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<img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/6cb13c8f-3615-441d-a890-8dc39233a2b4.png" alt="What is M3U8 and What is M3U Playlist? How to Open and Convert It?">The <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3U">M3U (Moving Picture Experts Group Audio Layer 3 Uniform Resource Locator)</a> file format is not essentially an audio or video file. It cannot read network resource audio or video in offline mode. It is a playlist file for audio and video files and is a plain text file.The Unicode version of M3U is M3U8, which uses UTF-8-encoded characters. M3U8 files are the basis for the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) format originally developed by Apple to stream video and radio to iOS devices, and which is now a popular format for adaptive streaming in general.The specific calculations and explanations are detailed in the M3U8 section of the English version of Wikipedia. As we can see, the m3u8 file is actually a part of the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_Live_Streaming">HTTP Live Streaming (HLS)</a> protocol.<h2 id="What-is-HLS？">What is HLS？</h2><img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/4c0930a4-94be-4baf-8b7c-6acb1db4db79.png" alt="HTTP Live Streaming, HLS, Media Encoding, Stream Segmenter, MPEG-2 Transport Stream, Origin Web Server, Index File, Client, Audio/Video Inputs">HLS is a media streaming protocol based on HTTP developed by Apple Inc. It was primarily designed to address the issues of transmitting and playing online video streams.Compared to traditional streaming media technologies such as RTSP protocol (there are three types of streaming media protocols: RTMP, RTSP, and HTTP Live Streaming), HLS has the advantage that once the segmentation is completed, no additional specialized software is required for distribution, and a regular web server can be used, which reduces the technical requirements for servers. For widely used CDN services, it greatly reduces the configuration requirements of CDN edge servers and can use any existing CDN.For non-real-time video, if you want to jump in a long video using a single MP4 format video file and the HTTP protocol, you need a proxy server that supports HTTP range requests to obtain a part of the large file. Not all proxy servers support this well. HTTP Live Streaming only needs to download the corresponding <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/blog/details/ts">TS segment</a> based on the timeline in the m3u playlist file, without HTTP range requests, which requires less of a proxy server because all proxy servers support efficient caching of small files.In addition, using TS for streaming media packaging has another advantage, which is that there is no need to load the index before playing, greatly reducing the initial loading delay and improving the user experience.Furthermore, the biggest advantage of HTTP Live Streaming is adaptive bitrate streaming. The client automatically selects video streams of different bitrates based on the network conditions, using high bitrates when conditions permit and low bitrates when the network is busy, and automatically switches between the two. This is very helpful for ensuring smooth playback in unstable mobile device network conditions.<h2 id="What-is-the-M3U8-and-M3U-Playlist?">What is the M3U8 and M3U Playlist?</h2>The m3u8 file is essentially a m3u playlist, which can be a media playlist or a master playlist. However, regardless of the type of playlist, the text used inside is encoded in utf-8.When the m3u8 file is used as a media playlist, it records a series of media segment resources that can be played in sequence to display the complete multimedia resource. Its format is as follows:<pre><code class="language-plaintext">#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-TARGETDURATION:10

