I have a windows server 2012 VPS running a web app behind Cloudflare. The app needs to initiate outbound connections based on user actions (eg upload image from URL). The problem is that this 'leaks' my server's IP address and increases risk of DDOS attacks.
So I would like to prevent my server's IP from being discovered by setting up a forward proxy. So far my research has shown that this is no simple task, and would involve setting up another VPS to act as a proxy.
Does this extra forward proxy VPS have to be running windows ? Are their any paid services that could act as a forward proxy for my server (like cloudflare's reverse proxy system)?
Also, it seems that the suggested IIS forward proxy plugin, Application Request Routing, does not work for HTTPS.
Is there a solution for both types of outgoing (HTTPS + HTTP) requests?
I'm really lost here, so any help or suggestions would be appreciated.