Reverse proxy deep dive: Why HTTP parsing at the edge is harder than it looks
miggy
created: July 22, 2025, 2:47 p.m. | updated: July 22, 2025, 9:41 p.m.
What Makes It ComplexChallenges in HTTP parsingThe Evolution of the HTTP ProtocolOver the years, http spec has significantly evolved.
This creates a trade-off between request size, memory consumption, and throughput.
However, this introduces constraints on memory usage, limits on the maximum header size the proxy can handle, and other performance-related optimizations.
While HTTP header names are case-insensitive per the spec, this normalization can occasionally cause issues with non-compliant clients or servers.
The User-Agent header is one of the most commonly used HTTP headers to identify the client making the request.
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