#EXTINF:9.009,
http://media.example.com/first.ts
#EXTINF:9.009,
http://media.example.com/second.ts
#EXTINF:3.003,
http://media.example.com/third.ts</code></pre>For on-demand playback, the client only needs to download the segment resources in order and play them one by one. However, for live streaming, the client needs to periodically request the m3u8 file to check if there are new segment data that need to be downloaded and played.When the m3u8 file is used as a master playlist, it provides a list of variant streams for the same media resource. Its format is as follows:<pre><code class="language-plaintext">#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=150000,RESOLUTION=416x234,CODECS="avc1.42e00a,mp4a.40.2"
http://example.com/low/index.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=240000,RESOLUTION=416x234,CODECS="avc1.42e00a,mp4a.40.2"
http://example.com/lo_mid/index.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=440000,RESOLUTION=416x234,CODECS="avc1.42e00a,mp4a.40.2"
http://example.com/hi_mid/index.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=640000,RESOLUTION=640x360,CODECS="avc1.42e00a,mp4a.40.2"
http://example.com/high/index.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=64000,CODECS="mp4a.40.5"
http://example.com/audio/index.m3u8</code></pre>The variant stream resources specify multiple media playlists with different bitrates and formats. Additionally, the variant stream resources can also provide different versions of the content, such as audio files in different languages or video files shot from different angles. Clients can select the appropriate bitrate resources based on different network conditions, and it is recommended to select the appropriate content based on user preferences.To learn more about the m3u playlist and the HLS protocol, you can refer to the following links:<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/video-dev/hls.js/blob/master/docs/API.md">HLS.js Documentation</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://developer.apple.com/documentation/http-live-streaming/creating-a-multivariant-playlist">Creating a Master Playlist</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://developer.apple.com/documentation/http-live-streaming/adding-alternate-media-to-a-playlist/">Adding Alternate Media to a Playlist</a><h2 id="M3U8-File-Format" style="margin-left:0px;">M3U8 File Format</h2>The m3u8 file format mainly includes three aspects:<h3>M3U Playlist</h3>The content of the m3u playlist (m3u8 file) must strictly comply with the requirements of the defined specification. The following are some of the main conditions that need to be followed:&nbsp;<ul><li>The m3u8 file must be encoded in utf-8 and cannot use Byte Order Mark (BOM) byte order. It cannot contain utf-8 control characters (U+0000 ~ U_001F and U+007F ~ u+009F).&nbsp;</li><li>Each line of the m3u8 file must be either a URI, an empty line, or a string starting with #. No white-space characters are allowed except for explicitly declared elements.&nbsp;</li><li>Strings starting with # in the m3u8 file are either comments or tags. Tags start with #EXT and are case-sensitive.</li></ul><h3 style="margin-left:0px;">Attribute Lists</h3>Some specific tags have values in the form of attribute lists. The attribute list following the tag is separated into multiple sets of attribute/value pairs without spaces, using a comma as the separator.The syntax format of the attribute/value pair is as follows:<pre><code class="language-plaintext">AttributeName=AttributeValue</code></pre>The AttributeName is an unquoted string composed of [A..Z], [0..9], and -. Therefore, AttributeName can only use uppercase letters and cannot use lowercase letters. There should be no spaces between AttributeName and =, and similarly, there should be no spaces between = and AttributeValue.<h3>Tags</h3>Tags are used to specify the global parameters of the m3u8 file or some information about the segment files/media playlists that follow it.Tags can be divided into five types: Basic Tags, Media Segment Tags, Media Playlist Tags, Master Playlist Tags, and Playlist Tags. Their specific contents are shown below:<ol><li>Basic Tags:</li></ol><ul><li>#EXTM3U</li><li>#EXT-X-VERSION</li><li>#EXT-X-ALLOW-CACHE</li><li>#EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE</li><li>#EXT-X-TARGETDURATION</li></ul><ol start="2"><li>Media Segment Tags:</li></ol><ul><li>#EXTINF</li><li>#EXT-X-BYTERANGE</li><li>#EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY</li><li>#EXT-X-KEY</li><li>#EXT-X-MAP</li><li>#EXT-X-PROGRAM-DATE-TIME</li><li>#EXT-X-DATERANGE</li></ul><ol start="3"><li>Media Playlist Tags:</li></ol><ul><li>#EXT-X-TITLE</li><li>#EXT-X-PLAYLIST-TYPE</li><li>#EXT-X-MEDIA</li><li>#EXT-X-STREAM-INF</li><li>#EXT-X-I-FRAME-STREAM-INF</li><li>#EXT-X-ENDLIST</li></ul><ol start="4"><li>Master Playlist Tags:</li></ol><ul><li>#EXT-X-MEDIA</li><li>#EXT-X-STREAM-INF</li><li>#EXT-X-I-FRAME-STREAM-INF</li><li>#EXT-X-SESSION-DATA</li><li>#EXT-X-SESSION-KEY</li></ul><ol start="5"><li>Playlist Tags:</li></ol><ul><li>#EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY-SEQUENCE</li><li>#EXT-X-ENDLIST</li><li>#EXT-X-INDEPENDENT-SEGMENTS</li><li>#EXT-X-START</li><li>#EXT-X-VERSION</li></ul><h2 id="How-to-Open-M3U8-Files?">How to Open M3U8 Files?</h2>M3U8 files are playlists containing references to media files. They can be opened and played using media players that support the M3U8 format. Here are the steps to open M3U8 files:<ul><li>VLC media player</li><li>Windows Media Player</li><li>QuickTime Player</li><li>KMPlayer</li><li>RealNetworks RealPlayer</li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/tools/hls-player">EdgeOne Online M3U8 Player</a></li></ul>We provide a free online <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/tools/hls-player">M3U8 Player</a> that supports WebRTC, FLV, and HLS live streaming, as well as on-demand playback in HLS, DASH, FLV, and MP4 formats for your convenience. Feel free to use it.M3U8 files are typically used for streaming media content over the internet. The media files referenced in the playlist may not be stored locally on your computer, but rather on a remote server. Therefore, a stable internet connection is required to play the media files smoothly.<h2 id="How-to-Convert-M3U8-to-Mp4?">How to Convert M3U8 to Mp4?</h2>M3U8 files are playlists containing references to media files, while MP4 is a video file format. To convert M3U8 to MP4, you need to download the media files referenced in the playlist and then use a video converter to convert them to MP4 format.&nbsp;1. Download the media files referenced in the M3U8 playlist. You can use a video downloader tool such as Video DownloadHelper, VLC media player, or IDM (Internet Download Manager) to download the media files.2. Once the media files are downloaded, use a video converter tool to convert them to MP4 format. There are many video converter tools available online, such as HandBrake, Any Video Converter, and Freemake Video Converter.3. Open the video converter tool and select the media files you want to convert. Choose the MP4 format as the output format.4. Customize the video settings such as resolution, bitrate, and frame rate if necessary.5. Start the conversion process and wait for it to complete.6. Once the conversion is complete, you will have an MP4 video file that you can play on any media player that supports MP4 format.Converting M3U8 to MP4 may result in a loss of quality, depending on the video converter tool and settings used.<h2 id="Tencent-Edge-Functions">Tencent Edge Functions</h2><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/products/function">Tencent Edge Function</a> provides a serverless code execution environment for the edge nodes of Tencent EdgeOne. In the blog post "<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/blog/details/rewrite">How to Rewrite M3U8 Files?</a>", we introduced how to dynamically modify the content of M3U8 files using Tencent Edge Functions. Thanks to the programmable capabilities of EdgeOne edge functions, developers can process M3U8 media files at edge nodes and dynamically modify and inject content. Rewriting and processing M3U8 files can help developers achieve richer and more flexible streaming media application scenarios. Here are some common scenarios:<ol><li>Customized playlist: Developers may need to choose different media streams based on users' network conditions, device performance, or geographic location.</li><li>Content security and access control: To protect copyrighted content, developers may need to process M3U8 files to implement encryption, add access tokens, and other features.</li><li>Ad insertion: Inserting ads in streaming media content is a common business model. Developers can modify M3U8 files to insert ad segments at specific times during video playback.</li></ol>On the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/developer/examples">Examples page</a>, you can find more case studies and code implementations related to Tencent Edge Functions. For a practical example of M3U8 rewriting and authentication, we invite you to explore our <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/TencentEdgeOne/edgefunctions-examples">GitHub repository</a>. Within this repository, you'll find a dedicated example for <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/TencentEdgeOne/edgefunctions-examples/tree/main/m3u8-rewrite-auth">M3U8 rewrite authentication</a>, demonstrating how to implement secure and flexible solutions for streaming media applications. We have now launched a free trial, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/pricing">click here</a> or <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/contact">contact us</a> for more information.

What is M3U8 and What is M3U Playlist? How to Open and Convert It?

