A reverse proxy site acts as an intermediary between clients (such as web browsers) and servers. Unlike a forward proxy that sits between clients and the internet to handle client requests, a reverse proxy sits in front of servers and manages incoming requests from clients on behalf of those servers.

When a client makes a request to access a web application or service, it first goes to the reverse proxy server. The reverse proxy then forwards the request to the appropriate backend server based on predefined rules, retrieves the response from the server, and sends it back to the client. The client is unaware of the backend server's existence.