Proxy Advise

[HX1]

Today I am doing some testing. I have set this up in the past but never really used it. I have installed the most recent stable of the Vidalia Bundle and I was thinking of installing WinGate. I have always had issues with it being slow for a time, and I have several concerns for my servers and other 'services' I have running from time to time on my system.. I also have several others in my archive that can be installed, Everything from Hamachi to UltraVPN.

I was wondering if there is any general advise as far as setting these services up are concerned? Should there be any particular concerns over other areas? Other services you recommend? Tweaks for these configurations?

Reason I am asking is that I have not really seen much on this - about the method - though, everyone talks about using Proxies and staying secure online, regardless of what we do; yet I see and have found little documentation on the subject or even tutorials. I am (myself) venturing out to find out what I can do to improve what I am doing today.. (Wish me luck) BUT I thought I would see if there was any advise on the matter here.. Any thoughts or ideas from any of you who do use it. Especially any of you with more complex home networks.

[Atasas]

I guess you know that much

http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/proxyservers/a/proxyservers.htm

Proxy Servers Tutorial - About Proxy Servers

Introduction to Proxy Servers

Some home networks, corporate intranets, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) use proxy servers (also known as proxies). Proxy servers act as a "middleman" or broker between the two ends of a client/server network connection. Proxy servers work with Web browsers and servers, or other applications, by supporting underlying network protocols like HTTP.

Key Features of Proxy Servers

Proxy servers provide three main functions: firewalling and filtering

connection sharing

caching

firewalling and filtering

connection sharing

caching

The features of proxy servers are especially important on larger networks like corporate intranets and ISP networks. The more users on a LAN and the more critical the need for data privacy, the greater the need for proxy server functionality.

Proxy Servers, Firewalling and Filtering

Proxy servers work at the Application layer, layer 7 of the OSI model. They aren't as popular as ordinary firewalls that work at lower layers and support application-independent filtering. Proxy servers are also more difficult to install and maintain than firewalls, as proxy functionality for each application protocol like HTTP, SMTP, or SOCKS must be configured individually. However, a properly configured proxy server improves network security and performance. Proxies have capability that ordinary firewalls simply cannot provide.

Some network administrators deploy both firewalls and proxy servers to work in tandem. To do this, they install both firewall and proxy server software on a server gateway.

Because they function at the OSI Application layer, the filtering capability of proxy servers is relatively intelligent compared to that of ordinary routers. For example, proxy Web servers can check the URL of outgoing requests for Web pages by inspecting HTTP GET and POST messages. Using this feature, network administrators can bar access to illegal domains but allow access to other sites. Ordinary firewalls, in contrast, cannot see Web domain names inside those messages. Likewise for incoming data traffic, ordinary routers can filter by port number or network address, but proxy servers can also filter based on application content inside the messages.

Connection Sharing with Proxy Servers

Various software products for connection sharing on small home networks have appeared in recent years. In medium- and large-sized networks, however, actual proxy servers offer a more scalable and cost-effective alternative for shared Internet access. Rather than give each client computer a direct Internet connection, all internal connections can be funneled through one or more proxies that in turn connect to the outside.

Proxy Servers and Caching

The caching of Web pages by proxy servers can improve a network's "quality of service" in three ways. First, caching may conserve bandwidth on the network, increasing scalability. Next, caching can improve response time experienced by clients. With an HTTP proxy cache, for example, Web pages can load more quickly into the browser. Finally, proxy server caches increase availability. Web pages or other files in the cache remain accessible even if the original source or an intermediate network link goes offline.

[HX1]

Yeah, but useful information for everyone anyway... Right now I am having some issues with speed especially to my Web Server, once Nsane was cached fully it was fine .. but everything seems to really be slowing up.. I haven't installed WinGate yet, just trying to get it right..

EDIT: Got it, was a few simple settings I wasn't really paying attention to, and I realized that when using the Bundle, that the port that stated throughout by default I think its 9150, 9050.. is not the one you use 8118 by default is the one you use...I was also able to hook Squid into it.. so that seems to be working fairly well with Polipo... Happy thus far.. does seem a little slow at first connect.. but it gets going after awhile.. Now I have to look into WinGate.. not to mention I am still trying to find a recent version.. Has a few addons as well..