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Edge Function

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&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/8e27a457-f2e8-4076-8d71-a74797240cda.png" alt="detecting ddos attacks"></figure> In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks remain a formidable challenge for individuals and organizations alike. A DDoS attack aims to overload a network with an excessive amount of requests, rendering it unavailable to legitimate users. Given their disruptive potential, it's crucial to recognize the signs of a DDoS attack early on.&nbsp;Here, we first list the key indicators that can help determine if your network is under a DDoS attack. We then provide a detailed explanation of the types of DDoS attacks and how to identify them.<h2 id="What-are-the-Signs-of-DDoS-Attacks?">What are the Signs of DDoS Attacks?</h2>If your network exhibits the following signs, it is likely experiencing a DDoS attack:<ul><li>Unusually Slow Network Performance: One of the initial signs of a DDoS attack is a significant slowdown in network performance. If accessing websites, sending emails, or using internet-based applications becomes markedly slower without a clear reason, this could indicate that your network is being overwhelmed with traffic.</li><li>Inaccessibility of a Particular Website or Service: A telltale sign of a DDoS attack is when a specific website or online service suddenly becomes unavailable. While occasional downtime can occur due to maintenance or server issues, if a site or service that was functioning normally becomes unreachable for an extended period, it may be under attack.</li><li>Internet Disconnection: In severe cases, a DDoS attack can lead to the complete disconnection of your internet service. If you find that you're unable to connect to any website or online service, and this issue persists despite troubleshooting your equipment and connections, your network might be experiencing a DDoS attack.</li><li>Unexplained Surge in Traffic: Monitoring tools that display incoming network traffic can reveal sudden, unexplained surges. This is often a clear indication of a DDoS attempt. The traffic usually originates from multiple sources, which is a characteristic feature of distributed denial of service attacks.</li></ul><h2 id="What-are-the-Types-of-DDoS-Attacks?">What are the Types of DDoS Attacks?</h2><h3 style="margin-left:0pt;">1. Application layer attacks</h3>Application layer attacks (Layer 7 attacks) are attacks against application layer protocols (such as HTTP, HTTPS, DNS, etc.) designed to exhaust the server's resources and make it unable to respond to legitimate user requests. This type of attack is usually achieved by sending a large number of legitimate but malicious requests.<ul><li>HTTP Flood: Send a large number of HTTP requests to exhaust the resources of the web server.</li><li>Slowloris: Exhaust the server's connection resources by keeping a large number of HTTP connections open.</li><li>DNS Query Flood: Send a large number of DNS query requests to exhaust the resources of the DNS server.</li></ul><h3 style="margin-left:0pt;">2. Protocol layer attacks</h3>Protocol layer attacks (Layer 3/4 attacks) are attacks on network protocols (such as TCP, UDP, ICMP, etc.), designed to exhaust the resources of network devices and make them unable to process legitimate traffic.<ul><li>SYN Flood: Send a large number of TCP SYN requests to exhaust the server's connection table.</li><li>UDP Flood: Send a large number of UDP packets to exhaust network bandwidth and server resources.</li><li>ICMP Flood: Send a large number of ICMP Echo requests (pings) to exhaust network bandwidth and server resources.</li></ul>The ultimate goal of these attacks at different network levels is to exhaust server or network resources, blocking normal access and affecting the use of normal users. &nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/535f7590-72d0-4369-9d9d-af4af712db49.png" alt="7 layers of osi model"></figure><h3 style="margin-left:0pt;">3. Capacity exhaustion attack</h3>Since the bandwidth of the service is limited, volumetric attacks exhaust the network bandwidth by sending a large number of data packets, making it impossible for legitimate traffic to pass.<ul><li>DNS Amplification: Using open DNS resolvers, amplify small requests into large responses, exhausting the target's bandwidt</li><li>NTP Amplification: Using open NTP servers, amplify small requests into large responses, exhausting the target's bandwidth.</li><li>SSDP Amplification: Using open SSDP devices, amplify small requests into large responses, exhausting the target's bandwidth.</li></ul><h3 style="margin-left:0pt;">4. Resource exhaustion attack</h3>Since server resources are limited, resource exhaustion attacks exhaust the server's computing resources (such as CPU, memory, disk I/O, etc.) so that it cannot process legitimate requests.<ul><li>HTTP GET/POST Flood: Send a large number of HTTP GET or POST requests to exhaust the server's CPU and memory resources.</li><li>XML Bomb: Send specially crafted XML data to cause the server to exhaust memory when parsing.</li><li>Hash Collision: Send specially crafted requests to cause a large number of hash collisions when the server processes the hash table, exhausting CPU resources.</li></ul><h3 style="margin-left:0pt;">5. Connection exhaustion attack</h3>Since the number of concurrent connections of the server is limited, the connection exhaustion attack is to exhaust the connection resources of the server, making it unable to establish new connections, thereby affecting the use of normal customers.