Problems caused by proxy gateways

In most large organizations, such as government agencies, there is usually a proxy gateway installed on the organization's internal computer network. The gateway acts as a centralized location through which computers on the internal network, and outside data must pass. You can visualize such a proxy gateway as the main door to a private building. Everyone going out or coming in must pass through this door. Of course, like a well guarded main door of a private building, only certain people are allowed to come in/go out the door at will.

Similarly, when users on the network want to access the Web, their requests must first pass through to an outside agent which will then perform the requested action. The entire process happens instantaneously, and end users typically are not aware of the fact that their network data traffic is being filtered through a proxy gateway.

However, this is only true if the administrator of the proxy gateway has competently set it up that way. Regrettably, this is not always the case. As a result, strange effects may occur. For instance, the Web browser may be working correctly, but FTP or email may not.

If your company has a proxy gateway for Internet access and you are experiencing symptoms as described above, please contact the proxy gateway administrator (typically a staff in your organization's IT department) and ask him/her to look into the gateway's setup. One common cause is faulty reverse DNS configuration. As more and more organizations deploy proxy gateways and firewalls (they are often used in conjunction), these types of problems are bound to occur more often.

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