A DDoS attack tries to make a service unreachable by flooding it with more traffic than it can absorb. Premium DDoS protection puts filtering upstream of your server: malicious traffic is dropped before it arrives, and your visitors, customers or players keep getting through.
This article explains what that filtering does in practice, what it does not do, and how to choose a plan such as the Infrawire Anti-DDoS VPS based on what you expose to the Internet.
What DDoS protection is for
Without protection, your server receives everything sent to it. Once the network link is saturated, no tuning on the machine changes anything: legitimate requests stop arriving, even if the server itself is idle. This is the typical volumetric attack scenario.
The first job of protection is to keep a service reachable during an attack: an online shop, an API, a game server, a customer portal, a VPN. It also avoids a common side effect at hosts without filtering, which may temporarily null-route the targeted IP address to protect the rest of their network. For a business, the real cost of an attack is measured in lost sales, unhappy customers and time spent managing the crisis.
Types of attacks to know
Not all attacks hit the same layer. The level of filtering you need depends on what you run online.
| Type | How it works | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Volumetric | Saturate the bandwidth | Massive floods of unsolicited data |
| Protocol | Exhaust the server's connection resources | Bursts of fake connection requests |
| Application | Imitate real visitors | Thousands of searches or logins on the same page |
Upstream network filtering handles the first two families well. The third is trickier: a well-formed request looks like a normal visitor, and it is often up to your site or application to deal with it.
What the filtering does for you
The principle is simple. Incoming traffic is analysed before it reaches your server, flows that match a known attack pattern are rejected, and only the rest is forwarded. You do not have to build a complex architecture yourself to withstand the most common network attacks.
The advantage of a plan designed for this purpose is that protection is part of the infrastructure, rather than a module bolted on after the problem has already happened. The exact scope (ports, protocols, attack types covered) is described on the Anti-DDoS VPS page. Read it before deploying an unusual service, for example a game that uses a proprietary protocol.
What it does not replace
Network protection is not a guarantee against everything. A few points come up regularly in practice:
- Flaws in your application: a slow function called in a loop can bring a site to its knees without any traffic looking suspicious.
- Exposure of the origin address: if your server's IP is known and directly reachable, attackers can target it.
- Unnecessary services: a database open to the whole Internet is a risk, attack or not.
- Monitoring: without traffic and performance metrics, you cannot tell whether a slowdown comes from an attack or from a plain bug.
Careful server configuration, regular updates and a properly set up firewall are still necessary. DDoS protection builds on these basics, it does not replace them.
Choosing a plan for your workload
The right choice depends on what is exposed and what an outage costs you.
- Game servers: a frequent target of attacks between players or rival communities. A gaming dedicated server or a protected VPS can both fit, depending on the expected load.
- Websites and APIs: an Anti-DDoS VPS protects the public address. It pairs well with caching and per-visitor rate limiting.
- Heavy workloads or specific network needs: a dedicated server gives you more room to manoeuvre and non-shared resources.
Size the machine itself as well. Filtering removes attack traffic, but your server still has to handle legitimate traffic, including a traffic peak or a marketing campaign.
FAQ
No. It greatly reduces exposure to network attacks, but an application flaw, a weak password or a misconfigured service remain risks. It adds to server security, it does not replace it.
On a plan built for this purpose, filtering is provided at the infrastructure level. Check the plan page for the exact scope, then adapt your server and application configuration to the services you expose.
The usual signs are a sudden surge in traffic with no increase in real visitors, a very slow or unreachable site, and alerts from your monitoring tool. If in doubt, contact your host's support with your observations: they can help confirm the origin of the problem.
It depends on how exposed the site is and how important it is to your business. A low-profile brochure site can often do without, while an online shop or a site that is regularly targeted has good reasons to get it. In every case, caching and limiting login attempts reduce the risks.