Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Anu
None of the conventional proxy serversworked, and even Google Translate failed. My hopes were down until,yesterday, I discovered that one of my personal domains could be accessed.
Back on my home computer, in a matterof minutes, I had set up my own functioning proxy server. With theinstructions below, so can you.
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Prerequisites
If we want to pull this off there are a few things you need.
- Web Host
In theory, any webhost will do, if theycomply with the other requirements; an old computer in your basement,or even a free online webhost.
- PHP5 or greater and cURL
Look for this on the website of yourwebhost. If it’s paid hosting, you can almost count on it. EspeciallycURL is a feature that’ll be disabled on most free webservers.
- Permission
That’s right. Some webhosts willexplicitly forbid you to create a proxy server (or a chat room, forthat matter) in their terms of content. And you can expect them to findout.
1. Download and Install GlypeProxy
GlypeProxy is a free, standalone PHPscript. That means it’s lightweight and incredibly easy to configure.You can download it from HERE.
Next, upload the files to a subdirectory on your webserver. If you see a folder called ‘www’, orcalled after your domain name (e.g. domain.com) create the sub folderin there. You need to avoid using the word ‘proxy’, because somecompanies pick up on it. Instead, use ‘web’ or ’surf’.
There are a few different ways toupload your files. If you already know this, skip to the nextparagraph. Here they are arranged from the least to the most effort.
- Upload and unpack ZIP
Look in the filemanager for an ‘unpack’ or ‘extract’ option. You can then upload it in one take. This is not always supported.
- FTP access
Use an FTP application to access yourwebhost, and let it transfer the files while you fetch some morecoffee. Most often supported.
- Manual upload
You really don’t want to do this – areyou sure the previous two alternatives are blanked out? Your lastresolve will be to manually upload all the files and folder structures.Or start looking for a different host – it might not be such a bad idea.
2. Ready For Use
There’s no real set-up needed. Justpoint your browser to the directory where you put all those files (ex.domain.com/surf) and GlypeProxy will pop up. If you don’t like thelogo, you’ll have to replace it manually. But if you want a proxyserver for personal use, some little branding won’t matter.
Users can enter any URL and, afterexpanding the options, choose to encode the URL, the page, allowcookies, scripts and objects. Encoding the page can help you accesssome sites that are still being picked up and intercepted, but mightgive you a corrupt webpage at times.
3. Admin Preferences
Although Glype is a powerful proxyscript, the admin tools are obviously the backing power. You might notknow this, but a lot of online proxy tools are powered by Glype, justlike the one you just set up. The admin preferences leave room not onlyfor customization, but for improvement. You can assign site-specificcode for trouble-giving websites, and change user-agent and proxy lists.
Most useful to novice users will be thecaching tools (pictured above), logs, and blacklists. The caching toolscan help you improve the browsing speed by storing some files from all,or some of the already visited websites. Logs are off by default, butmight have legal importance in the future, depending on who uses yourproxy server. Always explicitly mention you’re keeping these logs.Finally, the blacklists will allow you to block (all but) a few sites,or users.
To access your admin panel, point your browser to admin.php on your webserver (e.g. domain.com/surf/admin.php).
Are you setting up your own personalproxy server? Do you have any other tips or experiences on the issue?Let us know in the comments below!
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