Forum

Hello,
May i host a web based Proxy with Dynadot ? Is there any restrictions ?
King regards..

I'm not sure what a web-based proxy is so I cannot say if there are any restrictions.  You may want to read our Service Agreement (http://www.dynadot.com/registration_agreement.html) for clarification.

A website similar to this one http://freewebproxy.hostico.net/

There isnt really much in their registration agreements or terms that i can find on websites like this.

You will just have to take precautions that people do not use this proxy to commit illegal activity such as fraud, because then it will point to dynadot's web server IP address.

Best option would be to contact dynadot directly and ask,

http://www.dynadot.com/company/contact.html

Proxy sites notoriously use a large amount of bandwidth and as previously posted eventually become the victim of their own success as people use them to route their own websites traffic views/downloads both legal and otherwise such as pictures through the proxy site. This saves them bandwidth and uses yours and in addition uses major system resources thus lagging and often crashing servers.

Take this from experience as I have run several proxy sites and have since sold them and would not recommend them unless you have a strong grasp of how to block large chunks of IP's to keep them from stealing your bandwidth. No host will allow you to run a proxy site on their shared servers unless they have no idea what they are. Rest assured though as their resources are eventually sucked up they will stop your site from working. Your only recourse and best solution is to get a dedicated server.

I run a proxy service on my own cluster of servers that deliberately does not block any IPs from accessing it. This allows people the benefit of the doubt. That said, I do have a TOS agreement that denies responsibility and bans illegal activity. Anyone using the service must sign up for a user account, and I have built in restrictions so that if suddenly overnight the popularity were to boom, there is a set limit on how many users can sign onto each server at once.
If you need help implementing something similar (either on your own server(s) or on shared hosting) I'm happy to help.

Your system I am sure works well. This is good to hear. However, shared webhosting through services such as Hostgator are out of the question in most instances for these types of websites. All things being equal though there are a few out there with some searching that you will find who will allow you to run these types of sites. Most hosts are afraid and quite understandably to allow proxy sites to be run from their servers even with precautions such as Raph is describing. I have known many site owners who have tried this in the past only to be shut down by the host company. As Raph states he runs several servers of his own and this is the best option for anyone wishing to run and maintain a Proxy website. It allows you complete control over your service and allows you implement the necessary security and changes that help to keep the sites running smoothly and profitably.

Unfortunately unless you have the knowledge to do what Raph has done you have to be cautious and continually monitor your server or servers to ensure their smooth operation since overloaded servers that are being misused by site owners will cause you to lose real visitors and this can turn a profitable business into a money losing one quickly. This said make sure you know exactly what the ins and outs are before you decide if you want to make the jump into this.

Good Luck