Configure header options

When requesting documents, Web clients send headers that provide additional information about the browser or the request. Headers are automatically generated when a request is sent.

Caching Proxy allows several options for customizing header information to keep it hidden from the destination server. Although substituting a more generic header for the actual header has the advantage of increasing client anonymity, it has the disadvantage of disabling header-based page customization that is written into some Web pages.

Headers typically use this form:

User-Agent: Mozilla 2.02/OS2 
Client-IP: 45.37.192.3 
Referer: http://www.bigcompany.com/WebTrafficExpress/main.html

This header includes the following fields:

Most headers can be blocked by the appropriate proxy configuration settings. However, some header fields are required by origin servers, so blocking them can cause Web pages to be displayed incorrectly (For example, in certain cases blocking the "host" header field can cause users to see the wrong Web page). For further information on header fields, refer to the HTTP Version 1.1 specification.

Associated directives

To change header options by editing the proxy configuration file, see the reference sections for the following directives:

For more information, refer to Manually editing the ibmproxy.conf file.

Configuration and Administration forms

You can use two Configuration and Administration forms to specify header options:

For more information, refer to Using the Configuration and Administration forms.