<ul><li>Slowloris: Exhaust the connection resources of the server by keeping a large number of HTTP connections open.</li><li>TCP Connection Flood: Send a large number of TCP connection requests to exhaust the connection table of the server.</li><li>SYN Flood: Send a large number of TCP SYN requests to exhaust the connection table of the server. &nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/5748e434-6181-49bf-a7c8-efbfed689cb5.png" alt="connection exhaustion attack"></figure><h2 id="How-to-Identify-DDoS-Attacks?">How to Identify DDoS Attacks?</h2>Knowing the different attack methods and working principles, it is very easy to determine whether you are under DDoS attack.<h3 style="margin-left:0pt;">1. Application layer attacks</h3><ul><li>The most intuitive feeling is that the website or application loads slowly or cannot be accessed.</li><li>By checking the server performance, you will find that the CPU and memory usage rates have soared.</li><li>Use web server logs and application logs to view a large number of HTTP requests, most of which are repeated accesses to a single interface. .</li><li>By using traffic monitoring tools (such as Wireshark, NetFlow) to analyze traffic patterns, it is found that there are abnormal traffic that exceeds expectations. These traffic flows are often regular, such as appearing at fixed times of the day.</li></ul><h3 style="margin-left:0pt;">2. Protocol layer attacks</h3><ul><li>The intuitive feeling is similar to that of the web layer being attacked, both of which are increased network connection delays.</li><li>The server connection table is exhausted and new connections cannot be established, resulting in inaccessibility.</li><li>The difference is that because it is only a large number of requests at layer 3/4, the business side will not receive a large number of HTTP requests, and the application layer logs are often more hidden.</li><li>Because there are a large number of TCP SYN requests, UDP packets or ICMP Echo requests, a large number of TCP SYN requests, UDP packets or ICMP Echo requests can be seen in the network device log and firewall log.</li></ul><h3 style="margin-left:0pt;">3. Capacity exhaustion attack</h3><ul><li>The network bandwidth is exhausted and legitimate traffic cannot pass. The abnormal bandwidth usage request can be seen through the grid bandwidth monitoring tool.</li><li>Because there are a large number of amplified response packets, the traffic pattern can be analyzed through the traffic monitoring tool to identify the amplified response packets.</li><li>This process is also accompanied by the performance degradation of network devices (such as routers and switches).</li></ul><h2 id="How-to-Respond-to-DDoS-Attacks?">How to Respond to DDoS Attacks?</h2>If you suspect your network is being targeted by a DDoS attack, immediate action is necessary:<ol><li>Contact Your ISP: Inform your Internet Service Provider of the potential DDoS attack. They can help by rerouting traffic or implementing filters to block malicious traffic.</li><li>Use DDoS Mitigation Tools: Employ services or tools designed for DDoS mitigation. These can absorb or deflect the overflow of traffic, protecting your network's integrity.</li><li>Analyze and Adapt: After the attack, analyze its nature and impact. Use this information to strengthen your network's defenses against future incidents.</li></ol><h2 id="Conclusion">Conclusion</h2>In order to enhance the effect of the attack, attackers usually use a combination of these different attack methods to launch attacks together, causing all-round impacts. These impacts are often very obvious. From subjective experience, abnormal traffic, access response cache or even failure, abnormal high machine load, etc., it can be judged that a DDoS attack has occurred.Recognizing the signs of a DDoS attack is the first step in defending against them. As cyber threats continue to evolve, staying informed and prepared is vital. By understanding the indicators of such attacks and knowing how to respond, you can protect your network from significant harm and ensure its resilience against future threats.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/">Tencent EdgeOne</a> offers robust DDoS protection, which is integral for maintaining the availability and security of websites and services. Here are some key advantages:<ul><li>Comprehensive Protection: EdgeOne provides extensive DDoS protection that safeguards against various types of attacks, ensuring your services remain online and unaffected.</li><li>Real-time Alarms: The platform features real-time alerts that notify administrators of ongoing attacks, allowing for quick response and mitigation.</li><li>Detailed Attack Logs: Detailed logs of attack attempts are available within the console, offering transparency and aiding in future prevention strategies.</li><li>Global Reach: With edge servers located globally, EdgeOne ensures that traffic can be re-routed and managed efficiently, providing seamless services to users worldwide.</li></ul>These features collectively contribute to a resilient security infrastructure capable of protecting against sophisticated DDoS threats. We have now launched a free trial, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/pricing">Click Here</a> or <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/contact">Contact Us</a> for more information.

