Advanced Webscraping Features

Q: How can I authenticate users on websites requiring login in C#?

You can utilize the HttpIdentity feature in IronWebScraper to authenticate users by setting up properties like NetworkDomain , NetworkUsername , and NetworkPassword .

Q: What are the advanced throttling options in web scraping?

IronWebScraper offers a ThrottleMode setting that intelligently manages request throttling based on hostnames and IP addresses, ensuring respectful interaction with shared hosting environments.

Q: How does IronWebScraper handle request delays to prevent server overload?

The RateLimitPerHost setting in IronWebScraper specifies the minimum delay between requests to a specific domain or IP address, helping to prevent server overload by spacing out requests.

Q: How do I control the number of concurrent HTTP connections in a web scraper?

In IronWebScraper, you can set the MaxHttpConnectionLimit property to control the total number of allowed open HTTP requests, helping to manage server load and resources.

Darrius Serrant

Updated:June 22, 2025

HttpIdentity Feature

Some website systems require the user to be logged in to view the content; in this case, we can use an HttpIdentity. Here is how you can set it up:

// Create a new instance of HttpIdentity
HttpIdentity id = new HttpIdentity();

// Set the network username and password for authentication
id.NetworkUsername = "username";
id.NetworkPassword = "pwd";

// Add the identity to the collection of identities
Identities.Add(id);

// Create a new instance of HttpIdentity
HttpIdentity id = new HttpIdentity();

// Set the network username and password for authentication
id.NetworkUsername = "username";
id.NetworkPassword = "pwd";

// Add the identity to the collection of identities
Identities.Add(id);

' Create a new instance of HttpIdentity
Dim id As New HttpIdentity()

' Set the network username and password for authentication
id.NetworkUsername = "username"
id.NetworkPassword = "pwd"

' Add the identity to the collection of identities
Identities.Add(id)

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One of the most impressive and powerful features in IronWebScraper is the ability to use thousands of unique user credentials and/or browser engines to spoof or scrape websites using multiple login sessions.

public override void Init()
{
    // Set the license key for IronWebScraper
    License.LicenseKey = "LicenseKey";

    // Set the logging level to capture all logs
    this.LoggingLevel = WebScraper.LogLevel.All;

    // Assign the working directory for the output files
    this.WorkingDirectory = AppSetting.GetAppRoot() + @"\ShoppingSiteSample\Output\";

    // Define an array of proxies
    var proxies = "IP-Proxy1:8080,IP-Proxy2:8081".Split(',');

    // Iterate over common Chrome desktop user agents
    foreach (var UA in IronWebScraper.CommonUserAgents.ChromeDesktopUserAgents)
    {
        // Iterate over the proxies
        foreach (var proxy in proxies)
        {
            // Add a new HTTP identity with specific user agent and proxy
            Identities.Add(new HttpIdentity()
            {
                UserAgent = UA,
                UseCookies = true,
                Proxy = proxy
            });
        }
    }

    // Make an initial request to the website with a parse method
    this.Request("http://www.Website.com", Parse);
}

public override void Init()
{
    // Set the license key for IronWebScraper
    License.LicenseKey = "LicenseKey";

    // Set the logging level to capture all logs
    this.LoggingLevel = WebScraper.LogLevel.All;

    // Assign the working directory for the output files
    this.WorkingDirectory = AppSetting.GetAppRoot() + @"\ShoppingSiteSample\Output\";

    // Define an array of proxies
    var proxies = "IP-Proxy1:8080,IP-Proxy2:8081".Split(',');

    // Iterate over common Chrome desktop user agents
    foreach (var UA in IronWebScraper.CommonUserAgents.ChromeDesktopUserAgents)
    {
        // Iterate over the proxies
        foreach (var proxy in proxies)
        {
            // Add a new HTTP identity with specific user agent and proxy
            Identities.Add(new HttpIdentity()
            {
                UserAgent = UA,
                UseCookies = true,
                Proxy = proxy
            });
        }
    }

    // Make an initial request to the website with a parse method
    this.Request("http://www.Website.com", Parse);
}

Public Overrides Sub Init()
	' Set the license key for IronWebScraper
	License.LicenseKey = "LicenseKey"

	' Set the logging level to capture all logs
	Me.LoggingLevel = WebScraper.LogLevel.All

	' Assign the working directory for the output files
	Me.WorkingDirectory = AppSetting.GetAppRoot() & "\ShoppingSiteSample\Output\"

