SOCKS

WinGate has a SOCKS service which supports clients that have their applications configured to use a SOCKS server. Often clients use a SOCKS program to control all other applications that make Internet requests from their machine. So even if the client software does not itself support SOCKS, all of its connectivity requirements can still be satisfied using the SOCKS protocol. This type of software is known as an AutoSOCKS client, and there are a number of different vendors that provide such software.

SOCKS to HTTP handover

Prior to the Intercepting proxy feature in WinGate, the SOCKS service provided the ability to hand over any requests it received from AutoSOCKS clients on port 80, to the WWW Proxy Service. With the advent of the Intercepting proxy however, when WinGate receives a request on a particular port that has been configured for an Intercepting proxy, the request will be automatically handled by the service where the Intercepting proxy has been set for that port.

So HTTP requests (port 80) from a AutoSocks client will be intercepted by the WWW Proxy Service that has the Intercepting proxy enabled for that port. As a result the AutoSOCKS client will be subject to any policies and controls that have been set in the WWW Proxy Service. You can choose whether SOCKS requests will be intercepted by a Intercepting proxy by setting the Enable interception option to true in the SOCKS settings on the General tab of the SOCKS Service properties

For users with an AutoSOCKS client, the SOCKS service gives you all the proxy access without the need for any other WinGate proxy services. The SOCKS service will also handle SOCKS request from individual client applications that have been configured to use a SOCKS server.

To have a client use SOCKS:

• On WinGate

  1. Install the SOCKS service.

  2. Check on the Bindings tab of the service, that the appropriate network interface is bound to the service so it can listen for proxy requests from clients on the LAN. The SOCKS service in WinGate will bind any network adapters that have their usage marked as Internal by WinGate automatically, so they can listen for client SOCKS requests from the LAN automatically after installation.

     Read more about network interface usage

  3. Check that the Service port in use by the SOCKS service, is set to the same that the client application will be using in their request. The SOCKS service will use 1080 by default. This can be changed in the service properties if required.

• On the client

  1. Configure each SOCKS application to use the LAN IP address of the WinGate Server as its SOCKS server.

  2. Configure the application to make its SOCKS request to the same port in use by the corresponding SOCKS service in WinGate (Service Port).