Why can't I renew my dynamic IP address?

Question

So, I'm going to explain this from the start.

I've started a project with a friend of mine which includes a webspider, that crawls through all pages on a site and stores them in a DB. Since I've never done this before, I didn't think about the amount of requests I was actually sending to the site, and after a day or two I finally got my IP blocked.

I need to be able to visit that site as it's very important to me. Not only for my project, but for other reasons too. (and if I'm able to renew my IP I'm going to set a delay on the crawler so I don't get blocked & DDOS the site)

I have a dynamic IP address, at least that's what my router settings say. I've tried ipconfig /flushdns, ipconfig /release, restart computer. No result. I end up with the same IP address. I've also tried renewing it from the router, however, I think it uses the same method which isn't working.

Is it possible that site has blocked my mac address? Can a site even access my mac address?

Answer 1

I have a dynamic IP adress, at least that's what my router settings say. I've tried ipconfig /flushdns, ipconfig /release, restart computer. No result.. same IP adress. I've also tried renewing it from the router, however, i think it uses the same method which isn't working.

1. When you use ipconfig /renew on your computer, you are renewing your computer's internal address, which is handed out by your router and not visible to the outside.

   When you tell your router to renew the address, you are asking the ISP for your external address.

   Only the latter is ever visible by websites.

2. If your lease has not yet expired, you are likely going to get the same old address you had, even if you did /release before.

Is it possible that site has blocked my mac adress? Can a site even access my mac adress?

No. MAC addresses are only visible inside the network segment; your address is not visible beyond any router. (This is even smaller range than your internal IP address, which is only blocked by the router that links you to your ISP.)

Answer 2

ipconfig /flushdns only flushes your dns cache, it doesn't request a new IP from DHCP. The ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew will ask the DHCP server for a new lease (and possibly a new IP), but it is up to the DHCP server to give the IP. In most cases this is your home router. If you're talking about renewing the IP that you use on the internet; this usually given to you by your ISP and there are only a few ways to request a new IP from your ISP.

You can try rebooting your ISP's network adapter (sometimes called a modem), but your ISP may have static IPs; if this is the case, you will not be able to get another IP.

Sometimes the ISP will give you an IP address and tie it to your device's MAC address - either your ISP's network adapter or your router. Sometimes you can go in to your home router's settings and change the MAC with a feature called MAC cloning. Updating this value and rebooting your ISP's network adapter should give you a new IP.

Why can't you setup your own web site locally, at home and crawl that? Sounds a bit like your trying to mirror or steal someone's site without permission.

Answer 3

If it's the router that's connected to the internet (as a router should be - you're not confusing a router and a modem are you?) then it's the router's IP address that you should be renewing. Just rebooting the router usually does it for me.