"Reverse proxy" (was: Referrals)

[Michael Ströder <michael@stroeder.com>]

Howard Chu wrote:
> Michael Ströder wrote:
> > Then use back-ldap as a LDAP reverse proxy or slapo-chain for chasing the
> > referrals automatically.
>
> You keep using that phrase "reverse proxy" - it's just a proxy.

Well, I don't want to nitpick here but this wording is commonly used when 
dealing with web servers:

1. A forwarding proxy is one your client might have to use to reach out to 
external servers (by some definition of "external") and

2. a reverse proxy is the connection end point for the client which passes 
requests on to a hidden server.

For 1. the client has to know about the proxy and for 2. the client does not 
have to know (or even must not know).

See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_proxy

Looking at this it seems appropriate to me to use the term "reverse proxy" 
when talking about back-ldap.

Ciao, Michael.

P.S.: This reminds me of a feature request I wanted to submit to ITS for 
letting libldap use a forwarding proxy via HTTP connect. Or at least pass a 
file descriptor to ldap_initialize()...