About The Http Proxy; Http Proxy: Proxy Limits; Http Requests: General Settings - Watchguard Firebox X15 User Manual

Proxy Settings

About the HTTP proxy

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a request/response protocol between clients and servers. The HTTP
client is usually a web browser. The HTTP server is a remote resource that keeps or creates HTML files, images,
and other content. When the HTTP client starts a request, it establishes a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
connection on port 80. An HTTP server listens for requests on port 80. When it receives the request from the
client, the server replies with the requested file, an error message, or some other information.
The HTTP proxy is a high-performance content filter. It examines web traffic to identify suspicious content that
can be a virus or other type of intrusion. It can also protect your web server from attacks from the external
network.
To enable the HTTP proxy, see
Add or edit a proxy

HTTP proxy: Proxy Limits

On the HTTP Settings tab, you can adjust the timeout and length limits of HTTP requests and responses. This
stops the HTTP proxy from using too many network resources and can prevent some types of attacks. You can
also customize the deny message that users see when they try to connect to a web site that the HTTP proxy
blocks, and add the IP addresses of web sites that you want to bypass the HTTP proxy.

HTTP requests: General settings

Idle connection timeout
This setting controls how long the HTTP proxy waits for the client to make a request after it has
established a connection to the server. If the client does not make a request in the specified time, the
proxy closes the connection. This makes sure that the network resources can be used by the proxy
again. The default value is 10 minutes.
When a user clicks on a hyperlink or types a URL into the web browser, it sends an HTTP request to a
remote server to get the content. In most browsers, the status bar shows, "Contacting site..." or a
similar message. If the remote server does not respond, the HTTP client waits for a reply until it
receives an answer or until the request times out. During this time, the HTTP proxy continues to
monitor the connection and uses valuable network resources.
Maximum URL length
This setting sets the maximum length of the path component of a URL. This does not include the
http:\\ or host name. The URL length limit prevents buffer overflow attacks against web server
resources. It could be necessary to increase this value for CGI web sites that use long URLs.
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Enable a proxy. Then, if you choose, edit the proxy definition as described in
policy.
Firebox X Edge e-Series