What is Rackspace?

Rackspace is a bot in the monitoring and analytics bots category, operated by Rackspace.

Bot name
Rackspace
Operator
Rackspace
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
Rackspace
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About Rackspace

The Rackspace HTTP Monitor monitors customer websites for uptime and other issues.

Monitoring bots check uptime, performance and page changes on behalf of a site owner or a third party. Allow the services you run yourself and exclude them from analytics so they do not inflate page views.

Rackspace user agent

Rackspace identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • Rackspace Monitoring/1.1 (https://monitoring.api.rackspacecloud.com)

Anyone can copy a user agent string. Transfon Security also checks where each request comes from, so a request that claims to be a known crawler but comes from the wrong network is treated as a fake, not as the real crawler.

How to block Rackspace in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether Rackspace follows robots.txt. Add a rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped. robots.txt is a plain text file at the root of your domain, such as https://example.com/robots.txt.

Block Rackspace from the whole site

User-agent: Rackspace
Disallow: /

Block Rackspace from some folders

User-agent: Rackspace
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /search

Allow Rackspace only on some folders

User-agent: Rackspace
Allow: /blog/
Disallow: /

Allow Rackspace and block other crawlers

User-agent: Rackspace
Allow: /

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Things to know

  • Each host needs its own file. Rules on www.example.com do not apply to shop.example.com.
  • A crawler obeys only the most specific group that names it. Once you add a User-agent: Rackspace group, Rackspace ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take Rackspace from Rackspace's user agent; check Rackspace's own documentation if it publishes a different robots.txt name.
  • Crawlers cache robots.txt, so changes can take up to a day to apply. Disallow stops crawling but does not remove pages already collected or indexed.

Limits of robots.txt

  1. Rackspace may not follow the rule. robots.txt is a request that nothing enforces, and we have not confirmed that Rackspace follows it. Check your logs after adding a rule.
  2. The user agent could be fake. robots.txt matches the name a request claims. Anyone can send Rackspace's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by Rackspace's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real Rackspace from a fake one.

Treat robots.txt as a statement of your policy, and enforce it where requests arrive.

Who should care about Rackspace

Publishers

Allow Rackspace if it is a service you use, and keep its visits out of page views and ad requests either way.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

Rackspace is not a person. Exclude it from campaign and conversion data so reports reflect real visitors.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

Allow Rackspace only if it works for your store, and keep it away from cart and checkout.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

If Rackspace is a service you use, allow it on the endpoints it needs and block it elsewhere.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block Rackspace with Transfon Security

robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement. Transfon Security shows Rackspace by name in the Top Bots report, so you can see how often it visits and which pages it reads. Block or allow it with a User Agent rule, or slow it down with a rate limit decision rule.

Transfon Security

Control Rackspace on your site

  • See every Rackspace visit and the pages it reads
  • Spot bots that fake trusted crawler names
  • Block, allow or rate limit Rackspace with one rule
  • Works with or without robots.txt support

Frequently asked questions

What is Rackspace?

Rackspace is a bot in the monitoring and analytics bots category, operated by Rackspace. The Rackspace HTTP Monitor monitors customer websites for uptime and other issues.

Does Rackspace respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether Rackspace follows robots.txt. Add a robots.txt rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped, and block it by user agent if it did not.

How do I block Rackspace?

Add "User-agent: Rackspace" followed by "Disallow: /" to the robots.txt file at the root of your site. To enforce it, block requests whose user agent contains "Rackspace Monitoring" at your WAF. In Transfon Security that is one User Agent block rule.

Is robots.txt enough to block Rackspace?

No. robots.txt is voluntary, so Rackspace may not follow it, and anyone can send Rackspace's user agent, so a fake Rackspace ignores your rule. Enforce the rule where requests arrive, at your WAF, and check the source network.

Should I block Rackspace?

Monitoring bots check uptime, performance and page changes on behalf of a site owner or a third party. Allow the services you run yourself and exclude them from analytics so they do not inflate page views.

Related bots

All monitoring and analytics bots · Full bot directory

See Which Bots Visit Your Site

Transfon Security identifies every bot in this directory in your traffic reports, flags fake search crawlers, and lets you allow, block or rate limit each bot.

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