How to Tell if My Network is Being DDoS: Signs I'm Getting DDoSed

EdgeOne

Case Analysis of DDoS Attacks From 2023 To 2024

What are the Impacts of DDoS Attacks on Enterprises?

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<img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/1f07f36b-48e0-4b9d-ab82-d57ed90304e9.png" alt="Analyzing DDoS Attacks and Their Impact on Enterprises: 2023-2024 Case Studies">A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a widespread and highly destructive type of cyber attack designed to overwhelm a target server with massive amounts of malicious traffic, rendering it unable to provide normal services. Unlike traditional Denial of Service (DoS) attacks that use a single device, DDoS attacks typically rely on multiple controlled devices (often called botnets) spread across the globe, significantly increasing the difficulty of defense and leading to more severe service disruptions.<h2 id="How-do-DDoS-Attacks-Work?" id="How-do-DDoS-Attacks-Work?" id="How-do-DDoS-Attacks-Work?" style="margin-left:0px;">How do DDoS Attacks Work?</h2>Attackers first control many ordinary users' computers, servers, or Internet of Things devices through various means to form a vast botnet. These controlled devices then send a huge amount of data requests to the target system at the same time, quickly exhausting the target system's bandwidth and resources, causing it to be unable to respond to normal user requests, and ultimately paralyzing the entire system.<h2 id="Case-Analysis-of-DDoS-Attacks-From-2023-To-2024" id="Case-Analysis-of-DDoS-Attacks-From-2023-To-2024" id="Case-Analysis-of-DDoS-Attacks-From-2023-To-2024" style="margin-left:0px;">Case Analysis of DDoS Attacks From 2023 To 2024</h2>During the period from 2023 to 2024, many well-known enterprises became targets of DDoS attacks. Here are several typical cases:<ol><li>Facebook&nbsp;</li></ol>In May 2023, Facebook, the global social media giant, experienced an unprecedented large-scale DDoS attack. Although Facebook has industry-leading security protection systems, the complexity and scale of the attack exceeded expectations, resulting in some services being inaccessible for several hours. The attack not only affected the daily communication of millions of ordinary users but also brought potential economic losses to businesses that rely on Facebook's advertising platform. Facebook quickly took additional protective measures afterward and used advanced artificial intelligence technology to identify possible future threats.<ol start="2"><li>Amazon AWS&nbsp;</li></ol>At the beginning of 2024, Amazon's AWS cloud service platform experienced a complex DDoS attack. Attackers used multi-level attack techniques, targeting not only individual services but also launching attacks across multiple regions, resulting in brief interruptions of some services in several AWS regions. Although the AWS team quickly initiated emergency response measures and successfully mitigated the main impact of the attack, the incident still exposed some potential vulnerabilities in the existing defense mechanisms. Afterward, AWS invested heavily in upgrading its protection systems and released more detailed security guides to help customers deal with similar threats.<ol start="3"><li>GitHub&nbsp;</li></ol>As the world's largest code hosting platform, GitHub is often a target of DDoS attacks. At the end of 2023, GitHub experienced another serious DDoS attack that lasted for about two days. Although the platform quickly implemented efficient defense measures, some developers were still unable to access and use the platform for a short time. This attack prompted GitHub to optimize its security strategy further, innovating in defense technology and strengthening cooperation with major global internet service providers to ensure a faster and more effective response to future attacks.<ol start="4"><li>Microsoft Azure&nbsp;</li></ol>Microsoft's cloud computing platform, Azure, is a core dependency for many enterprises worldwide. In April 2023, Azure became the target of a large-scale DDoS attack, resulting in service interruptions in some regions for several hours. The attack not only affected enterprise customers across various industries but also impacted online systems of public services such as government agencies and educational departments.<ol start="5"><li>Twitter&nbsp;</li></ol>As one of the world's most famous instant messaging platforms, Twitter experienced a massive DDoS attack at the end of 2023. Although the platform quickly recovered, the brief interruption still affected millions of users, especially the dissemination of real-time news and emergency information. This incident made the public aware of the importance and vulnerability of social media platforms in the information society.<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;" start="6"><li>Zoom&nbsp;</li></ol>In the new normal of work after the pandemic, Zoom has always been under great traffic pressure as a core tool for video conferencing. In May 2024, Zoom experienced an organized DDoS attack, disrupting video conferencing services in some regions. This incident hindered the remote work and teaching of many enterprises and schools, highlighting the necessity of ensuring the stability of remote communication platforms.<h2 id="What-are-the-Impacts-of-DDoS-Attacks-on-Enterprises?" id="What-are-the-Impacts-of-DDoS-Attacks-on-Enterprises?" id="What-are-the-Impacts-of-DDoS-Attacks-on-Enterprises?" style="margin-left:0px;">What are the Impacts of DDoS Attacks on Enterprises?</h2><ol><li>Economic loss</li></ol>DDoS attacks can directly cause service interruptions for enterprises, resulting in customers being unable to access normally, leading to revenue loss. In addition, the emergency technical support and repair costs required to respond to the attack are also significant expenses.<ol start="2"><li>Damage to brand reputation</li></ol>Frequent service interruptions can seriously affect user experience, reduce users' trust in the brand, and thereby damage the company's market position and public image.<ol start="3"><li>Data security risks</li></ol>In some cases, DDoS attacks may just be a cover, with the real purpose being to distract attention to carry out other more destructive attacks, such as data breaches or interception.<h2 id="How-to-Deal-with-DDoS-Attacks?" id="How-to-Deal-with-DDoS-Attacks?" id="How-to-Deal-with-DDoS-Attacks?" style="margin-left:0px;">How to Deal with DDoS Attacks?</h2><img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/9104fd51-5da5-4e3a-880b-e1089d8388b6.jpg" alt="how to deal with DDoS attacks">To effectively deal with DDoS attacks, enterprises, and organizations can adopt the following strategies:<ol><li>Improve monitoring and early warning capabilities&nbsp;</li></ol>Use advanced network monitoring tools to monitor abnormal traffic and potential threats in real-time, achieving early detection and response.<ol start="2"><li>Establish redundant systems&nbsp;</li></ol>Configuring multiple data centers, load balancing, etc., to distribute traffic, ensuring that a single point of failure does not lead to a complete service outage.<ol start="3"><li>Cooperate with professional security service providers&nbsp;</li></ol>Utilize professional DDoS protection services to quickly clean malicious traffic and update protection rules to resist new threats.<h2 id="EdgeOne-DDoS-Protection" id="EdgeOne-DDoS-Protection" id="EdgeOne-DDoS-Protection" style="margin-left:0px;">EdgeOne DDoS Protection</h2><img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/452f99c9-d3f0-403e-8e3b-dc0b546a3a04.jpg" alt="EdgeOne DDoS Protection"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/">Tencent EdgeOne</a> provides and enables protection against L3/L4 traffic-based DDoS attacks for all connected enterprises. It monitors network traffic in real-time and immediately performs traffic cleaning and filtering upon detecting a DDoS attack.The default protection specifications of the EdgeOne platform provide basic DDoS protection capabilities and resources for all businesses accessing EdgeOne, offering basic protection for most site operations and daily TCP/UDP applications. On this basis, for businesses that are expected to face a higher risk of severe DDoS attacks, need to maintain long connections, or require customized traffic control strategies, EdgeOne offers exclusive DDoS protection solutions that meet corresponding traffic filtering needs.<h2 id="Conclusion" id="Conclusion" id="Conclusion" style="margin-left:0px;">Conclusion</h2>DDoS attacks, as an evolving cyber threat, pose a significant challenge to the normal operation of enterprises. By deeply understanding the attack principles and typical cases in recent years, we can more comprehensively recognize this threat and take effective protective measures to ensure the long-term stable operation of enterprises. As DDoS attack methods continue to escalate, enterprise security protection becomes particularly important.The EdgeOne platform, with its advanced <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/products/ddos-protection">DDoS Protection</a> technology, can monitor and analyze network traffic in real-time, and accurately identify abnormal attack behaviors. Through intelligent defense strategies, it effectively resists various DDoS attacks, ensuring the stability and security of enterprise networks. Choosing EdgeOne allows enterprises to move forward steadily in the complex network environment, fearless of DDoS threats. We have now launched <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/pricing">a Free Trial</a>, welcome to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/contact">Contact Us</a> for more information.

