What is the PAC file?

Question

I am trying to understand how a PAC file works. I have a proxy server application that I will be distributing to a few clients. The clients would have to set the proxy settings including port number on their browsers. As I understand it the PAC file should do this automatically?

But my question is where should I put the PAC file? Can I put it on my webserver and give the address to my clients? E.g. if I put the PAC file in myserver.com/test.pac and my clients enter this url in the proxy settings of their browser, would it work?

Answer 1

There's a description of PAC files here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_auto-config

You should put the PAC file somewhere where the clients will be able to read it without requiring a proxy setting (since it's what gives the proxy settings).

Note that proxy configuration tends to be specific to the location of the client, so your proxy configuration may conflict with the configuration of your client's browser, if they're on a local network that's not under your control. If you put it under myserver.com/test.pac, it may work if they don't need additional proxy settings from their current network.