I have looked around and have seen many IP forwarding solutions that forward requests from an IP on one server to another IP on another server. (Basically, the forwarding of requests going to 123.45.67.89 on server X to 98.76.54.321 on server Y.) Those solutions usually involve enabling IP forwarding in the Linux kernel and adding iptables rules to make everything work.
However, I am not sure if server Y (and its IP 98.76.54.321) will be exposed when doing the forwarding. I'm basically aiming for a reverse proxy, but for any port or protocol on TCP/UDP.
Basically, does Linux IP forwarding automatically act as a reverse proxy, or must other steps be taken to ensure that the identity of server Y (its IP) is not revealed through server X? Or am I considering the wrong solution altogether?