Datacenter Proxies: Why do you need to use?

Datacenter proxies are among the most widely used proxies whenever someone wants to extract data from the web or access geo-restricted sites and content. In this article, we will explore what datacenter proxies are, how they work, their key features, and when should one use them.

What are Datacenter Proxies?

A datacenter proxy is a proxy service that offers quick internet access and a better user experience. As they’re not affiliated with an ISP, they will hide your real IP address, which means the website won’t be able to identify the user’s real IP address, enabling the user to access the website anonymously. That’s beneficial in several scenarios, like accessing all the information on a website hosted in a country whose servers may hide certain information, getting around a server block, or when you need high bandwidth without network lag.

Datacenter proxies are typically obtained through cloud service providers and hosting companies, such as AWS, Google Cloud, or OVH. By regulating and protecting the use of scalable and elastic proxies, datacenter proxies can also protect businesses.

Types of Datacenter Proxies

• Public proxies – also called free or web proxies. These are IPs that you can find online free of charge. They are effectively useless for anything serious but can help with basic tasks like changing your location.
• Shared proxies – these are proxy IPs that several people use at the same time. They cost money and perform well enough for simple web scraping tasks. But you can find them blocked on some websites because of their shared use.
• Private proxies – datacenter IPs you alone use at a given time or for a certain domain. It’s the fastest option that gives you the most control, but also the most expensive of the three.
• Dedicated proxies – in the proxy lingo, that often means the same thing as private proxies. Sometimes, the name can refer to proxies dedicated to a specific task, such as working with Instagram or copping sneakers.

How do they work?

As covered before, datacenter proxies act as a middleman between you and the rest of the internet. In a nutshell, it accepts your request, forwards it to your target website, and returns data to you. These proxies hide your identity, location, and IP address.

Usually, datacenter proxies are created by hosting VMs (virtual machines) on data centers (cloud servers) in any location. One data center can have numerous IP subnetworks that host multiple IP addresses without impacting connection performance. As a result, datacenter proxies are exceptionally pocket-friendly and offer great speed.

Key Features

• Faster – Datacenter proxies are comparatively faster than other proxies, allowing you to accomplish the required work in a shorter period.
• Harvesting Data – If your business works by harvesting data from the internet, data center proxies are the best option to go.
• Protective but detectable – Although websites can detect whether you are using a datacenter proxy or not, they still shield your IP address. However, using private datacenter proxies eliminates the chances of getting banned or blacklisted. 
• Cheaper – They are a lot cheaper and faster as compared to other proxies, and in the case of a good proxy provider, they are secure as well.

Uses of Datacenter Proxies

Keeps You Anonymous

With datacenter proxies, you can access the internet without showcasing your IP address. The IP address that would be used would be that of the server you choose, thereby protecting your internet privacy.

Web Scraping

Most websites don’t allow the withdrawal of information from them, and one might get blocked if trying to access it using the same IP again and again. With datacenter proxies, you can use multiple IPs. In this way, the websites will not recognize you, hence providing ease and comfort to scrap the data.

Social Media Marketing

Many social media platforms limit the number of user accounts per IP. Following said the limit would not be beneficial in creating the level of awareness you want for your business and so marketers try to overcome such restrictions. With proxies, you can have multiple social media accounts and even automate their use and management.

Access Geo-Restricted Content

Datacenter proxies allow you to access an IP address of any location you want. So if you are trying to access inaccessible information in one country, you can easily access it using the IP of another country in which that information is easily accessible.

Control Incoming and Outgoing Requests

Datacenter proxies can be used to filter both incoming and outgoing traffic on a network. By setting up a reverse proxy server, you would be able to cache content, limit access to your website, and generally moderate internet use.

Sneaker Copping

Rapid selling of limited edition sneakers is very common. A bot is the best choice to make a successful purchase. A bot allows you to send multiple requests without getting banned, hence increasing the chances of purchase. Also, you can make multiple purchases using proxies because only a single purchase is allowed on one IP address.

Conclusion

The benefits of employing datacenter proxies are numerous, and they’re highly worth examining. Hopefully, you should now have a basic grasp of different proxies and how they work.

Remember that rather than using free ones, you should choose your proxy from reputable providers who can offer support and security. So, choose the finest proxy for your needs and stay safe while surfing the web!