10 Proxy Services Administration

The Internet Express Administration utility lets you manage the following Proxy service components:

•Dante SOCKS Server – A circuit-level firewall/proxy server that can be used to provide convenient and secure network connectivity to a wide range of hosts (Section : Dante SOCKS Server Administration).

•Squid Proxy/Caching Server – A high-performance, proxy/caching server for clients that supports FTP, Gopher, and HTTP requests (Section : Squid Proxy/Caching Server Administration).

Dante SOCKS Server Administration

The Dante SOCKS Server is a circuit-level firewall/proxy server that can be used to provide convenient and secure network connectivity to a wide range of hosts. (The system on which the Dante SOCKS Server runs must have external network connectivity.) Once installed, the Dante SOCKS Server can be made transparent to clients (in most cases) and offers the server administrator detailed access control and logging facilities.

SOCKS is a networking proxy protocol that enables hosts on one side of a SOCKS server to gain full access to hosts on the other side of the server, without requiring a direct IP connection. A SOCKS server redirects connection requests from hosts on opposite sides of a SOCKS server, authenticates and authorizes the requests, and establishes a proxy connection to relay data. It is commonly used as a network firewall that enables hosts behind a SOCKS server to gain full access to the Internet, while preventing unauthorized access from the Internet to the internal hosts.

The Dante SOCKS Server implements the SOCKS protocol and can function as a firewall between networks. It includes an extension to the SOCKS Version 4 and Version 5 protocols that provides a more generic bind functionality, similar to functionality that non-SOCKS programs expect. It relays TCP and UDP both from outside the network and from inside the network.

Note:

SOCKS Version 4 does not support authentication nor the UDP proxy. SOCKS Version 5 supports a variety of authentication methods and the UDP proxy.

Controlling the Dante SOCKS Server

The Dante SOCKS Server (/usr/local/sbin/sockd) is a daemon that runs all the time. To control the server, you first stop the running daemon, then proceed to restart the server. To stop and restart the Dante SOCKS Server from the Administration utility:

1.From the Manage Components menu, under Proxy, choose Dante SOCKS Proxy Server. The Dante SOCKS Server Administration form is displayed, showing that the server is running (the default).

2.To stop the server, click on Stop. A message is displayed indicating that the Dante SOCKS Server is stopped.

3.To restart the server, use the navigation bar to return to the Dante SOCKS Server Administration form and click on Start. A message is displayed indicating that the Dante SOCKS Server is running.

In a TruCluster environment, the Dante SOCKS Server Administration form displays all SOCKS servers that are running or stopped. When you click on Stop, all servers are stopped. Similarly, when you click on Start, all servers are started. If several servers are in a started and stopped state, clicking on Start will let the running servers continue running while restarting the stopped server.

For information on controlling the Dante SOCKS Server outside the Administration utility, see the sockd(8) reference page.

190 Proxy Services Administration