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Managing Proxies and Pool Nodes

Use this page to create and modify a Proxy, control which Nodes belong to its Pool, adjust its Active node rotation interval (TTL), verify service, and permanently delete a Proxy that is no longer required.

Required role

You must be an ADMIN to create, rename, test, or delete a Proxy; change its Pool membership; or change its routing policy. A VIEWER can review Proxy configuration, connection information, Pool Nodes, and candidate status but cannot make changes or run the live test.

Creating a Proxy

Before you begin

  • Have an ACTIVE, healthy Gateway for the Proxy.
  • Have at least one ACTIVE Node assigned to that Gateway if the Proxy must be usable immediately after configuration.
  • Choose a descriptive Proxy name that is unique on the Gateway. The reserved name pool-all cannot be used.

Create the Proxy

  1. Open Proxies and select Create Proxy.
  2. Select the Gateway that will provide the Proxy connection point.
  3. Enter the Proxy name.
  4. Review the Customer and region derived from the Gateway and the current preset selection strategy.
  5. Select Create Proxy, then open its details.
  6. Add the required Nodes to its Pool.
  7. Allow the Gateway to apply the configuration, then run a live test.

The current creation form asks you to select only the Gateway and name. Customer and region are inherited from the Gateway, the selection strategy is preset, and the Active node rotation interval (TTL) initially uses the global default.

A newly created customer-managed Proxy has an empty Pool. It cannot serve proxy traffic until at least one eligible, available Node has been added and the Gateway has applied the change.

The Gateway cannot be changed later through the current customer UI. To move service to another Gateway, create and validate a replacement Proxy on that Gateway, update applications, and then delete the old Proxy when it is no longer used.

Managing Pool Nodes

Pool membership controls which Nodes may be selected for this Proxy. It does not change Node-to-Gateway assignment.

The procedures in this section apply to customer-managed Pools. These Pools require explicit membership changes; only the system-managed pool-all maintains its Node membership automatically.

A Node must belong to the same Customer and be assigned to the Proxy's Gateway before it can be added. The Assign Nodes workflow shows Nodes from that Gateway that are not already Pool members. A Node that is not currently eligible cannot be selected for assignment in the customer UI.

Add Nodes to the Pool

  1. Open the Proxy and select Assign Nodes.
  2. Review the available Nodes and their current state and score.
  3. Select one or more Nodes, then confirm the assignment.
  4. Allow the Gateway to apply the change.
  5. Refresh Proxy details and confirm that the Nodes appear as assigned Pool members.
  6. Confirm that the intended Nodes are eligible, then select Run Test.

Adding a Node makes it eligible to participate after the change has taken effect; it does not guarantee that the Node will be selected immediately. Current selection principally favors network quality, and an existing active-Node decision can remain until its routing TTL is refreshed.

Remove Nodes from the Pool

Before removing a Node, confirm that another eligible, available Pool member can carry the required traffic. If you remove the last usable member, the Proxy cannot serve new Pool-based connections.

  1. Open the Proxy and select Unassign Nodes.
  2. Select one or more assigned Nodes and confirm the removal.
  3. Allow the Gateway to apply the change.
  4. Refresh Proxy details and confirm that the Nodes are no longer assigned to the Pool.
  5. Run the live test and validate a new application connection.

Removing a Node makes it ineligible for this Proxy after the update takes effect. It does not reassign or decommission the Node, remove it from another Proxy's Pool, or disable direct access to it.

Change membership while the Proxy is in use

Pool membership changes are not instantaneous. They normally take around 30 seconds to become fully effective.

Make production changes in stages:

  1. Add and validate replacement capacity before removing a required Node.
  2. Keep at least one eligible, available member in the Pool.
  3. Wait for each change to appear in Proxy details.
  4. Use Run Test and a new application connection to verify the current behavior.

Do not use an already established connection to verify new membership. Connection selection occurs when the connection is established, and applying Pool changes can affect active service.

The system-managed pool-all Pool is the only automatic-membership exception. MyOwnProxy keeps it synchronized with the Nodes assigned to its Gateway, so Assign Nodes and Unassign Nodes are unavailable for it. All customer-created Pools require explicit membership management.

