How to install and configure Tinyproxy on Ubuntu 14.04

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install and configure Tinyproxy on an Ubuntu 14.04 VPS. Tinyproxy is a small and fast HTTP/HTTPS proxy server and it is very easy to install and use. It is an ideal solution when a HTTP/HTTPS proxy is required, but but resources for a larger proxy such as Squid are unavailable. There are a number of reasons why a HTTP/HTTPS proxy is useful, but the main one is to access the Internet using a different IP address. Some of the key features of Tinyproxy include: Anonymous mode, Access control, Small footprint, Proxy chaining, Remote monitoring, HTTPS support and Small footprint.
This guide should work on other Linux VPS systems as well but was tested and written for an Ubuntu 14.04 VPS.

Login to your VPS

ssh user@vps_IP

It’s always recommended to update your package repository cache before installing new packages.

[user]$ sudo apt-get update

Install and Configure Tinyproxy

Tinyproxy can be installed from the default Ubuntu repositories with:

[user]$ sudo apt-get install tinyproxy

Once the installation is complete, open the Tinyproxy configuration file with your editor of choice:

[user]$ sudo nano /etc/tinyproxy.conf

The default port number is set to 8888, but you can change it to whatever you like. In most cases, the default port number does not need to be changed. Please note that if you want to run your Tinyproxy server on a port lower than 1024 you will need to start Tinyproxy using root.

By default Tinyproxy will only accept connections from 127.0.0.1. Scroll down to the authorization controls section and add your local computer’s IP address to the allow list:

Allow 127.0.0.1
Allow your.local.ip.address

If you do not know your computer’s IP address, open your web browser and navigate to http://ipinfo.io/ip. Copy and paste the IP address shown at this site into the Tinyproxy configuration file.

All other default settings should be fine.

Save the configuration and restart the service.

[user]$ sudo /etc/init.d/tinyproxy restart

Setup a cron job

Setting up a daily cron job will prevent memory leaks.
Use the command crontab -e to edit the crontab file and add the following line:

0 2 * * * /etc/init.d/tinyproxy restart

That’s it. You have successfully installed Tinyproxy on your Ubuntu 14.04 VPS. For more information about Tinyproxy, please refer to the official Tinyproxy website.

Browser Configuration

If you are using Firefox, open the Firefox menu in the top right corner, go to Options -> Advanced -> Network and click on the Connection Settings button. This will open the Connection Settings window. Select the Manual proxy configuration radio button. In the HTTP Proxy field, enter the IP Address of your Tinyproxy Server, and the Tinyproxy Port Number (8888) in the Port field.

You can also use some proxy plugins such as FoxyProxy for Firefox or Proxy SwitchySharp for Google Chrome to configure your browser network proxy settings.

Now, if you navigate to http://ipinfo.io/ip, you will see your Tinyproxy server IP address.

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Of course you don’t have to do any of this if you use one of our Linux VPS Hosting services, in which case you can simply ask our expert Linux admins to setup this for you. They are available 24×7 and will take care of your request immediately.

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