What Happens When Your Valheim Server Is Attacked

Your Valheim server is behind VibeSHIELD from the moment it is created. VibeSHIELD is the anycast DDoS protection network that VibeGAMES runs itself, included with every server and always on. This article explains what the Valheim profile filters, what happens during an attack and what you can see in your dashboard.

1What VibeSHIELD Does for Your Valheim Server

• The Valheim profile has two parts. A UDP game filter protects the game port UDP 2456 and drops packets that do not look like real Valheim traffic.
• An A2S query cache on the query port 2457 answers server-list queries at the edge, so a flood of queries never reaches your server.
• Filtering takes place at the VibeSHIELD point of presence nearest to the source of the traffic. Only clean traffic continues to your server.
• You do not have to enable or configure anything. The profile is applied automatically.

2What Players Notice

• In most attacks nothing. The Vikings sail on.
• During a very large attack players may see a few seconds of higher ping or packet loss while the filtering ramps up.
• If the server is unreachable, check the console in the game panel first. A crash, running out of memory, a broken mod or a wrong port are far more likely than the attack.

3Where to See the Attack

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

4The Email You Receive

• Your account email receives a message with the subject DDoS attack detected on your server <ip> when an attack targets your server's port.
• It states that VibeSHIELD is filtering the traffic and that no action is needed.
• The IP in the subject is shared by several servers on the node. Your server is identified by its port.

5What to Do

• Let VibeSHIELD do the work. There is nothing to press.
• Do not share your server IP with anyone who threatens you, and never pay anyone who claims they will stop an attack.
• Changing the game port does not help against attacks and is not needed.
• Moving the server to another location is not needed. Every location is behind VibeSHIELD.
• If players report problems during an attack, open a ticket with the attack ID from the history table.

Good to Know

• Two ports, two filters. The game port and the query port are filtered separately, which is why both gameplay and the server list keep working during an attack.
• History is kept for 30 days. Note the ID of an attack you want to refer to later.
• Read more. See how VibeSHIELD protects your game server for the general article.