Modifying a Proxy

An ADMIN can rename a customer-managed Proxy from its details. The new name must be nonempty, cannot be pool-all, and can contain up to 255 characters.

Renaming does not change the Proxy's Gateway, connection host or port, Pool membership, or routing TTL. Allow the updated name to appear in Proxy details before treating the change as complete.

The current customer UI does not provide controls to change the Gateway, region, or preset selection strategy after creation. Pool membership and routing TTL have their own controls.

The system-managed pool-all name cannot be changed.

Proxy Policy and TTL

The Proxy's Routing Policy contains an Active node rotation interval. This TTL controls how long new connections keep using the currently selected active Node before MyOwnProxy refreshes Pool selection.

When the TTL expires, MyOwnProxy reevaluates eligible Pool members. The highest-ranked Node may still be the same, so expiration does not guarantee a different exit Node.

Existing TCP and WebSocket connections remain attached to the Node selected when those connections were established. Changing the TTL does not move or terminate them.

This TTL does not expire Proxy Credentials or set the lifetime of an established SOCKS5 connection.

You can use the global default, one of the displayed presets, or a custom whole-second value from 60 through 3,600 seconds. A shorter interval reevaluates current Node quality more frequently. A longer interval provides more selection stability for new connections while the selected Node remains usable.

Use direct Node access rather than a long TTL when an application requires a specific exit Node. The TTL is a selection-refresh policy, not a fixed-exit guarantee.

A newly saved TTL is used when the Gateway next refreshes Pool selection. It does not retroactively replace the expiration time of the current active-Node decision. After saving, confirm the displayed interval and validate new connections after the next refresh.

Deleting a Proxy

The current customer UI supports permanent deletion of customer-managed Proxies. There is no separate decommissioned state for a Proxy.

Before you delete

  • Stop or reconfigure applications that use the Proxy's host and port.
  • Create and validate a replacement first if service must continue.
  • Confirm that no required workflow depends on its Pool.
  • Remember that deletion requires Gateway propagation and is not an immediate emergency traffic cut-off.

Delete and verify

  1. Open the Proxy and select Delete Proxy.
  2. Review the Proxy, Gateway, and impact information.
  3. Type the exact Proxy name and confirm Delete Proxy.
  4. Allow the Gateway to apply the updated configuration.
  5. Confirm that the Proxy no longer appears and verify traffic through the replacement path.

Deleting the Proxy permanently removes its Pool configuration and Pool memberships. After the Gateway applies the change, its SOCKS5 connection point is no longer served and new connections to it fail.

Deletion does not delete, decommission, or reassign its Nodes, and it does not remove them from other Proxies. It also does not revoke Customer-scoped or Gateway-scoped Proxy Credentials; manage credentials separately when their access must end.

The system-managed pool-all Pool cannot be deleted.

Verifying changes

After creating, renaming, changing membership, changing policy, or deleting a Proxy:

  1. Allow time for the Gateway to apply structural configuration changes.
  2. Refresh the Proxy list or details and confirm the intended configuration.
  3. Review assigned Nodes and their eligible or excluded status.
  4. For an existing Proxy, select Run Test and confirm an operational result and the expected exit IP. Latency is shown when available.
  5. Open a new SOCKS5 connection with a valid Proxy Credential and confirm the expected behavior.
  6. Review Candidate Diagnostics if selection is unexpected, or Health Explorer if resource health is unexpected.

The live test is an ADMIN action and validates the current Pool path through its Gateway. Detailed application examples belong in Using the Proxy.

Operational considerations

  • Keep more than one eligible, available Node in important Pools when possible.
  • Validate a Node's public exit IP and health before adding it to production Pools.
  • Review Pool membership after moving a Node between Gateways; see Managing Nodes for the reassignment procedure.
  • A healthy Pool cannot compensate for an unavailable Gateway because the application enters through that Gateway.
  • Proxy Credentials are required for SOCKS5 access but have an independent lifecycle; see Managing Proxy Credentials.
  • Use Proxy Connection Problems when a Proxy remains unavailable after membership, Node health, Gateway health, and credential status have been checked.