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The IMDb Scraper implements a sophisticated three-layer network evasion strategy to bypass rate limiting, geo-blocking, and anti-scraping measures.

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Multi-Layer Architecture

The network stack provides redundancy through sequential fallback mechanisms: 
Layer 1: VPN (ProtonVPN via Docker) → Global IP masking
Layer 2: Premium Proxy (DataImpulse) → IP rotation per request
Layer 3: TOR Network → Anonymous distributed routing

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Layer 1: VPN Setup

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Docker Configuration

The scraper runs behind a ProtonVPN container using the qmcgaw/gluetun image: 
vpn:
  image: qmcgaw/gluetun
  container_name: vpn
  cap_add:
    - NET_ADMIN
  environment:
    - VPN_SERVICE_PROVIDER=protonvpn
    - OPENVPN_USER=${VPN_USERNAME}
    - OPENVPN_PASSWORD=${VPN_PASSWORD}
    - SERVER_COUNTRIES=Argentina
  ports:
    - "8888:8888"
  networks:
    - vpn_net
Location: docker-compose.yml:34

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Network Isolation

The scraper container connects to both the VPN network and the application network: 
scraper:
  build:
    context: .
    dockerfile: Dockerfile
  container_name: imdb_scraper
  depends_on:
    - postgres
    - tor
    - vpn
  networks:
    - app_net
    - vpn_net  # Routes traffic through VPN
Location: docker-compose.yml:49

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Layer 2: Proxy Rotation

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ProxyProvider Implementation

The ProxyProvider class manages premium proxy connections: 
class ProxyProvider(ProxyProviderInterface):
    def __init__(self):
        self.current_proxy: Optional[Dict[str, str]] = None
        
    def get_proxy(self) -> Optional[Dict[str, str]]:
        proxy_to_use = None

        if config.USE_CUSTOM_PROXY:
            proxy_auth = f"{config.PROXY_USER}:{config.PROXY_PASS}@{config.PROXY_HOST}:{config.PROXY_PORT}"
            logger.info(f"[PROXY] Usando proxy autenticado: {config.PROXY_HOST}:{config.PROXY_PORT}")
            proxy_to_use = {
                "http": f"http://{proxy_auth}",
                "https": f"http://{proxy_auth}"
            }
        elif config.USE_TOR:
            logger.info(f"[PROXY] Usando red TOR: {config.TOR_PROXY}")
            proxy_to_use = config.TOR_PROXY
        else:
            logger.warning("[PROXY] No se encontró proxy configurado. Usando conexión directa.")
            proxy_to_use = None

        self.current_proxy = proxy_to_use
        return self.current_proxy
Location: infrastructure/network/proxy_provider.py:24

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Proxy Configuration

Proxies are configured via environment variables: 
PROXY_HOST = os.getenv("PROXY_HOST")  # gw.dataimpulse.com
PROXY_PORT = os.getenv("PROXY_PORT")  # 823
PROXY_USER = os.getenv("PROXY_USER")
PROXY_PASS = os.getenv("PROXY_PASS")

USE_CUSTOM_PROXY = all([PROXY_HOST, PROXY_PORT, PROXY_USER, PROXY_PASS])
Location: shared/config/config.py:31

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IP Validation

The proxy provider validates IP changes using ipinfo.io: 
def get_proxy_location(self) -> tuple[str, str, str]:
    try:
        resp = requests.get(
            config.URL_IPINFO, 
            proxies=self.current_proxy, 
            timeout=config.REQUEST_TIMEOUT
        )
        resp.raise_for_status()

        data = resp.json()
        ip = data.get("ip", "N/A")
        city = data.get("city", "N/A")
        country = data.get("country", "N/A")
        return ip, city, country
    except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
        logger.warning(f"[PROXY INFO] No se pudo obtener IP pública: {e}")
    
    return "N/A", "N/A", "N/A"
Location: infrastructure/network/proxy_provider.py:60

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Layer 3: TOR Network

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TOR Docker Service

The TOR proxy runs as a dedicated service: 
tor:
  image: dperson/torproxy
  container_name: tor_proxy
  restart: always
  ports:
    - "9050:9050"  # SOCKS proxy port
    - "9051:9051"  # Control port for IP rotation
  command: >
    sh -c "tor --SocksPort 0.0.0.0:9050 --ControlPort 0.0.0.0:9051 
           --HashedControlPassword '' --CookieAuthentication 0"
  networks:
    - app_net
Location: docker-compose.yml:22