Analyzing DDoS Attacks and Their Impact on Enterprises: 2023-2024 Case Studies

Top Tools for Performing DDoS Attacks: An In-Depth Analysis

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In today's interconnected digital landscape, DDoS attacks have become a significant threat to the stability and security of online services. The frequency and complexity of DDoS attacks have been increasing. The consequences of such attacks are far-reaching, impacting not only the targeted entities but also their customers and users, resulting in a loss of trust and potential legal consequences. As the digital world expands, the need for effective DDoS mitigation strategies and enhanced cybersecurity measures has never been more crucial.<h3 style="margin-left:0pt;">What is DDoS?&nbsp;</h3>Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks represent a significant threat in the cybersecurity landscape. These attacks aim to overwhelm a target system, network, or service with a flood of internet traffic, rendering it inaccessible to legitimate users.Common types of DDoS attacks include:<ul><li>Volume-based attacks: Flooding the target with massive amounts of traffic</li><li>Protocol attacks: Exploiting vulnerabilities in network protocols</li><li>Application layer attacks: Targeting specific applications or services</li></ul><h3 style="margin-left:0pt;">How to Perform a DDoS Attack?</h3>Cyber attackers typically employ DDoS attack tools to disrupt the normal operations of targeted websites, servers, or networks by overwhelming them with a flood of internet traffic. These tools exploit multiple compromised computer systems as sources of attack traffic. Devices can include computers and other networked resources such as IoT devices. The sophistication and availability of these tools have increased over the years, making it easier for attackers to launch large-scale attacks.Using DDoS tools to conduct cyber attacks for malicious purposes is illegal and unethical, but similar incidents occur frequently and the number is increasing significantly. So what tools can be used to conduct DDoS attacks? Understanding these tools is crucial to developing effective defenses.&nbsp;The following provides a comprehensive overview of the tools commonly used to perform DDoS attacks and their principles and mechanisms, along with an introduction to the DDoS protection capabilities of the EdgeOne product.<h2 id="LOIC-(Low-Orbit-Ion-Cannon)" id="LOIC-(Low-Orbit-Ion-Cannon)" style="margin-left:0pt;">LOIC (Low Orbit Ion Cannon)</h2><img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/7d7944f1-188b-4194-8f0f-9fd61f6cc556.jpeg" alt="LOIC (Low Orbit Ion Cannon)">Description: Originally developed for network stress testing, LOIC has been repurposed for DDoS attacks. It is an open source tool that allows users to attack the target server by sending a large number of requests. LOIC can use a single user or multiple users to work together to form a distributed attack, thereby increasing the power of the attack. This tool also has a HIVEMIND mode. It lets attacker control remote LOIC systems to perform a DDOS attack. This feature is used to control all other computers in your zombie network. This tool can be used for both DOS attacks and DDOS attacks against any website or server. The most important thing you should know is that LOIC does nothing to hide your IP address.Mechanism: It can flood a target with TCP, UDP, or HTTP requests.Usage: Often used in coordinated attacks by hacktivist groups like Anonymous.<h2 id="HOIC-(High-Orbit-Ion-Cannon)" id="HOIC-(High-Orbit-Ion-Cannon)" style="margin-left:0pt;">HOIC (High Orbit Ion Cannon)</h2><figure class="image"><img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/47da198c-9e0c-47fb-8330-8d504d4b67fc.jpeg" alt="HOIC (High Orbit Ion Cannon)"></figure>Description: An advanced version of LOIC, HOIC is more powerful and versatile. Unlike LOIC, HOIC can use multiple proxy servers, thereby hiding the attacker's real IP address. This makes it more difficult to track and block the attack.Mechanism: It can launch HTTP floods with customizable attack patterns and supports "booster scripts" to increase the attack's effectiveness.Usage: Suitable for more sophisticated DDoS attacks.<h2 id="XOIC-(eXtreme-Orbit-Ion-Cannon)" id="XOIC-(eXtreme-Orbit-Ion-Cannon)" style="margin-left:0pt;">XOIC (eXtreme Orbit Ion Cannon)</h2>Description: XOIC is a tool used for conducting Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. It is designed to be user-friendly, making it accessible even to those with limited technical knowledge. Developers of XOIC claim that XOIC is more powerful than LOIC in many ways. The tool comes with three attacking modes. The first one, known as test mode, is very basic. The second is normal DOS attack mode. The last one is a DOS attack mode that comes with a TCP/HTTP/UDP/ICMP Message. The tool supports multiple attack methods, including:&nbsp;<ul><li>TCP Flood: Sends a large number of TCP packets to the target, overwhelming its ability to process legitimate requests.</li><li>UDP Flood: Sends a flood of UDP packets to the target, consuming its bandwidth and resources.</li><li>HTTP Flood: Generates a high volume of HTTP requests to overwhelm web servers.</li></ul>Mechanism: It performs a DOS attack an any server with an IP address, a user-selected port, and a user-selected protocol. The user configures the type of attack (TCP, UDP, or HTTP) and sets parameters such as packet size and the number of threads. Once configured, the user initiates the attack. XOIC then generates and sends a large volume of packets to the target, aiming to overwhelm its resources.<h2 id="Botnets" id="Botnets" style="margin-left:0pt;">Botnets</h2><img class="image_resized" style="width:50%;" src="https://edgeone.ai/media/5ada7257-4ec6-4037-b5d9-15bd09c60d8b.jpeg" alt="Botnets to Perform DDoS Attacks">Description: Networks of compromised computers (bots) controlled by an attacker.&nbsp;These infected devices can be PCs, servers, smartphones, or even Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Botnets are usually spread through malware to infect these devices, which attackers infect with malware and bring into a centralized control.&nbsp;Mechanism: Botnets can launch large-scale DDoS attacks by coordinating the actions of thousands or even millions of infected devices.&nbsp;It can generally be divided into infection stage, control stage, and attack stage.Examples: Mirai, which targets IoT devices, is a well-known botnet used for DDoS attacks.<h2 id="Slowloris" id="Slowloris" style="margin-left:0pt;">Slowloris</h2>Description: A tool designed to keep many connections to the target web server open and hold them open as long as possible. It sends partial HTTP requests, keeping the server's resources tied up and unable to serve legitimate users.Mechanism: Slowloris send partial HTTP requests to the target server, but do not complete them. Only send the HTTP header information. Periodically send small amounts of data (the continuation of the HTTP header) to prevent the server from closing the connection. The server allocates resources (such as memory and processing power) for each unfinished request. A large number of unfinished requests will exhaust the server resources. When the server resources are exhausted, it cannot process new legitimate requests, resulting in service interruption.Usage: Effective against certain types of web servers, particularly those with limited connection handling capabilities.<h2 id="R-U-Dead-Yet-(RUDY)" id="R-U-Dead-Yet-(RUDY)" style="margin-left:0pt;">R-U-Dead-Yet (RUDY)</h2>Description: Targets web applications by injecting long form field submissions. It performs a DOS attack with a long form field submission via the POST method. This tool comes with an interactive console menu. It detects forms on a given URL and lets users select which forms and fields should be used for a POST-based DOS attack.Mechanism: Exploits the HTTP POST method to keep connections open and exhaust server resources.Usage: Particularly effective against web applications with form submission functionalities.<h2 id="Xerxes" id="Xerxes" style="margin-left:0pt;">Xerxes</h2>Description: Xerxes is a tool specifically designed to attack web servers. Known for its simplicity and effectiveness, Xerxes can overwhelm a target server with a flood of requests, leading to service disruption. It is often used in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks aimed at making the target server unable to handle legitimate user requests.Mechanism: Xerxes can generate a large number of HTTP requests, which are simultaneously sent to the target server. Xerxes can spoof the source addresses of the requests, making it difficult for the server to distinguish between legitimate and malicious requests. Xerxes utilizes multi-threading or multi-processing techniques to create a large number of concurrent connections, maximizing the attack's impact.Usage: Often used in targeted DDoS attacks against specific web servers.<h2 id="EdgeOne-DDoS-Protection" id="EdgeOne-DDoS-Protection" style="margin-left:0pt;">EdgeOne DDoS Protection</h2>There are many similar tools, such as HULK, DDOSIM, PyLoris, DAVOSET, Tor’s Hammer, etc. If you are interested, you can explore them further. Understanding common DDoS tools is crucial for effective DDoS protection. By familiarizing yourself with the methods and mechanisms these tools employ, you can better anticipate potential threats and develop robust defense strategies. This knowledge enables you to identify vulnerabilities in your network, implement appropriate security measures, and respond swiftly to mitigate the impact of an attack.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/">Tencent EdgeOne</a> provides protection against L3/L4 traffic-based DDoS attacks for all connected businesses. It monitors network traffic in real time and immediately performs traffic cleaning and filtering when a DDoS attack is detected. The DDoS protection feature offers preset protection policies based on attack profiles, behavior pattern analysis, AI intelligent recognition, and other protection algorithms to detect and filter various types of DDoS attacks. We have now launched a free trial, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/pricing">Click Here</a> or <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/contact">Contact Us</a> for more information.

