I followed this tutorial to set up a proxy using an AWS instance. I was able to do so, and upon running this command:
ssh -L 3128:localhost:8888 -i /path/to/yourkey.pem ubuntu@xxx.xxx.xxxx
I am able to connect to the instance. However, my mac still doesn't use this machine as a proxy (checked this from my IP, it was still the same as before using a proxy).
I have checked Auto Proxy Discovery in the Proxy Settings on my mac, but that still didn't help. Any help resolving this would be highly appreciated.
Best Answer
Auto Proxy Discovery works either via DHCP or via DNS queries to find out where to fetch a special file called "wpad.dat" or "proxy.pac".
Further reading: Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Protocol
Neither your localhost nor the remote AWS instance is configured as valid proxy in your DHCP or DNS-server (if you run any of them at all - most routers don't count because you can't configure DHCP options and/or it's only a DNS-proxy server).
You have to configure the proxy manually - either in the browser settings or in System Preferences > Network > choose interface > Advanced... > Proxies.