	' Define an array of proxies
	Dim proxies = "IP-Proxy1:8080,IP-Proxy2:8081".Split(","c)

	' Iterate over common Chrome desktop user agents
	For Each UA In IronWebScraper.CommonUserAgents.ChromeDesktopUserAgents
		' Iterate over the proxies
		For Each proxy In proxies
			' Add a new HTTP identity with specific user agent and proxy
			Identities.Add(New HttpIdentity() With {
				.UserAgent = UA,
				.UseCookies = True,
				.Proxy = proxy
			})
		Next proxy
	Next UA

	' Make an initial request to the website with a parse method
	Me.Request("http://www.Website.com", Parse)
End Sub

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You have multiple properties to give you different behaviors, so preventing websites from blocking you.

Some of these properties include:

NetworkDomain: The network domain to be used for user authentication. Supports Windows, NTLM, Kerberos, Linux, BSD, and Mac OS X networks. Must be used with NetworkUsername and NetworkPassword.
NetworkUsername: The network/http username to be used for user authentication. Supports HTTP, Windows networks, NTLM, Kerberos, Linux networks, BSD networks, and Mac OS.
NetworkPassword: The network/http password to be used for user authentication. Supports HTTP, Windows networks, NTLM, Kerberos, Linux networks, BSD networks, and Mac OS.
Proxy: To set proxy settings.
UserAgent: To set a browser engine (e.g., Chrome desktop, Chrome mobile, Chrome tablet, IE, and Firefox, etc.).
HttpRequestHeaders: For custom header values that will be used with this identity, it accepts a dictionary object Dictionary<string, string>.
UseCookies: Enable/disable using cookies.

IronWebScraper runs the scraper using random identities. If we need to specify the use of a specific identity to parse a page, we can do so:

public override void Init()
{
    // Set the license key for IronWebScraper
    License.LicenseKey = "LicenseKey";

    // Set the logging level to capture all logs
    this.LoggingLevel = WebScraper.LogLevel.All;

    // Assign the working directory for the output files
    this.WorkingDirectory = AppSetting.GetAppRoot() + @"\ShoppingSiteSample\Output\";

    // Create a new instance of HttpIdentity
    HttpIdentity identity = new HttpIdentity();

    // Set the network username and password for authentication
    identity.NetworkUsername = "username";
    identity.NetworkPassword = "pwd";

    // Add the identity to the collection of identities
    Identities.Add(identity);

    // Make a request to the website with the specified identity
    this.Request("http://www.Website.com", Parse, identity);
}

public override void Init()
{
    // Set the license key for IronWebScraper
    License.LicenseKey = "LicenseKey";

    // Set the logging level to capture all logs
    this.LoggingLevel = WebScraper.LogLevel.All;

    // Assign the working directory for the output files
    this.WorkingDirectory = AppSetting.GetAppRoot() + @"\ShoppingSiteSample\Output\";

    // Create a new instance of HttpIdentity
    HttpIdentity identity = new HttpIdentity();

    // Set the network username and password for authentication
    identity.NetworkUsername = "username";
    identity.NetworkPassword = "pwd";

    // Add the identity to the collection of identities
    Identities.Add(identity);

    // Make a request to the website with the specified identity
    this.Request("http://www.Website.com", Parse, identity);
}

Public Overrides Sub Init()
	' Set the license key for IronWebScraper
	License.LicenseKey = "LicenseKey"

	' Set the logging level to capture all logs
	Me.LoggingLevel = WebScraper.LogLevel.All

	' Assign the working directory for the output files
	Me.WorkingDirectory = AppSetting.GetAppRoot() & "\ShoppingSiteSample\Output\"

	' Create a new instance of HttpIdentity
	Dim identity As New HttpIdentity()

	' Set the network username and password for authentication
	identity.NetworkUsername = "username"
	identity.NetworkPassword = "pwd"

	' Add the identity to the collection of identities
	Identities.Add(identity)

	' Make a request to the website with the specified identity
	Me.Request("http://www.Website.com", Parse, identity)
End Sub

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Enable the Web Cache Feature

This feature is used to cache requested pages. It is often used in the development and testing phases, enabling developers to cache required pages for reuse after updating code. This enables you to execute your code on cached pages after restarting your web scraper without needing to connect to the live website every time (action-replay).

