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Proxy Servers & Building Proxy Chains with gost

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What is a proxy server and why use one​

A proxy server acts as an intermediary that makes requests on your behalf. It sits between your client and the target server, forwarding requests and responses.

Benefits​

  • Hide your source IP.
  • Access resources from a different location.
  • Centralize auditing and rate-limiting.
  • Protocol translation (HTTP ⇄ SOCKS, TCP/UDP tunneling).

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High-quality overseas proxies​

  • Stable routes and low packet loss.
  • Generous bandwidth.
  • Reputable IP ranges that avoid aggressive anti-abuse systems.

Why build proxy chains​

When direct access to a high-quality overseas proxy is not available, you can build a multi-hop chain: local reachable node → overseas high-quality nodes.

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Using gost to create proxy chains​

gost is a lightweight tool that supports multiple protocols and multi-hop forwarding. Examples below use v2-style CLI; adapt to v3 if needed.

Start a local SOCKS5 proxy:

gost -L=socks5://:1080

Forward local SOCKS5 to an upstream HTTP proxy:

gost -L=socks5://:1080 -F=http://user:[email protected]:8080

Multi-hop example:

gost -L=socks5://:1080 -F=http://first-hop:8080 -F=socks5://second-hop:1080

Docker quick start and systemd unit examples are available in the Chinese original.

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