Forward And Reverse Proxy Servers

Forward proxies are often used by client machines in internal networks to access the internet. In this case, all client requests within the network are sent to the proxy server. The proxy server will then make the request for the client (the request often goes through a firewall before reaching the internet). When the proxy server gets a response, it knows which client machine made the request and, and will send the response to the proper client. Using a proxy server as a single point of access for all clients to access the internet helps in managing security. For example, your proxy server can prevent clients from making requests to certain computers on the internet. All outgoing requests go through the forward proxy server.

So a forward proxy server handles requests on behalf of clients, a reverse proxy works on behalf of servers. A reverse proxy takes a request coming from the internate (that originated from an external client) and forwards it to a server on the internal network. 

Reverse proxy servers handle requests coming from the internet. Forward proxy servers handle requests that originate from clients on the internal network.