Client-Server (web-server) app in LAN - should proxy be taken care of?

Question

Within a LAN, an ASP .NET web application acts as the server. It is hosted internally on the organization's web server.

It can be accessed - say like this - http://192.168.0.23/myApp

The clients are desktop applications which need to constantly interact with the server (the web app residing on the intranet)

Considering it's a LAN setup and the requests from client are not exactly going out to the internet - should the client be capable of handling proxy based connections?

Meaning - suppose the client uses a proxy to connect to the internet and if the app at the client sends a WebRequest to http://192.168.0.23/myApp , should the request use the proxy settings?

Answer 1

I'd suggest not, but it won't make any difference. The proxy will just add overhead, and if the app is serving dynamic content, it will be of little use.

As far as the app is concerned, it won't care whether the proxy is accessing it, or the client directly.

Answer 2

You should design your application so that you don't need to know anything about the networking infrastructure. That way, the networking infrastructure can change without anyone needing to tell you about it first.

Answer 3

I do not think you need to fetch proxy details. For an Intranet Server Application, the proxy details will be irrelevant as the clients will have Internal LAN access to your application making Proxy settings irrelevant.

Correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.