DDoS and Host Hopping

DDoS Attacks
There have been a lot of misconceptions of what happened to our server this past month. I'm simply going to clarify what exactly happened before covering what we can actually do about it. Our server node, to put it simply, has been under attack at least three times this month (our anniversary month none the less) and it has affected our server to the point that our server hosts have had to shut down the node which ends up shutting down our server as well. These attacks happen temporarily and you often need great patience to wait it out as it can take a few hours to a few days.

To further clarify what a DDoS is, check it out on the wiki. If you don't have time to read that, or don't even understand what you're reading, I've created an allegory for it:

Let's say that a server node is like a street. This street has no way to get off of it and it goes in an endless loop. Our server is a car that's on this street with a few other cars. We're all happy making that loop. Now let's say there's a car crash. This car crash is our DDoS attack. Everyone starts to slow down, just to look at this car crash but we're still going in this loop. Eventually the Highway Patrol arrives and block off the car crash. Since we're only one street and there's no way to get off, our little drive, among all the other cars there, comes to a complete halt until the Highway Patrol cleans off the road.

This is essentially what happened. The DDoS attack started to slow down a few servers, our server host noticed and closed down our node which closed down every server on that node. This closing was created to deter the attackers and remained until they were sure the attackers were gone.

Server Host Trials
Our plan to finally fix this problem is simply to leave our old server host behind. Kind of heart breaking but at this point we're going to need to. However, we don't know what's the best host for us, even though we know what we're looking for. Server hosts differentiate in many ways from each other, including costs, what's included, and even how they set everything up and so much more. Because of this, I'm planning on setting up a server once every two months with new hosting (if we have yet to settle on one beforehand). From there we'll test out a bunch of stuff to make sure it'll run smoothly enough for not just me but all members of the server.

What we're looking for includes the following:
Costs around $15 (not too high as I can't really afford it)
Supports from 30 to 40 online members (i.e. that many people can get on at once)
DDoS protection (duh)
Supports craftbukkit and plugins (aka not Vanilla)
At least 4GB (we have a huge world and loads of plugins so it slows things down considerably otherwise)

If you're already a member of our minecraft server, and you know of a great server host that we could use that fits those requirements well enough, pop me a message with a link to the host.

What This Means For Server Members
Because we're going to be hopping around from one server host to the other, I require that those who sign up to help test these new server hosts. Do not expect, for whatever reason, your inventory or whatever else to be saved on our test host. The original server host will be left up and that's where you can build and have your usual fun but for whatever host we're testing I need you to help out with a few things:

Test to see if you can get on the server (you should have already been whitelisted unless you're new).
Test to see if you lag when you're alone or there's only a few people (describe how laggy you are and how long it lasts).
Test to see if you lag when we have 13+ people on (describe how laggy you are and how long it lasts).
Test to see if you lag when there's a whole bunch of people on (describe how laggy you are and how long it lasts).
Test all plugins available to you (see command list for commands specific to the plugins).

On my end, I'll be testing how easy the host is to use, whether or not I have to set up things a certain way, how to access specific things, how payment for the server host works, and if I can use FileZilla with it.

When all has been tested and all is running smoothly as it should, within a month or two we may have a new server host and our IP Address would have been officially changed on our Home Page.

Keep in mind that we have to schedule a day, perhaps once a month, that hopefully 13+ people will be able to get on to see how our server host can handle that many people.



Rewards for volunteering will include the Beta Testing title on our forums and 50 VIP Points per server host they help test out.