IP allowlist: skip the username and password

Short version: tell a proxy which public IPs you connect from, and it lets them in without a username and password. It's set per proxy, and it's one or the other: switch a proxy to the allowlist and its username and password stop working.

Before you start

• Find the right IP. You need the public IP of the machine that sends the requests, not a 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x one. Run this on that machine:

  bash

  curl -sS https://api.ipify.org; echo
  

• Not every proxy offers it. If there's no Change button next to Authentication, or the dialog says This proxy offers no other way to authenticate, that proxy only takes a username and password, which work from anywhere anyway.

Set it up

1. Open Proxies, pick the line, and click the proxy.

2. On the Connection card, next to Authentication, click Change.

3. In Change authentication, choose IP allowlist.

4. Enter the address under Allowed address. It has to be a public IPv4 address: no ranges, no IPv6, no private addresses. Add another address for more.

5. Click Change authentication. The proxy's username and password stop working straight away.

6. Test from the allowlisted machine, with no credentials:

   bash

   curl -sS --proxy "http://HOST:PORT" https://api.ipify.org; echo
   

Edit the list later

Click IP allowlist on the proxy. Set your current IP fills in the IP you're browsing from, which is only right if your scraper runs on the same connection. The page shows how many addresses you've used of the limit. Click Save when you're done.

You can change the list once every 30 minutes, and switch the method at most twice in 30 minutes, so get it right before you save.

Going back to a password

Click Change next to Authentication again and choose Username and password. The allowlist stops being used, and the Connection card shows the username and password to use from then on. Update your tools with what it shows. The addresses you saved are kept, so you can switch back later without retyping them.

When it suddenly stops working

Something changed about the IP you connect from:

• Home or office line. ISPs change addresses now and then. Look up your IP again and update the list.
• VPN. Your traffic leaves from the VPN's IP, not yours.
• Cloud server. Some providers change the IP on restart. Use a fixed one if your provider offers it.
• IPv6. The allowlist takes IPv4 addresses only. If your machine also has IPv6, make sure it connects to the proxy over IPv4.
• Shared networks. Everyone behind the same public IP, like a whole office, can use the proxy too.

Still refused? Email support@proxymonkey.io with the proxy ID, the IP you allowlisted and the curl -v output.