You can use it in the Init() method:

// Enable web cache without an expiration time
EnableWebCache();

// OR enable web cache with a specified expiration time
EnableWebCache(new TimeSpan(1, 30, 30));

// Enable web cache without an expiration time
EnableWebCache();

// OR enable web cache with a specified expiration time
EnableWebCache(new TimeSpan(1, 30, 30));

' Enable web cache without an expiration time
EnableWebCache()

' OR enable web cache with a specified expiration time
EnableWebCache(New TimeSpan(1, 30, 30))

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It will save your cached data to the WebCache folder under the working directory folder.

public override void Init()
{
    // Set the license key for IronWebScraper
    License.LicenseKey = "LicenseKey";

    // Set the logging level to capture all logs
    this.LoggingLevel = WebScraper.LogLevel.All;

    // Assign the working directory for the output files
    this.WorkingDirectory = AppSetting.GetAppRoot() + @"\ShoppingSiteSample\Output\";

    // Enable web cache with a specific expiration time of 1 hour, 30 minutes, and 30 seconds
    EnableWebCache(new TimeSpan(1, 30, 30));

    // Make an initial request to the website with a parse method
    this.Request("http://www.Website.com", Parse);
}

public override void Init()
{
    // Set the license key for IronWebScraper
    License.LicenseKey = "LicenseKey";

    // Set the logging level to capture all logs
    this.LoggingLevel = WebScraper.LogLevel.All;

    // Assign the working directory for the output files
    this.WorkingDirectory = AppSetting.GetAppRoot() + @"\ShoppingSiteSample\Output\";

    // Enable web cache with a specific expiration time of 1 hour, 30 minutes, and 30 seconds
    EnableWebCache(new TimeSpan(1, 30, 30));

    // Make an initial request to the website with a parse method
    this.Request("http://www.Website.com", Parse);
}

Public Overrides Sub Init()
	' Set the license key for IronWebScraper
	License.LicenseKey = "LicenseKey"

	' Set the logging level to capture all logs
	Me.LoggingLevel = WebScraper.LogLevel.All

	' Assign the working directory for the output files
	Me.WorkingDirectory = AppSetting.GetAppRoot() & "\ShoppingSiteSample\Output\"

	' Enable web cache with a specific expiration time of 1 hour, 30 minutes, and 30 seconds
	EnableWebCache(New TimeSpan(1, 30, 30))

	' Make an initial request to the website with a parse method
	Me.Request("http://www.Website.com", Parse)
End Sub

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IronWebScraper also has features to enable your engine to continue scraping after restarting the code by setting the engine start process name using Start(CrawlID).

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    // Create an object from the Scraper class
    EngineScraper scrape = new EngineScraper();

    // Start the scraping process with the specified crawl ID
    scrape.Start("enginestate");
}

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    // Create an object from the Scraper class
    EngineScraper scrape = new EngineScraper();

    // Start the scraping process with the specified crawl ID
    scrape.Start("enginestate");
}

Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)
	' Create an object from the Scraper class
	Dim scrape As New EngineScraper()

	' Start the scraping process with the specified crawl ID
	scrape.Start("enginestate")
End Sub

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The execution request and response will be saved in the SavedState folder inside the working directory.

Throttling

We can control the minimum and maximum connection numbers and connection speed per domain.

public override void Init()
{
    // Set the license key for IronWebScraper
    License.LicenseKey = "LicenseKey";

    // Set the logging level to capture all logs
    this.LoggingLevel = WebScraper.LogLevel.All;

    // Assign the working directory for the output files
    this.WorkingDirectory = AppSetting.GetAppRoot() + @"\ShoppingSiteSample\Output\";

    // Set the total number of allowed open HTTP requests (threads)
    this.MaxHttpConnectionLimit = 80;

    // Set minimum polite delay (pause) between requests to a given domain or IP address
    this.RateLimitPerHost = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(50);

    // Set the allowed number of concurrent HTTP requests (threads) per hostname or IP address
    this.OpenConnectionLimitPerHost = 25;

    // Do not obey the robots.txt files
    this.ObeyRobotsDotTxt = false;

    // Makes the WebScraper intelligently throttle requests not only by hostname, but also by host servers' IP addresses
    this.ThrottleMode = Throttle.ByDomainHostName;

    // Make an initial request to the website with a parse method
    this.Request("https://www.Website.com", Parse);
}

public override void Init()
{
    // Set the license key for IronWebScraper
    License.LicenseKey = "LicenseKey";

    // Set the logging level to capture all logs
    this.LoggingLevel = WebScraper.LogLevel.All;

    // Assign the working directory for the output files
    this.WorkingDirectory = AppSetting.GetAppRoot() + @"\ShoppingSiteSample\Output\";

