How VibeSHIELD protects your game server from DDoS attacks

Every game server at VibeGAMES sits behind VibeSHIELD, our own anycast DDoS protection network. It is included with every server, it is always on, and there is nothing to configure or enable. This article explains how it works, where you can see attacks on your server, what the attack email means, and what to do when an attack happens.

1How VibeSHIELD Works

• VibeSHIELD has 46 scrubbing locations around the world and multi-Tbps capacity.
• Traffic to your server enters the network at the point of presence closest to where it comes from. An attack is filtered there, near its source, and only clean traffic travels on to your server.
• Every location is behind VibeSHIELD. There is no separate plan and no add-on to buy.

2Game-Aware Filtering

• For each game we apply a profile of filters to the server's ports, one filter per port and protocol.
• A filter knows what real traffic for that game looks like. Packets that do not match are dropped at the edge, while packets from real players pass through.
• Because of this, players usually stay connected during an attack and the server itself never sees the flood.

3Where to See Attacks

• Log in to the website dashboard and open your game server.
• Open the DDoS protection tab. It is in the website dashboard, not in the game panel at game.vibegames.com.
• The Status row reads Active.
• The Attack status row reads Not under attack or Under attack.
• The Attack history table lists attacks from the last 30 days with an ID, the peak size in Mbps or Gbps, and the start and stop time.
• Expand a row for a breakdown: a traffic chart over time, source countries, source networks (ASN), source ports, destination ports, protocol, TTL and packet sizes.

4The Email You Receive

• Several servers on a node share one IP address, each with its own port. An attack is attributed to a server by the port it targets.
• When an attack hits your server's port, your account email receives a message with the subject DDoS attack detected on your server <ip>.
• The email says that VibeSHIELD is filtering the traffic and that no action is needed.

5What Players Notice

• In most attacks, nothing.
• During a very large attack players may see a few seconds of higher ping or packet loss while filtering ramps up.
• If the server is unreachable, the cause is usually not the attack but a crash, running out of memory or a wrong port. Check the console in the game panel first.

6What to Do and What Not to Do

• You do not need to do anything about the attack itself.
• Do not share your server IP with anyone who threatens you, and never pay anyone who claims they can stop an attack.
• Changing the server port does not help and is not needed. Neither is a move to another location, since every location is protected in the same way.
• If players report problems while Attack status reads Under attack, open a ticket and include the attack ID from the history table.

Good to Know

• Status is always Active. VibeSHIELD cannot be switched off for a server, so the Status row does not change.
• History covers 30 days. Older attacks drop off the table. Note the ID of an attack you may want to refer to later.