Python Requests: Set Custom Source IP

When making HTTP requests in Python, you may need to specify a custom source IP address. This is useful for testing, scraping, or routing traffic.

Why Set a Custom Source IP?

Setting a custom source IP helps in network testing, load balancing, and bypassing IP-based restrictions. It's also useful when working with multiple network interfaces.

For related IP operations, see our guide on Python Generate Random IP Addresses.

Prerequisites

You'll need Python installed and the requests library. Install it with pip:

pip install requests

Method 1: Using Source Address Parameter

The requests library supports binding to a specific IP through the source_address parameter:

import requests

response = requests.get(
    'https://example.com',
    source_address=('192.168.1.100', 0)
)
print(response.status_code)

Note: This requires root privileges on Linux systems. The second tuple element (0) lets the OS choose a random port.

Method 2: Using Session Objects

For multiple requests, create a session with your source IP:

import requests

session = requests.Session()
session.source_address = ('10.0.0.5', 0)

response = session.get('https://example.com')
print(response.text[:100])  # Print first 100 characters

Method 3: Using Proxies

For more control, use proxies with your desired IP:

proxies = {
    'http': 'http://192.168.1.100:8080',
    'https': 'http://192.168.1.100:8080'
}

response = requests.get('https://example.com', proxies=proxies)
print(response.headers)

Learn more about IP handling in our Python: Detect Private vs Public IP Address guide.

Error Handling

Always handle potential errors when working with custom IPs:

try:
    response = requests.get('https://example.com', source_address=('192.168.1.100', 0))
    response.raise_for_status()
except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
    print(f"Error: {e}")

Verifying Your Source IP

To verify your outgoing IP, use a service like httpbin:

response = requests.get('https://httpbin.org/ip')
print(f"Current IP: {response.json()['origin']}")

Current IP: 192.168.1.100

For advanced network operations, check our Python Socket: Bind to Specific IP Address tutorial.

Conclusion

Setting a custom source IP in Python Requests is straightforward. Use source_address for direct binding or proxies for more flexibility.

Remember to handle errors and verify your configuration. These techniques are valuable for network testing and web scraping projects.