    // Set the total number of allowed open HTTP requests (threads)
    this.MaxHttpConnectionLimit = 80;

    // Set minimum polite delay (pause) between requests to a given domain or IP address
    this.RateLimitPerHost = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(50);

    // Set the allowed number of concurrent HTTP requests (threads) per hostname or IP address
    this.OpenConnectionLimitPerHost = 25;

    // Do not obey the robots.txt files
    this.ObeyRobotsDotTxt = false;

    // Makes the WebScraper intelligently throttle requests not only by hostname, but also by host servers' IP addresses
    this.ThrottleMode = Throttle.ByDomainHostName;

    // Make an initial request to the website with a parse method
    this.Request("https://www.Website.com", Parse);
}

Public Overrides Sub Init()
	' Set the license key for IronWebScraper
	License.LicenseKey = "LicenseKey"

	' Set the logging level to capture all logs
	Me.LoggingLevel = WebScraper.LogLevel.All

	' Assign the working directory for the output files
	Me.WorkingDirectory = AppSetting.GetAppRoot() & "\ShoppingSiteSample\Output\"

	' Set the total number of allowed open HTTP requests (threads)
	Me.MaxHttpConnectionLimit = 80

	' Set minimum polite delay (pause) between requests to a given domain or IP address
	Me.RateLimitPerHost = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(50)

	' Set the allowed number of concurrent HTTP requests (threads) per hostname or IP address
	Me.OpenConnectionLimitPerHost = 25

	' Do not obey the robots.txt files
	Me.ObeyRobotsDotTxt = False

	' Makes the WebScraper intelligently throttle requests not only by hostname, but also by host servers' IP addresses
	Me.ThrottleMode = Throttle.ByDomainHostName

	' Make an initial request to the website with a parse method
	Me.Request("https://www.Website.com", Parse)
End Sub

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Throttling properties

MaxHttpConnectionLimit
Total number of allowed open HTTP requests (threads)
RateLimitPerHost
Minimum polite delay or pause (in milliseconds) between requests to a given domain or IP address
OpenConnectionLimitPerHost
Allowed number of concurrent HTTP requests (threads) per hostname
ThrottleMode
Makes the WebScraper intelligently throttle requests not only by hostname, but also by host servers' IP addresses. This is polite in case multiple scraped domains are hosted on the same machine.

Get started with IronWebscraper

Start using IronWebScraper in your project today with a free trial.

First Step:

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I authenticate users on websites requiring login in C#?

You can utilize the HttpIdentity feature in IronWebScraper to authenticate users by setting up properties like NetworkDomain, NetworkUsername, and NetworkPassword.

What is the benefit of using web cache during development?

The web cache feature allows you to cache requested pages for reuse, which helps save time and resources by avoiding repeated connections to live websites, especially useful during the development and testing phases.

How can I manage multiple login sessions in web scraping?

IronWebScraper allows the use of thousands of unique user credentials and browser engines to simulate multiple login sessions, which helps prevent websites from detecting and blocking the scraper.

What are the advanced throttling options in web scraping?

IronWebScraper offers a ThrottleMode setting that intelligently manages request throttling based on hostnames and IP addresses, ensuring respectful interaction with shared hosting environments.

How can I use a proxy with IronWebScraper?

To use a proxy, define an array of proxies and associate them with HttpIdentity instances in IronWebScraper, allowing requests to be routed through different IP addresses for anonymity and access control.

How does IronWebScraper handle request delays to prevent server overload?

The RateLimitPerHost setting in IronWebScraper specifies the minimum delay between requests to a specific domain or IP address, helping to prevent server overload by spacing out requests.

Can web scraping be resumed after an interruption?

Yes, IronWebScraper can resume scraping after an interruption by using the Start(CrawlID) method, which saves the execution state and resumes from the last saved point.

How do I control the number of concurrent HTTP connections in a web scraper?

In IronWebScraper, you can set the MaxHttpConnectionLimit property to control the total number of allowed open HTTP requests, helping to manage server load and resources.

What options are available for logging web scraping activities?

IronWebScraper allows you to set the logging level using the LoggingLevel property, enabling comprehensive logging for detailed analysis and troubleshooting during scraping operations.

Darrius Serrant

Chat with engineering team now

Full Stack Software Engineer (WebOps)

Darrius Serrant holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Miami and works as a Full Stack WebOps Marketing Engineer at Iron Software. Drawn to coding from a young age, he saw computing as both mysterious and accessible, making it the perfect medium for creativity ...Read More