Top Tools to Perform DDoS Attacks In 2024

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<img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/41dd3d00-3f35-4b2c-9050-58c6668d8380.png" alt="Understanding CNAME: A Type of DNS Record and Its Application in CDN"><h2 id="What-is-a-CNAME-Record?">What is a CNAME Record?</h2>A CNAME (Canonical Name) Record is a type of data record in the Domain Name System (DNS) that specifies that a domain name is an alias for another domain, the "canonical" domain. All information, including subdomains, IP addresses, etc., is defined by the canonical domain. This is particularly useful for pointing many domains to the same website or providing multiple services, such as FTP and web, under one domain.<h3>Advantages of CNAME</h3>Using CNAME records provides several advantages in managing domain names and web services. Some of the key benefits include:<ul><li>Simplified management: CNAME records make it easier to manage multiple domain names pointing to the same target domain. If the IP address of the target domain changes, you only need to update the A record for the target domain, and all the CNAME records pointing to it will automatically follow the change. This simplifies the management process and reduces the chances of errors.</li><li>Flexibility: CNAME records provide flexibility in organizing your domain structure. You can create aliases for different services, such as email, FTP, and subdomains, and point them to the appropriate server or service provider. This allows you to easily change service providers or reorganize your domain structure without affecting the end user's experience.</li><li>Load balancing: CNAME records can be used for distributing traffic among multiple servers hosting the same content. By creating multiple CNAME records pointing to different servers, you can balance the load among them, improving the performance and reliability of your website.</li><li>CDN integration: CNAME records can be used to integrate your domain with a Content Delivery Network (CDN). CDNs distribute your content across multiple servers in different locations, improving the speed and performance of your website. By creating a CNAME record pointing to the CDN's domain, you can direct your website's traffic through the CDN.</li><li>Seamless redirection: CNAME records allow you to redirect users from one domain to another seamlessly. For example, if you want to redirect users from www.example.com to example.com, you can create a CNAME record pointing www.example.com to example.com. Users visiting www.example.com will be automatically redirected to example.com without noticing any change in their browsing experience.</li><li>Easier DNS management: CNAME records can help reduce the complexity of your DNS configuration by consolidating multiple domains under a single target domain. This can make it easier to manage and maintain your DNS records, especially when dealing with many domains.</li></ul>Overall, using CNAME records can provide significant advantages in managing your domain names and web services, making it a valuable tool in your DNS toolkit.<h2 id="Examples-of-CNAME-Records">Examples of CNAME Records</h2>CNAME records can be beneficial in managing domain names and web services. Here are some common use cases and examples:<h3>1. Load balancing</h3>CNAME records can be used to distribute traffic between multiple servers hosting the same content. By creating multiple CNAME records pointing to different servers, you can balance the load among them and improve the performance and reliability of your website.CNAME Example:CNAME Record: www.example.com Target Domains: server1.examplehosting.com, server2.examplehosting.com<h3>2. Simplifying domain management</h3>If you have multiple domain names pointing to the same website, using CNAME records can simplify domain management. Instead of updating the IP address for each domain when it changes, you can update the IP address for the target domain, and all the CNAME records pointing to it will automatically follow the change.CNAME Example:<ul><li>CNAME Record: example1.com, example2.com, example3.com</li><li>Target Domain: mainwebsite.com</li></ul><h3>3. Hosting multiple services under one domain</h3>You can use CNAME records to host multiple services, such as email, FTP, and web, under one domain. By creating CNAME records for each service, you can point them to the appropriate server or service provider.CNAME Example1:<ul><li>CNAME Record: mail.example.com</li><li>Target Domain: emailserviceprovider.com</li></ul>CNAME Example2:<ul><li>CNAME Record: ftp.example.com</li><li>Target Domain: ftpserviceprovider.com</li></ul><h3>4. Content Delivery Networks (CDN)</h3>CNAME records can be used to integrate your domain with a Content Delivery Network (CDN). CDNs distribute your content across multiple servers in different locations, improving the speed and performance of your website. By creating a CNAME record pointing to the CDN's domain, you can direct your website's traffic through the CDN.CNAME Example:<ul><li>CNAME Record: cdn.example.com</li><li>Target Domain: examplecdnprovider.com</li></ul>These are just a few examples of the many use cases and scenarios where CNAME records can be beneficial in managing domain names and web services.<h2 id="How-does-CNAME-Work-in-a-CDN?">How does CNAME Work in a CDN?</h2>DNS records for a CDN (Content Delivery Network) are typically CNAME records that point your domain or subdomain to the CDN provider's servers. A CNAME (Canonical Name) record is used in a CDN to map your domain or subdomain to the CDN provider's domain. These records help ensure that the content is delivered to users from the nearest CDN server, improving site performance and reducing latency. Here's how CNAME works in a CDN:<ol><li>Set up your CDN: When you sign up for a CDN service, the provider will give you a unique domain name, often called a CDN hostname or an edge domain (e.g., yourname.cdndomain.com). This domain is used to access the CDN's servers that store and distribute your content.</li><li>Create a CNAME record: In your domain's DNS settings, create a CNAME record that points your desired domain or subdomain (e.g., cdn.example.com) to the CDN provider's domain (e.g., yourname.cdndomain.com). This will map your domain to the CDN's domain, allowing your users to access your content through the CDN.