DDoS stress testing refers to high-intensity access to servers, application systems, protection devices, etc. by simulating the traffic or request mode of distributed denial of service attacks, and evaluating their response capabilities, defense performance, load limits and stability in attack scenarios.

　　Core risks of online DDoS stress testing

　　Before conducting online DDoS stress testing, its core risks must be clearly identified so that targeted preventive measures can be taken during the test:

　　Inadvertent damage to normal business: The stress test traffic may be the same as the real attack traffic. If the business isolation is not done well, it will directly impact the production environment, causing website paralysis, user access failure and other consequences.

　　Misjudged by the operator: Directly launching a large traffic test without reporting or notifying the operator is likely to be judged as abnormal attack traffic, resulting in IP blocking and network interruption.

　　Touching the legal red line: DDoS attacks are illegal in most countries and regions. Even for testing purposes, if the test operation is not authorized, it may cause legal risks.

　　Excessive resource consumption: High-intensity stress testing will occupy a large amount of network bandwidth and computing resources. If the resources are not properly allocated, it may cause system-level downtime.

　　Preparations before DDoS stress testing

　　Before testing, the test objectives should be clearly sorted out, such as verifying the protection bandwidth? Detecting the effect of traffic cleaning? Or testing the stress resistance of the business system? At the same time, the test scope should be strictly defined, and which IP, domain name, and port should be clearly involved in the test.

　　Prepare a complete test plan, including test time, duration, traffic scale, attack type (such as UDP Flood, SYN Flood, HTTP Flood), traffic source, etc., and determine the traffic growth strategy.

　　Stress testing must obtain written authorization from the company's senior management, security manager, operator and other relevant parties, and keep complete records to prevent disputes later.

　　Build an isolated test environment, and try to implement stress testing in a business backup environment, drill environment or dedicated test environment to avoid direct impact on the production environment.

　　Inform network providers and defense service providers (such as high-defense CDN, hardware firewall providers) in advance to avoid being automatically banned or blacklisted due to abnormal traffic.

　　Notes during the implementation phase of online DDoS stress testing

　　Gradually increase traffic: It is not advisable to initiate large traffic at the beginning of stress testing, but should gradually increase from a lower traffic to observe the system's carrying capacity and protection effect, and avoid instantaneous large traffic causing system-level downtime.

　　Real-time monitoring of various indicators: During the test, it is necessary to monitor the core indicators such as network bandwidth, CPU load, memory usage, disk I/O, network delay, packet loss rate, firewall status, etc., and record them in real time.

　　Maintain emergency interruption capability: All stress testing tools and traffic sources must have the ability to interrupt at any time. Once business anomalies, network anomalies or excessive load on protection equipment are found, the test should be terminated immediately.

　　Use compliant tools and platforms: It is recommended to choose a well-known and legally qualified stress testing service provider or tool platform in the industry, and do not use traffic sources from unknown sources or with abuse risks without authorization.

　　Retain logs and records: During the test, the time nodes, traffic data, device responses, protection actions, abnormal events, etc. should be fully recorded to provide data support for subsequent analysis and optimization.

　　Review and improvement after stress testing

　　Comprehensive analysis of test data: Based on monitoring data and log records, systematically analyze the performance of each component during the test to find out the shortcomings in network, architecture, and protection.

　　Optimize protection strategy: Combine the problems exposed by the test to optimize firewall strategy, bandwidth configuration, WAF rules, and protection equipment deployment to improve overall stress resistance.

　　Revise emergency plan: If problems with emergency response are found during the test, the DDoS protection emergency plan should be revised immediately to ensure rapid response in future real attacks.

　　Organize internal training: Report the problems and response experience found in the stress test, organize internal technical, security, and operation and maintenance teams to learn, and improve the safety awareness of all employees.

　　Common misunderstandings and avoidance suggestions

　　In the actual DDoS stress test process, common misunderstandings of enterprises include:

　　Misunderstanding 1: There is no need to communicate with operators in advance for testing

　　Many enterprises mistakenly believe that testing is an internal behavior and does not need to be notified to the outside world, which eventually leads to IP blocking and network interruption.

　　Misconception 2: Blind pursuit of large traffic

　　Some companies unilaterally pursue the scale of test traffic, ignoring the principle of gradual increase, resulting in out-of-control testing.

　　Misconception 3: Failure to prepare emergency plans

　　Some companies did not formulate detailed emergency plans before testing, and were at a loss once an abnormality occurred.

　　The best way to avoid these misunderstandings is: advance planning, phased execution, real-time monitoring, well-prepared emergency mechanisms, and the use of professional platforms.