Common Object Relationships
Understanding how proxy objects relate to geographic and network entities in the Ping Proxies API
The Ping Proxies API organizes resources in a hierarchical structure that mirrors the real-world relationships between network and geographic entities. Understanding these relationships is crucial for effectively managing and filtering proxies.
Geographic Hierarchy
This hierarchical structure allows you to target proxies at different geographic levels:
- Continent: The broadest geographic division (e.g.,
eu
for Europe) - Country: Countries within continents (e.g.,
fr
for France) - Subdivision: States, provinces, regions (e.g.,
fr-idf
for Île-de-France) - City: Specific cities (e.g.,
paris
with city_id 379657)
Network Hierarchy
- ASN (Autonomous System Number): Identifies a network operator like AT&T (ASN 7018)
- Subnet: A range of IP addresses (e.g.,
107.225.72.0/22
) - IP Address: The specific address assigned to a proxy
- Proxy: The actual proxy service with ports and authentication
How Objects Connect
Proxy Objects
A proxy object represents a single proxy instance. It connects to both geographic and network hierarchies:
Service Objects and Proxies
Services are container objects that group proxies:
A service represents a purchased group of proxies, and may contain multiple proxy objects:
Residential Proxy Generation and Object Relationships
Residential proxies differ from datacenter and ISP proxies in that they’re generated on demand rather than being persistent objects. When generating residential proxies, you specify geographic and network attributes to target specific types of exit nodes.
Residential Proxy Example
Response:
Notice that the geographic attributes (country_id and city_alias) are encoded in the proxy strings.
Filtering by ASN for Residential Proxies
While not shown in the basic example above, you can also filter residential proxies by ASN:
Practical Use Cases for Object Relationships
City-Based Targeting for Market Research
If you’re conducting market research for a new retail location, you might want to check product availability and pricing from the perspective of consumers in specific cities:
ASN-Based Targeting for Ad Verification
For ad verification work, you might need to verify that ads are correctly displayed to users on specific ISPs:
This ensures that the proxies allocated to your service match your specific geographic and network requirements.
Exploring Available Options
To explore the available ASNs, countries, subdivisions, and cities, you can use the corresponding search endpoints:
By understanding these object relationships, you can more effectively utilize the Ping Proxies API to precisely target and manage your proxy infrastructure according to your specific needs.