Understanding Reverse Proxy, Jump Servers, Application Servers, and Database Servers

🔹 Reverse Proxy

A reverse proxy is a server that sits between the client (browser) and your application servers.
Instead of clients hitting your Laravel/PHP application directly, they talk to the reverse proxy, which then forwards (proxies) the request to the right backend server.

Example:

• You configure ** Nginx ** or ** HAProxy ** as a reverse proxy.
• Requests from users go first to Nginx → Nginx decides where to forward the request → Laravel app (PHP-FPM).

Why it’s required:

1. Load balancing – distribute traffic among multiple Laravel servers.
2. Security – hide your actual app servers’ IPs from the public.
3. SSL termination – proxy handles HTTPS (SSL) and forwards plain HTTP to app server.
4. Caching / Rate Limiting – can cache responses or block abuse before reaching Laravel.

👉 In PHP/Laravel context:
Your Laravel app runs on PHP-FPM (or Apache). Instead of exposing it directly, you put Nginx as reverse proxy.
User → Nginx (reverse proxy) → Laravel (application server).

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🔹 Jump Server (or Bastion Host)

A jump server is a secure intermediate server used by administrators/devs to connect to internal servers (like app servers or DB servers) that are not exposed to the internet.

Why it’s required:

1. Security – only one exposed entry point (the jump server), rest of servers are private.
2. Audit & Logging – all admin SSH connections go through the jump server (easy to monitor).
3. Network segmentation – app and DB servers stay in private subnet.

👉 In PHP/Laravel context:

• You don’t directly SSH into the Laravel application server or database server.
• You SSH into the jump server first → then from there, connect to internal servers.

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🔹 Application Server

This is the server that runs your business logic / application code.
For Laravel:

• Runs PHP-FPM or Apache/Nginx + PHP.
• Executes Laravel code (routes, controllers, services).
• Talks to database server for data.

Example:

• AWS EC2 or DigitalOcean droplet running Laravel app.

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🔹 Database Server

This is the server that stores and manages your data.
For Laravel:

• MySQL / PostgreSQL / MongoDB, etc.
• Application server connects to DB server over the private network.
• DB server usually is not exposed to the internet, only accessible by application servers.

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🔹 Putting It All Together (Laravel Deployment Architecture)

[ Client Browser ]
        |
        v
 [ Reverse Proxy (Nginx/HAProxy/Cloudflare) ]
        |
        v
 [ Application Server (Laravel + PHP-FPM) ]
        |
        v
 [ Database Server (MySQL/Postgres) ]

And for Admin/Dev access:

[ Developer Laptop ]
        |
        v
 [ Jump Server (Bastion Host) ]
        |
        v
 [ Application Server / Database Server ]

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✅ In short:

• Reverse Proxy → handles traffic, security, scaling.
• Jump Server → secure entry point for admins.
• Application Server → runs Laravel/PHP code.
• Database Server → stores data for the Laravel app.