How to test a .net application against a proxy?

Question

I need to support the use of proxy on our application that is using WCF connections.

We do not have any proxy server on our network and I don't want to disrupt our corporate network by requesting a proxy installation. I was thinking of installing a proxy server on a local virtual machine and configurating Internet Explorer so that it will challenge that proxy.

I don't know what proxy software to use (I don't want to install ISA server) and I don't know how to configure one.

Does someone have any suggestion for a easy to use software that will require an authentication for any WCF services and do you have any guideline that would be helpful to know when testing a software against a proxy?

Answer 1

The difficulty in testing that it works with a proxy will be ensuring that it's not connecting directly, bypassing the proxy in some instances. You can install some proxy software, but if you also have direct internet access then for all you know your application may fail when that direct access is blocked.

You could try simulating a firewall by creating a virtual machine with "host-only" networking - that is, configure its virtual network card to connect only to the host machine. You could then run your app in that virtual machine and configure it to use a proxy running on the host. Disclaimer: I haven't actually tried this myself - but in theory it should work.

Answer 2

Take a look at Fiddler: http://www.fiddlertool.com. It installs itself as a proxy on your local machine, routing all requests through it.