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Understanding Proxies and Pools

A Proxy is the customer-managed configuration that applications use for proxy service. Its Pool is the set of Nodes that may provide the Internet exit for that Proxy.

MyOwnProxy is designed primarily around Pool-based access. The normal traffic path is:

Application -> Gateway -> Pool -> selected Node -> Internet

The application connects to the Proxy through its Gateway. MyOwnProxy selects an eligible Node from the Proxy's Pool, and that Node makes the outbound Internet connection.

Why MyOwnProxy is Pool-first

A Pool lets one Proxy use more than one possible exit Node without requiring the application to choose a Node itself. If the selected Node becomes unavailable, another eligible, available Pool member can serve subsequent connections.

Pool membership defines which Nodes may participate, but membership alone does not guarantee selection. A Node must be ACTIVE and meet the current availability checks to be eligible at selection time.

Among eligible Nodes, current selection behavior principally favors network quality. MyOwnProxy also considers whether a Node is operational and whether its health information is current. Review current eligibility and ranking information in Candidate Diagnostics.

How Proxies, Pools, Gateways, and Nodes relate

  • A Proxy is associated with one Gateway, which provides its SOCKS5 connection point.
  • The Proxy's Pool contains Nodes assigned to that same Gateway.
  • A Node can participate in more than one Proxy's Pool.
  • Adding a Node to a Pool does not change its Gateway assignment.
  • Removing a Node from a Pool does not remove the Node from MyOwnProxy or from other Pools.
  • Moving a Node to another Gateway is a separate Node operation. Review its Pool memberships afterward.

Gateway assignment and Pool membership must both be correct. Assigning a Node to a Gateway does not automatically make it eligible for every Proxy on that Gateway.

See Understanding Gateways and Understanding Nodes for the related resource lifecycles.

Pool selection and direct Node access

Pool selection is the normal and recommended mode. It gives MyOwnProxy a choice among eligible exits and reduces application dependence on one Node.

Direct Node access is available as a secondary mode when an application must use a particular exit Node. Direct access bypasses Pool selection, so the application depends on that Node being available. Both modes use SOCKS5.

Use direct access only when a fixed exit is more important than Pool-based selection. Detailed connection examples belong in Using the Proxy.

Connection and authentication

Proxy details provide the SOCKS5 host and port for Pool-based access. Applications must also authenticate with a valid Proxy Credential.

Temporary Proxy Credentials are scoped to one Gateway. Persistent Proxy Credentials are scoped to the Customer. Credential creation, rotation, revocation, and expiration are managed separately from the Proxy and its Pool; see Managing Proxy Credentials.

System-managed Pool

Each Gateway has one visible system-managed Pool named pool-all. It automatically contains the Nodes assigned to that Gateway, and MyOwnProxy keeps its membership synchronized as the Gateway's Node set changes.

pool-all is the only Pool with automatic membership. You cannot manually assign or unassign its Nodes, rename it, or delete it. An ADMIN can still adjust its routing TTL.

Customer-created Proxies are different: their Pools start empty and their Node membership is managed manually. Adding, moving, decommissioning, or removing a Node does not automatically add it to a customer-created Pool. Treat pool-all as a system-managed exception, not as a separate resource type.

Automatic membership does not guarantee that every Node in pool-all will serve traffic. A Node must still be eligible and available when selection occurs.

When no Node is available

A Proxy cannot serve new Pool-based connections when its Pool is empty or none of its members are eligible and available. Applications using that Proxy may fail until a Pool member becomes available.

Review Pool membership, Node health, and Gateway health. See Managing Proxies and Pool Nodes, Observability, and Proxy Connection Problems.