What's that you say? GeoServer can be used as a proxy? What does this actually mean, and why will you want to consider doing something with it? Well, this chapter aims to enlighten you on the subject and to provide you with the understanding of cascaded WMS and WFS services, which are at the heart of being able to turn GeoServer into a proxying web mapping server.

There are a number of good reasons why one will choose to implement GeoServer in a proxying role—from providing external servers with additional or expanded capabilities to implementing it as the basis for security. Setting GeoServer up as a proxy will open the doors to a number of new and inventive scenarios in which you can use the software.

By the end of this chapter, you will have a much better understanding of: