Linux System Administrator, Website Developer
You, wherever you're from, almost instantly loaded my webpage. My webpage that contains paragraphs of information about who I am and what I do. This magic is what powers our modern world. Without the instant communication that the internet brings us, our world would look vastly different than it does today. That's why it's so important to ensure you have a solid and reliable network setup for all of your servers, services, and customers. Some companies, like Cloudflare, pride themselves on their ability to quickly server content. You don't want to lag behind. I have experience configuring mesh networks (L2, L3, Wireless) as well as virtual networks and firewalls.
Reverse proxies are amazing. They basically power the web as we know it. A reverse proxy is quite simple. It is nothing more than a server that sits in-front-of another server. Instead of connecting directly to my website, likogan.dev, you first connect to a reverse proxy. Reverse proxies are amazing because they allow you to do so many things. These are the forefront of DDOS mitigation since they can be used to screen users before they access your site, acting as a shield. They can also be used to lighten server workload by storing commonly used resources in RAM (such as images, javascript, CSS.)
Prevent bots from scraping your website and using valuable server resources by screening clients first
During a DDOS attack, the reverse proxy takes the brunt of the load without passing it on to the real server behind it.
Cache commonly used resources in RAM to lighten disk operations and downstream server load
Have multiple downstream servers that can split the load, round-robin, failover, or load based
In the event a server goes down, just use another! Alternatively, display a nice little webpage
Easily restrict IP addresses, regions, users, or other without implementing custom plugins or additives to your existing server
Virtual networks offer a lot of benefits for small-medium companies. Especially for companies using Virtual Private Servers or rented rack equipment. Virtual networks can be deployed to these systems to boost the security 10x. No longer will rented equipment require critical applications to be public. SSH servers, admin panels, and more can be secured with Intrusion Detection/Prevention systems that can blackhole a VM if a successful breach is detected.
Similar to virtual firewalls, virtual routers and switches can also be deployed to virtual private serves, rented rack servers, and other smaller equipment. Virtual routers open up small businesses to enterprise grade tools such as L2TP VPNs that can be used to restrict access to internal applications (such as SSH or admin panels) behind this VPN connection. Connect multiple datacenters together under one large private umbrella network. Port forwarding, QoS, DNS Tracker/Malware blocking, IP filtering, and so many more amazing capabilities.