How to Use Static Residential Proxies: A Step-by-Step Guide

Choose a location that matches the authorized task. Confirm whether the client accepts HTTP, SOCKS5, or both, and whether it supports username/password authentication. Record the subscription expiry so a later expiration is not mistaken for a network failure.

Copy each field from the purchased proxy record. If the dashboard exports one line, read it in the documented order below. Do not commit the resulting value.

PROXY_HOST:PROXY_PORT:PROXY_USER:PROXY_PASSWORD

Set environment variables in the current shell or load them from a secret manager. The following names are used by the commands in this tutorial.

export PROXY_SCHEME="http"
export PROXY_HOST="YOUR_PROXY_HOST"
export PROXY_PORT="YOUR_PROXY_PORT"
export PROXY_USER="YOUR_PROXY_USER"
export PROXY_PASSWORD="YOUR_PROXY_PASSWORD"

In PowerShell, set the same names with $env:PROXY_HOST and the corresponding variables. Clear the shell variables when the test ends.

Run the IP check without a proxy. This value is the baseline used to prove that the next request actually uses the proxy route.

curl --fail --show-error --silent https://api.ipify.org

Use the command that matches the purchased protocol. --proxy-user keeps credentials separate from the proxy endpoint. socks5h asks curl to resolve the destination hostname through the SOCKS5 proxy.

curl --fail --show-error --silent \
  --proxy "http://${PROXY_HOST}:${PROXY_PORT}" \
  --proxy-user "${PROXY_USER}:${PROXY_PASSWORD}" \
  https://api.ipify.org

curl --fail --show-error --silent \
  --proxy "socks5://${PROXY_HOST}:${PROXY_PORT}" \
  --proxy-user "${PROXY_USER}:${PROXY_PASSWORD}" \
  https://api.ipify.org

curl --fail --show-error --silent \
  --proxy "socks5h://${PROXY_HOST}:${PROXY_PORT}" \
  --proxy-user "${PROXY_USER}:${PROXY_PASSWORD}" \
  https://api.ipify.org

On Windows, call curl.exe if PowerShell maps curl to another command.

Create an isolated browser profile, select the same protocol, and enter host, port, username, and password into their matching fields. Disable other VPN or system proxy routes during the first check. Run the client proxy test, then open an approved IP-check page and compare its result with the purchased allocation.

Install requests with SOCKS support, then run the script below. HTTP works with the default requests transport; socks5h requires the PySocks extra included by this install command.

python -m pip install "requests[socks]==2.*"

from datetime import datetime, timezone
import os
import sys
import time
from urllib.parse import quote

import requests

required = ["PROXY_HOST", "PROXY_PORT", "PROXY_USER", "PROXY_PASSWORD"]
missing = [name for name in required if not os.getenv(name)]
if missing:
    raise SystemExit(f"Missing environment variables: {', '.join(missing)}")

scheme = os.getenv("PROXY_SCHEME", "http").lower()
if scheme not in {"http", "socks5h"}:
    raise SystemExit("PROXY_SCHEME must be http or socks5h")

user = quote(os.environ["PROXY_USER"], safe="")
password = quote(os.environ["PROXY_PASSWORD"], safe="")
host = os.environ["PROXY_HOST"]
port = os.environ["PROXY_PORT"]
proxy_url = f"{scheme}://{user}:{password}@{host}:{port}"
proxies = {"http": proxy_url, "https": proxy_url}
endpoint = os.getenv("IP_CHECK_URL", "https://api.ipify.org?format=json")
interval = int(os.getenv("VERIFY_INTERVAL_SECONDS", "30"))

def get_ip(proxy_config=None):
    with requests.Session() as session:
        session.trust_env = False
        response = session.get(endpoint, proxies=proxy_config, timeout=20)
        response.raise_for_status()
        return response.status_code, response.json()["ip"]

print(f"verified_at_utc={datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat()}")
print(f"client=Python {sys.version.split()[0]}, requests {requests.__version__}")

direct_ip = "unavailable"
try:
    direct_status, direct_ip = get_ip()
    print(f"direct_status={direct_status}")
except requests.RequestException as error:
    print(f"direct_check_failed={type(error).__name__}", file=sys.stderr)
print(f"direct_ip={direct_ip}")

try:
    exits = []
    for attempt in range(3):
        status, exit_ip = get_ip(proxies)
        exits.append(exit_ip)
        print(f"t+{attempt * interval}s status={status} exit_ip={exit_ip}")
        if attempt < 2:
            time.sleep(interval)
    print(f"same_exit={len(set(exits)) == 1}")
    differs = "unavailable" if direct_ip == "unavailable" else direct_ip != exits[0]
    print(f"direct_differs_from_exit={differs}")
except requests.RequestException as error:
    print(f"proxy_check_failed={type(error).__name__}", file=sys.stderr)
    raise SystemExit(1)

The direct IP and proxy exit should differ. The three proxy checks should normally show the allocated static exit during an active plan. If same_exit is false, first rule out another proxy or VPN, then compare the returned addresses with the dashboard and ask the provider whether an operational replacement occurred.