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TOR Rotator Implementation

The TorRotator class manages IP rotation using the stem library: 
class TorRotator(TorInterface):
    def __init__(self):
        self.control_port = config.TOR_CONTROL_PORT  # 9051
        self.wait_time = config.TOR_WAIT_AFTER_ROTATION  # 12 seconds
        self.max_retries = config.MAX_RETRIES  # 3
        self.proxy = config.TOR_PROXY
        self.host = config.TOR_HOST  # "tor"

    def _send_newnym(self) -> bool:
        try:
            tor_ip = socket.gethostbyname(self.host)
            logger.info(f"[TOR] Intentando conectar al puerto de control en {self.host} ({tor_ip}:{self.control_port})...")
         
            with Controller.from_port(address=tor_ip, port=self.control_port) as controller:
                controller.authenticate()
                controller.signal(Signal.NEWNYM)  # Request new identity
            
            return True
        except Exception as e:
            logger.error(f"[TOR] No se pudo conectar al puerto de control de TOR: {e}")
            return False
Location: infrastructure/network/tor_rotator.py:42

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IP Rotation with Validation

def rotate_ip(self) -> str:
    original_ip = self.get_current_ip()
    logger.info(f"[TOR] IP original antes de rotar: {original_ip}")
    
    if not original_ip:
        logger.error("[TOR] No se pudo obtener la IP original. Abortando rotación.")
        return ""

    for attempt in range(self.max_retries):
        logger.info(f"[TOR] Enviando señal NEWNYM (Intento {attempt + 1}/{self.max_retries})")
        
        if not self._send_newnym():
            return original_ip

        time.sleep(self.wait_time)  # Wait for TOR to establish new circuit
        new_ip = self.get_current_ip()
        
        if new_ip and new_ip != original_ip:
            logger.info(f"[TOR] Rotación exitosa: {original_ip} → {new_ip}")
            return new_ip
        else:
            logger.warning(f"[TOR] La IP no cambió. Nueva IP obtenida: {new_ip}")

    logger.warning("[TOR] No se logró rotar la IP después de todos los intentos.")
    return original_ip
Location: infrastructure/network/tor_rotator.py:61

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TOR Configuration

TOR_HOST = "tor"
TOR_CONTROL_PORT = 9051
TOR_PROXY_PORT = 9050
TOR_PROXY = {
    "http": f"socks5h://{TOR_HOST}:{TOR_PROXY_PORT}",
    "https": f"socks5h://{TOR_HOST}:{TOR_PROXY_PORT}"
}
TOR_WAIT_AFTER_ROTATION = 12  # seconds
Location: shared/config/config.py:36

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Exponential Backoff Retry Logic

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Request Utility with Fallback

The make_request function implements intelligent retry logic: 
def make_request(
    url: str,
    proxy_provider,
    tor_rotator,
    method: str = "GET",
    json_payload: dict = None,
    headers: dict = None
) -> Optional[requests.Response]:
    # Define strategy sequence
    strategies = []
    if config.USE_TOR:
        strategies.append('tor')
    else:
        strategies.append('proxy')
        strategies.append('tor')  # TOR as fallback

    for strategy in strategies:
        logger.info(f"Iniciando peticiones con estrategia: {strategy.upper()}")
        
        for attempt in range(1, config.MAX_RETRIES + 1):
            proxies = None
            log_ip_info = "Conexión Directa (VPN)"

