With the rapid development of the Internet, data capture and collection have become an important means for many companies and individuals to obtain information. As a key tool to achieve this goal, the stability of crawlers is of great significance to the accuracy and continuity of data. In this article, we will explore why using a proxy server can make your crawler more stable, and how to use a proxy server to improve the stability of your crawler

1. What is a proxy server

A proxy server is an intermediate server located between the client and the target server. It acts as a transfer station between the client and the target server, receiving requests from the client and forwarding them to the target server. At the same time, the proxy server can also receive the response returned by the target server and forward it to the client.

2. The role of proxy server

a. Hide real IP address

The proxy server can hide the client's real IP address so that the target server cannot directly obtain the client's real information, thereby protecting the client's privacy.

b. Improve access speed

The proxy server can cache pages that have been visited. When other clients request the same page, the proxy server can directly return the cached page, thereby improving access speed.

c. Distribute request pressure

When multiple clients request the same target server at the same time, the proxy server can disperse these requests to different target servers, thereby reducing the pressure on the single target server and ensuring the stability of the target server.

3. Why using a proxy server can make crawlers more stable

a. Hide real IP address

When crawling web pages, you often encounter the anti-crawler mechanism of the target website. If you use your real IP address to crawl, you will easily be blocked by the target website. Using a proxy server can hide the real IP address, making the crawler's requests appear to come from different IP addresses, thereby reducing the risk of being banned.

b. Distribute request pressure

When multiple proxy servers are used to crawl the same target website, requests can be dispersed to different proxy servers, thereby reducing the pressure on a single proxy server and ensuring the stability of the crawler.

c. Improve access speed

The proxy server can cache the pages that have been visited. When the crawler requests the same page again, it can directly return the cached page, thus improving the crawling speed.

4. Things to note when using proxy servers

a. Choose a reliable proxy server

Using a free proxy server may involve security risks. It is recommended to choose a paid proxy server to ensure its stability and reliability.

b. Change the proxy server regularly

Since the proxy server may be blocked by the target website, it is recommended to change the proxy server regularly to avoid being blocked and affecting the normal operation of the crawler.

c. Set the crawling speed appropriately

Using a proxy server can increase the crawling speed, but too fast a crawling speed may be recognized as abnormal traffic by the target website, resulting in being banned. Therefore, the crawling speed needs to be set appropriately to avoid being banned.

5. Summary

Using a proxy server can make the crawler more stable, mainly because it can hide the real IP address, disperse request pressure, and increase access speed. However, when using a proxy server, you need to pay attention to choosing a reliable proxy server, changing the proxy server regularly, and setting the crawling speed reasonably to ensure the stability and normal operation of the crawler. It is important for users to choose a good proxy server. PIA proxy has a stable and fast proxy server, as well as a large IP pool, covering more than 200 countries.