EDIT: I must have had some sort of issue because when I restarted all requests went through Squid which stated that it wasn't authorized.. So currently I was not able to run it with Squid..Still haven't installed WinGate.. still testing what I have currently and trying to do what I can to increase the ability to get back the speed..and network utilization (which may be impossible)

[Sl@pSh0ck™]

I am currently using UltraVPN and I am a happy camper so far, but I opted to use US IP's (server) instead of the default France IP's (server). US server can connect to https as well as yahoo messenger and is quite fast when browsing. I don't know what it is with the France servers (default) that it cannot connect to https and yahoo messenger and it is quite slow when browsing, I can't even connect to ultravpn.fr homepage when on default server. I have set up UltraVPN to connect to US server by default. Too bad UltraVPN dropped supporting bittorrent already :(

Here is my speedtest result while using ultravpn:

[HX1]

This is true, using these methods can be so slow... I need to find someone who knows what they are doing with Squid on Windows.. I can never translate what Linux guys are saying..(and then most of them are using Varnish)

EDIT: The reason this could also be slow at times could be that some of the available bandwidth to be used, is contributed by other people... So at various times the network can be slow..I so far have noticed big differences in speed and performance with a variety of variables...

[Sl@pSh0ck™]

This is true, using these methods can be so slow...

I totally agreee.... I think this is the catch if you want to have anonymity/privacy online and wants to access sites like Hulu, fair enough trade off I guess :rolleyes:

[HX1]

This is true, using these methods can be so slow...

I totally agreee.... I think this is the catch if you want to have anonymity/privacy online and wants to access sites like Hulu, fair enough trade off I guess :rolleyes:

I must have been editing the above post while you were typing, actually with mine my plugins and several other items are completely disabled as these applications actually still do not allow you to have anonymity, they can report and log your IP.. and several other things.. with the Tor extension in FF, it has a bunch of settings that allow for cache and disk access to be disabled and several other areas that have to be addressed before you even start to use it..

[Sl@pSh0ck™]

I tried vidalia with Tor before, I did not liked it because it was too slow and I cannot use the Tor plugin with the latest Firefox. So I settled with ultravpn. I just don't know if vidalia/tor operates in the same manner as ultravpn?

I work behind a NATed network, I use OpenDNS and Google DNS with each of my connection setup then UltraVPN, In my opinion I am maximizing anonimity/privacy online in this manner

[DKT27]

@nivrid05: How can I use US's IP server in UltraVPN?

Bizarre is workin on somethin to make Tor more faster. We will see what happens later.

And no, tor is totally different than VPN services. Tor is a sort of chain proxy.

[Sl@pSh0ck™]

@nivrid05: How can I use US's IP server in UltraVPN?

Bizarre is workin on somethin to make Tor more faster. We will see what happens later.

And no, tor is totally different than VPN services. Tor is a sort of chain proxy.

Just edit your client configuration file(client.ovpn, just double click it and it will open in notepad), then add: remote 76.73.18.50 443, then if you want to make this as your default proxy/server add: # before remote-random. This way ultravpn willl first try to connect to the first proxy on the list.

It should look like this:

#remote-random

remote 76.73.18.50 443
remote servers443.ultravpn.fr 443
remote servers24.ultravpn.fr 24
remote servers21.ultravpn.fr 21
remote servers54.ultravpn.fr 54
remote servers24.ultravpn.net 24
remote servers443.ultravpn.net 443

Edit: Here is another US IP that you can add 76.73.3.162 24

[DKT27]

Thanx I'll try and see if it works with msn now. :)

Can I add any proxy in it?

[Sl@pSh0ck™]

Thanx I'll try and see if it works with msn now. :)

Can I add any proxy in it?

I dont' know if you can add any proxy in it, which I doubt because the ip/proxy should point to the ultravpn servers in the US if you only want US ip. There are only 2 server location btw, US and France. The two IPs I gave are proven and tested that are working.

[DKT27]

Okay. Thanx for the info. :)