantage of Demon's AutoProxy Service. If you are using Internet Explorer 3.01 or 4.0 for Windows, or any Macintosh version, you will need to set the Standard Proxy Configuration. (Internet Explorer 4.0 does not properly support the AutoProxy service.) *

Which version of Internet Explorer are you using?:

To set Standard Proxy access for Internet Explorer 3.01 or 4.0 for Windows 95, 98 or NT4, simply follow these instructions:

  1. With your browser running, from the menu choose View, then Options and select the tab at the top marked Connection.
  2. In the section labelled Proxy Server, make sure the box marked "Connect through proxy server" is ticked and click the button labelled Settings... and the Proxy Settings dialogue box will appear.
  3. In the section labelled Servers:
    • You will see the different types of Internet protocol (for example, HTTP for the Web, and FTP for file transfer), and two input boxes next to each.
    • For HTTP, FTP and Gopher, type www-cache.demon.co.uk into the address box on the left and 8080 into the port box on the right. You should be able to use the normal copy and paste key functions to speed this up.
    • Make sure there is nothing in the boxes next to the protocols marked Secure and Socks. Demon do not recommend using a proxy server for either of these protocols.
    • Just below is a tick box which is labelled "Use the same proxy server for all protocols" Make sure that this box is not ticked.
  4. In the section called Exceptions:
    • There is a box marked "Do not use proxy server for addresses beginning with" which allows you to exclude certain sites from access by the proxy. Any site names typed into this box (separated by ';' semicolons) will be accessed directly by the browser. Demon recommend that you set this to exclude sites on the Demon local network, so enter:*.demon.net; ftp.demon.co.uk; www.demon.co.uk
    • Below this box, there is a tick box marked "Do not use proxy server for local (intranet) addresses". Make sure this box is ticked.
  5. When you have finished editing the settings, click the OK button to close that window, and click the OK button to close the Options window and save the changes you have made. Your browser is now set up to use the Demon Proxy Server.

To set AutoProxy access for Internet Explorer 3.02 for Windows 95, 98 or NT4, simply follow these instructions:

  1. From the menu in your browser, choose View, Options select the Advanced tab from the top of the dialog box and click Automatic Configuration. The automatic configuration dialogue box will appear.
  2. In the dialog box, enter: http://www.demon.net/www/autoproxy
  3. Click Refresh. Another dialogue box will then appear to give you a confirmation.
  4. Click Cancel to close the Automatic Configuration window, and Cancel again to close the Options window. Your browser should now be configured to access Demon's Proxy Servers.

To set AutoProxy access for Internet Explorer 5 for Windows 95, 98 or NT4, simply follow these instructions:

  1. With your browser running, from the menu choose Tools, then Internet Options and select the tab at the top marked Connections.
  2. In the section labelled Dial-up Settings, there should be a small icon marked "Demon. (Default)" in the white box, in which case click on the button marked Settings, and the Demon. Settings dialog box will appear.
  3. In the section labelled Automatic Configuration, tick the box marked Use automatic configuration script,
  4. In the box marked Address, enter http://www.demon.net/www/autoproxy
  5. When you have finished editing the settings, click the OK button to close the Demon Settings dialog box, and then the OK button to close the Internet Options window and save the changes you have made. Your browser is now set up to use the Demon Proxy Servers.

*"IE4.01" and "IE4.01SP1" and "IE4.01SP2" all count as IE4.0

Netscape Navigator Proxy setup

You should be using the latest version of Netscape Navigator to make the most out of your Web browsing. You can check the Netscape Web Site to see if there is a more recent version for you to install. We recommend that you should be using at least version 3.03.

For Netscape Navigator version 2 and greater, you can use Demon's AutoProxy Service, which will configure and continuously update your browser's proxy settings automatically, ensuring that the very latest proxy information is always used.

To set AutoProxy access for Netscape Navigator 2 or 3, simply follow these instructions:

  1. With your browser running, from the menu choose Options, Network Preferences.
  2. From the new dialog box, select the Proxies tab at the top, and choose Automatic Proxy Configuration.
  3. In the box beside this, enter: http://www.demon.net/www/autoproxy
  4. Click OK. Your browser should now be configured to access Demon's Proxy Servers.

To set AutoProxy access for Netscape Navigator 4, simply follow these instructions:

  1. With your browser running, from the menu choose Edit and Preferences.
  2. From the list in the new dialog box, select Advanced and Proxies. (Click the + next to "Advanced" if "Proxies" is not visible).
  3. Select Automatic Proxy Configuration and in the box beside it, enter: http://www.demon.net/www/autoproxy
  4. Click OK. Your browser should now be configured to access Demon's Proxy Servers.

Proxy setup for other browsers

If you are not using Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, please check your browser's manual to find out how to set up proxy access. If you are unable to use Automatic Proxy Configuration, the details required to configure your browser are:

Protocol

Proxy Server

:

Port

HTTP

http://www-cache.demon.co.uk

:

8080

FTP

http://www-cache.demon.co.uk

:

8080

Gopher

http://www-cache.demon.co.uk

:

8080


Notes

  • Do not apply these settings to other protocols (such as Security/Secure or HTTPS, Socks or WAIS).
  • If possible exclude demon.net, ftp.demon.co.uk and www.demon.co.uk, and Local or Intranet addresses from the proxy settings.



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