---
title: Proxy
id: proxy
date: 2019-09-10
short_description: >
  An application acting as an intermediary between clients and servers

aka:
tags:
- networking
---
 In computing, a proxy is a server that acts as an intermediary for a remote
service.

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A client interacts with the proxy; the proxy copies the client's data to the
actual server; the actual server replies to the proxy; the proxy sends the
actual server's reply to the client.

[kube-proxy](/docs/reference/command-line-tools-reference/kube-proxy/) is a
network proxy that runs on each node in your cluster, implementing part of
the Kubernetes {{< glossary_tooltip term_id="service">}} concept.

You can run kube-proxy as a plain userland proxy service. If your operating
system supports it, you can instead run kube-proxy in a hybrid mode that
achieves the same overall effect using less system resources.