# Rotating proxy

A rotating proxy is a gateway that assigns a different exit IP address to each new connection, or changes it after a set interval, drawing from a pool of addresses. The client keeps one hostname and one credential pair; the rotation happens on the provider's side. It is the standard delivery mode for residential and mobile pools and the natural answer to per-IP rate limits.


## Per-connection versus timed rotation

Most gateways rotate **per connection**: every new TCP connection gets a new exit, while requests reused over a keep-alive connection stay on the same one. **Timed** rotation keeps an exit for N minutes for all connections that share a session identifier, then moves on. Both are usually driven from the username, so the same account can do either per request.


## What rotation does not do

- It does not make a crawler polite: hundreds of requests a second still hit the target, only from many addresses. Keep per-domain rates reasonable.
- It does not hide browser fingerprints, cookies or account identity; those follow you across IPs.
- It does not guarantee a new country: without a location parameter the next exit can be anywhere in the pool.


## How it works at ProxShift

On ProxShift, rotation is the default: omit -sid- and every new connection to res.proxshift.com or mob.proxshift.com leaves from a new exit. Add -sid- and -ttl- to hold one exit from 1 minute to 24 hours.

## Questions

**Does every request get a new IP?**

Every new connection does. HTTP clients that reuse connections (keep-alive) send several requests over one connection and therefore one exit; close the connection or disable keep-alive when you need a fresh IP per request.

Source: https://proxshift.com/glossary/rotating-proxy