Krishna
Tateneni

    tateneni@pluto.njcc.com

2001-07-24
2.20.00
KDE
KControl
proxy
proxies

# Proxies

## Introduction

Proxies are programs running on a computer that acts a server on the network you are connected to (whether by modem or other means). These programs receive HTTP and FTP requests, retrieve the relevant files from the internet, and pass them on to the client computer that made the requests.

When you have configured a proxy, HTTP and/or FTP requests are re-routed through the computer that is acting as a proxy server. However, you can also select specific hosts which should be contacted directly, rather than through the proxy server. If you are on a local network, for example, access to local hosts probably doesn't need to go through a proxy server.

You should only need to configure a proxy server if your network administrator requires it (if you are a dial-up user, that would be your internet service provider or ISP). Otherwise, especially if you are feeling a bit confused about this proxy business, but everything seems to be fine with your internet connection, you don't need to change anything.

This module also allows you control the size of the local cache directory used by &konqueror;. Note that each user account on your computer has a separate cache directory, and this directory is not shared with other web browsers such as &Netscape;.

Storing local copies of web pages that you have visited allows Konqueror to quickly load their contents on subsequent visits. It will only be necessary to reload the contents from the original site if they have changed since your last visit, or if you click the reload button in &konqueror;.

## Use

The proxy and cache settings are on separate pages.

On the first page, labelled Proxies, you can see the controls that are related to proxy settings, and on the top left is a checkbox labeled Use Proxy. If you need to configure a proxy, you should select this option. When the checkbox is enabled, you will be able to use the other controls.

The complete addressing information for the proxy includes both the internet address and a port number. You should enter these into the relevant text boxes. The arrow button on the right copies the information from the HTTP line to the FTP line, in order to help save some typing.

If there are hosts which you can connect to without going through the proxy server, you can press Add to add the names of these hosts, separated by in the text box labeled No Proxy For:. For example, hosts that are on your local network can probably be contacted directly.

If you are on a network that has a proxy server capable of auto configuring clients, then you can select the box labelled Auto Configure Proxy. Then type in the URL of the server. You will probably need to get this from your Network Administrator, if you have such a proxy.

On the other page, labelled Cache, you can see the controls that are related to cache settings. If you really don't want any of the web pages you visit to be stored on your computer, you can disable &konqueror;'s disk cache by clearing the checkbox labeled Use Cache

You can set here how aggressively &konqueror; keeps the cache up to date. Keep Cache in sync means that &konqueror; will hit the cache for all objects, downloading them if they are not there, and then display the item from the cache. Use Cache if possible means that &konqueror; will try the cache, and if an object is not there, it will directly download it for display. Offline Browsing Mode means that &konqueror; will try the cache, and if an object is not there, it will not attempt to download it from the internet.

You can control the size of the cache by typing a number into the text box labeled Average Cache Size. This is the average amount of space in kilobytes that the cache directory is allowed to use. When the cache grows too large, &konqueror; will delete older files to reduce the size of the cache directory.

This is however, only an average, and during a browsing session the cache could become substantially larger.

You can use the Clear Cache button to empty the cache at any time.

## Section Author

This section written by:

Krishna Tateneni tateneni@pluto.njcc.com.

Minor update by Mike McBride mpmcbride7@yahoo.com

Another update by Lauri Watts lauri@kde.org