diff --git a/netbox/core/data_backends.py b/netbox/core/data_backends.py
index f20ac017c..8b36c6995 100644
--- a/netbox/core/data_backends.py
+++ b/netbox/core/data_backends.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 
 from netbox.data_backends import DataBackend
 from netbox.utils import register_data_backend
-from utilities.constants import DATA_SOURCE_SUPPORTED_SCHEMAS, DATA_SOURCE_SUPPORTED_SOCK_SCHEMAS
+from utilities.constants import HTTP_PROXY_SUPPORTED_SCHEMAS, HTTP_PROXY_SUPPORTED_SOCK_SCHEMAS
 from utilities.socks import ProxyPoolManager
 from .exceptions import SyncError
 
@@ -75,12 +75,12 @@ class GitBackend(DataBackend):
         # Apply HTTP proxy (if configured)
         if settings.HTTP_PROXIES:
             if proxy := settings.HTTP_PROXIES.get(self.url_scheme, None):
-                if urlparse(proxy).scheme not in DATA_SOURCE_SUPPORTED_SCHEMAS:
+                if urlparse(proxy).scheme not in HTTP_PROXY_SUPPORTED_SCHEMAS:
                     raise ImproperlyConfigured(f"Unsupported Git DataSource proxy scheme: {urlparse(proxy).scheme}")
 
                 if self.url_scheme in ('http', 'https'):
                     config.set("http", "proxy", proxy)
-                    if urlparse(proxy).scheme in DATA_SOURCE_SUPPORTED_SOCK_SCHEMAS:
+                    if urlparse(proxy).scheme in HTTP_PROXY_SUPPORTED_SOCK_SCHEMAS:
                         self.use_socks = True
 
         return config
diff --git a/netbox/utilities/constants.py b/netbox/utilities/constants.py
index 3ec6fd2dd..2b93f2b96 100644
--- a/netbox/utilities/constants.py
+++ b/netbox/utilities/constants.py
@@ -94,6 +94,6 @@ HTML_ALLOWED_ATTRIBUTES = {
     "th": {"align"},
 }
 
-DATA_SOURCE_SUPPORTED_SOCK_SCHEMAS = ['socks4', 'socks4a', 'socks4h', 'socks5', 'socks5a', 'socks5h']
-DATA_SOURCE_SOCK_RDNS_SCHEMAS = ['socks4h', 'socks4a', 'socks5h', 'socks5a']
-DATA_SOURCE_SUPPORTED_SCHEMAS = ['http', 'https', 'socks4', 'socks4a', 'socks4h', 'socks5', 'socks5a', 'socks5h']
+HTTP_PROXY_SUPPORTED_SOCK_SCHEMAS = ['socks4', 'socks4a', 'socks4h', 'socks5', 'socks5a', 'socks5h']
+HTTP_PROXY_SOCK_RDNS_SCHEMAS = ['socks4h', 'socks4a', 'socks5h', 'socks5a']
+HTTP_PROXY_SUPPORTED_SCHEMAS = ['http', 'https', 'socks4', 'socks4a', 'socks4h', 'socks5', 'socks5a', 'socks5h']
diff --git a/netbox/utilities/socks.py b/netbox/utilities/socks.py
index 8df82fb7a..bb0b6b250 100644
--- a/netbox/utilities/socks.py
+++ b/netbox/utilities/socks.py
@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
+import logging
+
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 from urllib3 import PoolManager, HTTPConnectionPool, HTTPSConnectionPool
 from urllib3.connection import HTTPConnection, HTTPSConnection
-from .constants import DATA_SOURCE_SOCK_RDNS_SCHEMAS
+from .constants import HTTP_PROXY_SOCK_RDNS_SCHEMAS
+
+
+logger = logging.getLogger('netbox.utilities')
 
 
 class ProxyHTTPConnection(HTTPConnection):
@@ -18,7 +23,12 @@ class ProxyHTTPConnection(HTTPConnection):
         super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
 
     def _new_conn(self):
-        from python_socks.sync import Proxy
+        try:
+            from python_socks.sync import Proxy
+        except ModuleNotFoundError as e:
+            logger.info("Configuring an HTTP proxy using SOCKS requires the python_socks library. Check that it has been installed.")
+            raise e
+
         proxy = Proxy.from_url(self._proxy_url, rdns=self.use_rdns)
         return proxy.connect(
             dest_host=self.host,
@@ -70,7 +80,7 @@ class ProxyPoolManager(PoolManager):
     def __init__(self, proxy_url, timeout=5, num_pools=10, headers=None, **connection_pool_kw):
         # python_socks uses rdns param to denote remote DNS parsing and
         # doesn't accept the 'h' or 'a' in the proxy URL
-        if use_rdns := urlparse(proxy_url).scheme in DATA_SOURCE_SOCK_RDNS_SCHEMAS:
+        if use_rdns := urlparse(proxy_url).scheme in HTTP_PROXY_SOCK_RDNS_SCHEMAS:
             proxy_url = proxy_url.replace('socks5h:', 'socks5:').replace('socks5a:', 'socks5:')
             proxy_url = proxy_url.replace('socks4h:', 'socks4:').replace('socks4a:', 'socks4:')