Re: http proxy & tunnel differences ??

>> A proxy works by taking a request from a client and
>> connecting to the origin
>> server indicated in the request.  Here the client is configured to go
>> through the proxy.
>
>Actually, the client may or may not know about the proxy.

The client always knows about the proxy -- that is what distinguishes
a proxy from a gateway.  A "reverse proxy" is a gateway.

>> How does a http tunnel work. Is the initial connection similar ?
>> Does a client (browser) need to configured differently when
>> it goes through
>> a tunnel or is it same as the configuration required when it
>> goes through
>> the proxy ? Are there to separate tcp connections for each
>> request even in a
>> tunnel ?

Some tunnels are activated by a proxy request, some are simply
port forwarding TCP firewalls (either on the client side or the
server side, or both), and others are gateways to other servers.
The important thing from HTTP's perspective is that once an
intermediary becomes a tunnel, it is no longer conscious of the
HTTP communication -- only of bytes being relayed from one connection
to another.

....Roy