A good place to start learning about proxies and where they are used is by looking into the most popular type – Datacenter proxies. Here, we’ll cover the basics – how these proxies are defined, what subtypes there are, and how they are used.
Data centers and Datacenter proxies
Proxies are devices that act as intermediaries for your internet connection, enabling you to conceal your identity and change geo-location. Datacenter proxies get their name from the place where the devices running them are housed – data centers.
Imagine a high-tech facility with lots of network equipment, servers, storage systems, and a fast commercial internet connection. Such is a common description of a data center, which usually performs many other online tasks. They are used for hosting websites, storing data, and running various online applications and calculations.
It’s no ordinary household setup but one that is maintained by professionals and optimized to provide the best possible performance for the lowest price. The complete inner workings of a modern data center are a complicated matter. But it’s enough to highlight the process of virtualization for understanding Datacenter proxies.
Here, virtualization refers to the process of using Virtual Machines (VMs) within one physical server. Modern servers are so powerful that it’s not cost-effective to dedicate one server for one task. Instead, one server is split into multiple virtual machines, each of which uses a dedicated part of the server’s performance and receives its own IP address.
For most intents and purposes, this is a different machine except that there can be just one physical device running hundreds or even thousands of them. VMs are the basis of many cloud services we use today, and they’re also the basis of Datacenter proxies.
Each Datacenter proxy is running on a separate VM and has its own virtually assigned IP address. Such IPs belong to one network and aren’t verified by a residential internet services provider as you would with your home connection. It brings a few unique advantages.
- Running Datacenter proxies is cheap as there is no need to use a physical devices for each IP. Most providers will not charge you for the bandwith used, but only for the access to IP address.
- The speed of Datacenter proxies is faster than all other types due to professional equipment and commercial internet connection used.
- The reliability of proxy data center setups is as good as it gets. There is no better place to run an intermediary server than a professional data center.
However, these benefits are overshadowed by some use cases where you must avoid detection at all costs. Datacenter proxies tend to be easily noticed by websites, and their access might get restricted with heavy use. This drawback can be somewhat outweighed by choosing the right subtype.
Subtypes of Datacenter proxies
Rotating Datacenter proxies. It’s common to purchase a large number of Datacenter proxies and use them to rotate different IP addresses. Such IP rotation can be created by the proxy provider or by the customer himself with third-party software. It’s most beneficial for reducing the chances of IP blocks and CAPTCHA tests.
Static Datacenter proxies. When you need one IP address for a longer period, you should use a sticky session, which will keep the Datacenter IP for a longer period. Depending on your task, it might increase the chances of your IP address getting blocked.
Shared and private Datacenter proxies. When only one user can access a proxy, it’s a private one, when multiple users can do so concurrently, it’s shared. Datacenter proxies are especially fit for shared usage as they are powerful enough to support hundreds of users without drops in performance.
When we combine these subtypes, we get the most popular proxy type – shared rotating Datacenter proxy. This subtype is the most affordable option that still can perform reasonably well. Private rotating pool of Datacenter proxies would be better for most tasks, the below tasks can be accomplished with shared ones too.
Most common Use cases
Web Scraping
Datacenter proxies shine when you need to transfer a lot of data with many different IP addresses. This is necessary for large web scraping projects, where automated bots visit websites to extract data in a user-friendly format. The data can be used for monitoring prices or Job postings, market research, brand protection, and much more.
Some websites might require other proxy types to bypass anti-bot measures, but in most cases, Datacenter proxies, even static and shared ones, are more than enough. It’s especially true when you are scraping data-intensive elements, such as Javascript. In such cases, Datacenter proxies ensure that your web scraping is both fast and affordable.
SEO tasks
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) aims to improve the quantity and conversions of traffic from search engines. All good SEO attempts are based on good data, and most specialists will tell you that it’s not enough to use what Google gives you. Datacenter proxies are used with various software solutions that collect SEO data from the web.
The applications may range from using crawlers to check the functionality of your own website or collecting data from the search engine results page or competitors. Datacenter proxies allow these tasks to be completed affordability and quickly.
Email Protection
Datacenter proxies are powerful enough to be used on the server side. They can sit in between the server and the internet to filter incoming requests. The most common use case is email protection. Using special software, Datacenter proxies can be used to filter all incoming emails and reject spam, malware, or other threats.
Datacenter proxies are best for such an extra layer of security, as they are powerful enough to filter thousands of emails each day. It’s also cost-effective, as email traffic tends to take considerable bandwidth.
Conclusion
Datacenter proxies offer a unique blend of affordability and performance. No other proxy type can offer such a combination, and that’s why Datacenter proxies are the most popular type for beginners.