Are you frustrated with slow loading web pages? One of the most annoying things for any internet user is trying to browse the internet when websites take forever to load. For businesses such as internet cafes, this could have a huge impact on customer experiences and ultimately can contribute to customer complaints.

RouterOS features a MikroTik custom made proxy server for caching web resources and speeding up browsing by delivering cached file copies at local network speed. 

Main benefits of the MikroTik RouterOS Web Proxy include:

Raising Security

Security is raised as the client is not directly connected to the website they are requesting data from. The client makes a connection request to the web-proxy and the web-proxy fetches the data on the client’s behalf. Therefore the internet is connected to the web-proxy interface, not directly to the client. Using a web-proxy also allows the possibility of providing other services, such as anti-virus scanning, content filtering and monitoring or reports on the websites being requested. 

Enhanced Performance

Performance is enhanced in the likely event that the same popular websites are being visited on a frequent basis. If the web page is cached the web-proxy can deliver the content of that web page directly from its own cache, rather than fetching it every single time, again and again, from the internet. This is advantages if you make use of satellite internet or a capped internet service.

Normally when placing a web-proxy on the network web browsers, such as IE, Firefox, Safari must be manually configured to point the web page requests through the web-proxy. However, it is more convenient to redirect the HTTP web traffic on port 80 through to your web proxy without needing any manual configuration of the client. This is called ‘transparent web proxy’.

Okay, let’s slow down a bit. 

What is a Web Proxy?

A web proxy is a service that is placed between a client and the internet, specifically for HTTP web surfing, to help speed up browsing. 

What does RouterOS’s Web Proxy offer you?

MikroTik’s RouterOS performs proxying of HTTP and HTTP-proxy (for FTP and HTTP protocols) requests. The proxy server performs an Internet object cache function by storing requested Internet objects, i.e. data available via HTTP and FTP protocols, on a system positioned closer to the recipient in order to speed up customer browsing by delivering the requested file copies from the proxy cache at local network speed. 

What features are included with the RouterOS?

MikroTik RouterOS implements the following proxy server features:

• Regular HTTP proxy – the customer specifies the proxy server
• Transparent proxy – the customer is unaware of the proxy being used and there is no need for additional configurations for the web-browsing-client.
• Access list by source, destination, URL and requested method (HTTP firewall)
• Cache access list – to specify which objects to cache, and which not.
• Direct Access List – to specify which resources should be accessed directly and which through another proxy server
• Logging facility – allows the customer to retrieve and to store information about the proxy operation
• Parent proxy support – allows the customer to specify other proxy servers, (‘if they don’t have the requested object ask their parents or the origin server.)

A proxy server is usually placed at various points between the users and the destination server (also known as origin server) that provides access to the Internet. 

What exactly is Transparent Caching? 

RouterOS can also act as a Transparent Caching server, with no configuration required from the customer’s PC. The RouterOS will take all HTTP requests and redirect them to the local proxy service. This process will be entirely transparent to the user and the only difference to them will be the increased browsing speed.

Sources:

• http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/How_to_make_transparent_web_proxy
• http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:IP/Proxy