Proxy Redirection
A proxy server can redirect clients to alternate proxy servers. This is illustrated by the following diagram. The numbers in the diagram correspond to the following steps:
The client requests content. The client is configured to use proxy server P2.
P2 instructs the client to use the alternate proxy server P4.
The client connects to P4.
P4 can connect upstream to an origin server or stream the content from cache.
Proxy redirection is typically used with an array of cache proxy servers to balance loads, connect the client to a closer proxy, or send the client to content that has already been cached. For example, in the preceding diagram, if P2 knows that the content requested by the client is already cached on P4, P2 can close the client connection and instruct it to request the content from P4.