            try:
                if strategy == 'proxy':
                    proxies = proxy_provider.get_proxy()
                    ip, city, country = proxy_provider.get_proxy_location()
                    log_ip_info = f"Proxy: {ip} ({city}, {country})"
                elif strategy == 'tor':
                    tor_rotator.rotate_ip()
                    proxies = config.TOR_PROXY
                    ip = tor_rotator.get_current_ip()
                    log_ip_info = f"TOR: {ip}"
                
                request_headers = _get_headers(headers)
                logger.info(f"Intento {attempt}/{config.MAX_RETRIES} | {method.upper()} {url} | Usando: {log_ip_info}")

                if method.upper() == 'POST':
                    response = requests.post(
                        url, headers=request_headers, 
                        proxies=proxies, json=json_payload, 
                        timeout=config.REQUEST_TIMEOUT
                    )
                else:
                    response = requests.get(
                        url, headers=request_headers, 
                        proxies=proxies, 
                        timeout=config.REQUEST_TIMEOUT
                    )
                
                logger.info(f"Respuesta: {response.status_code} | URL Final: {response.url}")

                if response.status_code == 200:
                    return response
                
                # Rotate TOR IP on block
                if strategy == 'tor' and response.status_code in config.BLOCK_CODES:
                    logger.warning(f"Código de bloqueo {response.status_code} con TOR. Rotando IP...")
                    tor_rotator.rotate_ip()
                    time.sleep(config.TOR_WAIT_AFTER_ROTATION)

            except RequestException as e:
                logger.warning(f"Error de red en intento {attempt} con {strategy.upper()}: {e}")
            
            # Exponential backoff
            time.sleep(config.RETRY_DELAYS[min(attempt - 1, len(config.RETRY_DELAYS) - 1)])
        
        if strategy != strategies[-1]:
            logger.warning(f"La estrategia {strategy.upper()} falló. Pasando a la siguiente...")

    logger.error(f"Todos los intentos y estrategias fallaron para la URL: {url}")
    return None
Location: infrastructure/scraper/utils.py:21

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User-Agent Rotation

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Random User-Agent Selection

def _get_headers(custom_headers: Optional[dict] = None) -> dict:
    base_headers = {"User-Agent": random.choice(config.USER_AGENTS)}
    if custom_headers:
        base_headers.update(custom_headers)
    return base_headers
Location: infrastructure/scraper/utils.py:14

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User-Agent Pool

USER_AGENTS = [
    "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 Chrome/91.0.4472.124 Safari/537.36",
    "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 Safari/537.36",
    "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 Chrome/88.0.4324.96 Safari/537.36",
    "Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 6.0; Nexus 5) AppleWebKit/537.36 Chrome/90.0.4430.91 Mobile Safari/537.36"
]
Location: shared/config/config.py:23

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Configuration Options

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Network Settings

# Retry configuration
MAX_RETRIES = 3
RETRY_DELAYS = [1, 3, 5]  # Exponential backoff in seconds
REQUEST_TIMEOUT = 10

# Block detection
BLOCK_CODES = [202, 403, 404, 429, 500]

# Proxy settings
USE_CUSTOM_PROXY = all([PROXY_HOST, PROXY_PORT, PROXY_USER, PROXY_PASS])
USE_TOR = not USE_CUSTOM_PROXY

# TOR settings
TOR_WAIT_AFTER_ROTATION = 12  # seconds

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Environment Variables

Required variables in .env: 
# Proxy Configuration (DataImpulse)
PROXY_HOST=gw.dataimpulse.com
PROXY_PORT=823
PROXY_USER=your_username
PROXY_PASS=your_password

# VPN Configuration (ProtonVPN)
VPN_PROVIDER=protonvpn
VPN_USERNAME=your_username
VPN_PASSWORD=your_password
VPN_COUNTRY=Argentina

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Strategy Selection Logic

The scraper automatically selects the best strategy:
  1. If USE_CUSTOM_PROXY=True: Uses premium proxy only
  2. If USE_CUSTOM_PROXY=False: Uses TOR network
  3. On proxy failure: Automatically falls back to TOR
  4. On all failures: Uses direct connection through VPN

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Next Steps

Scraping Engine

Learn how the scraping engine works

Concurrency

Explore parallel processing implementation

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