After [yet another question][1] asking how to bring hostname-awareness for proxying purposes to a protocol that doesn't have any support for it, is it time for a [canonical][2] question on hostname-aware proxying, plus a good answer on how DNS works, the few protocols that *are* hostname-aware and how they do it, and the impossibility of a general solution for all other protocols? I'm happy to take a stab at a short question, and longer answer, but wanted to take your minds on whether it was desirable before so doing. [1]: https://serverfault.com/q/876993/55514 [2]: https://meta.serverfault.com/questions/1986/what-are-the-canonical-answers-weve-discovered-over-the-years