So, our first line of action to improve the ability of our web application to handle a lot of clients, is to first take a few responsibilities off its shoulders. A simple option that comes to mind in order to achieve this, is to first start running the web application behind a Reverse Proxy:

So, what essentially does a Reverse Proxy do? The way the reverse proxy works is, when a Client request arrives at the Web Application Server, the Reverse Proxy intercepts the request. Based on the rules defined to match the request to the appropriate backend application, the Reverse Proxy then forwards this request to the backend application, which processes the request and sends the response back to the Reverse Proxy. Once this response is received, the Reverse Proxy relays this response back the Client. Now, there are a number of advantages associated with the use of a Reverse Proxy. Let's take a look at these advantages provided by the use of a Reverse Proxy.