</li><li>Update your website's URLs: Modify your website's URLs to use the new CNAME record (e.g., cdn.example.com) instead of the original domain or subdomain. This ensures that your users' requests for your content are directed to the CDN.</li><li>Content request and delivery: When a user visits your website and requests a resource (e.g., an image, CSS file, or JavaScript file), their browser sends a request to the CNAME domain (e.g., cdn.example.com). Since the CNAME record maps to the CDN provider's domain, the request is forwarded to the CDN.</li><li>CDN edge server selection: The CDN uses a technique called Anycast to route the user's request to the nearest edge server in its network. This ensures that the content is served from a server that is geographically close to the user, reducing latency and improving the website's performance.</li><li>Content caching and delivery: The CDN edge server checks if the requested content is already cached. If it is, the content is delivered directly to the user. If not, the edge server fetches the content from your origin server, caches it, and then delivers it to the user. This caching mechanism helps reduce the load on your origin server and improves the speed and reliability of your website.</li></ol>By using a CNAME record to map your domain to a CDN provider's domain, you can leverage the benefits of a CDN to improve your website's performance, speed, and reliability.<h2 id="How-to-Check-a-CNAME-Record?">How to Check a CNAME Record?</h2>There are several ways to find the CNAME records associated with a domain:<ol><li>Online tools: Many websites offer free DNS lookup tools that allow you to check CNAME records for a specific domain. We provide a free online <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/tools/dns-records">DNS Records Tool</a> that can lookup DNS records to obtain detailed DNS information. You can check DNS records for any domain.</li><li>Command-line tools: If you prefer using the command line, you can use tools like "nslookup" on Windows or "dig" on macOS and Linux. Simply enter the command followed by the domain name you want to check, and the tool will return the CNAME records associated with the domain.</li><li>DNS management console: If you have access to the DNS management console for the domain, you can view and edit the CNAME records directly. This is typically available through your domain registrar or web hosting provider.</li></ol><h2 id="Conclusion">Conclusion</h2>CNAME is an essential DNS record that allows businesses to maintain a consistent online presence across multiple domain names. Its application in CDN ensures that users experience faster website loading times and improved performance. By understanding how CNAME works and how to find CNAME records, you can better manage your website's DNS settings and optimize its performance.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/products/edgeone">Tencent EdgeOne</a> provides comprehensive DNS services to ensure optimal performance and manageability of your domains. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/document/54506">EdgeOne DNS services</a> benefit from their edge nodes, which are globally deployed servers providing local access service. These nodes improve responsiveness and connection speed by caching static resources or optimizing origin-pull linkages for dynamic content. For securing this DNS service and enhancing reliability, EdgeOne also offers <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/document/56398">DDoS protection</a> and supports various filtering rules based on ports, protocols, source IP regions, and packet characteristics. We have now launched <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/pricing">a Free Trial</a>, welcome to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/contact">Contact Us</a> for more information.

What is a CNAME Record and How it works in CDN?

Understanding CNAME: A Type of DNS Record and Its Application in CDN

Intro

What is The Difference Between Live Video and VOD?

How to Choose the Right Video on Demand Platform?

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In today's digital age, video on demand (VOD) has become a cornerstone of media consumption. But why has it gained such popularity, and what exactly is VOD? Whether you're a casual viewer or a media enthusiast, understanding VOD is key to keeping up with the fast-changing world of digital entertainment. This comprehensive guide will delve into the world of video on demand.<img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/d289d9d2-c73a-4523-be09-621b15ab4e43.png" alt="a person is watching a video"><h2 id="What-does-VOD-Meaning?">What does VOD Meaning?</h2>VOD or VODs, short for "Video on Demand", is a video service model. It allows users to choose and watch video content at any time according to their needs, without the need to follow a predetermined schedule or channel to watch.In a VOD or VODs service, video content is stored on a server and transmitted to the user over the Internet or other networks. Users can use a variety of devices (such as TVS, computers, smartphones, etc.) to connect to the VOD platform, browse and select the videos they want to watch. Users can pause, continue, rewind or fast forward the video at any time to watch it according to their preferences and schedule.VOD or VODs services offer a wide range of video content, including movies, TV series, documentaries, sporting events, music videos, and more. Users can choose what they want to watch based on their interests and preferences, and there are often multiple language and subtitle options to choose from.The emergence of VOD allows users to enjoy video content more flexibly, and is no longer limited by the traditional TV programming schedule. It has become one of the important ways to consume modern entertainment and is widely used in many streaming platforms and video services.<h2 id="What-is-VOD-Streaming?" style="margin-left:0px;">What is VOD Streaming?</h2>VOD streaming media uses streaming media technology to realize real-time transmission and playback of video content. Streaming media is a technology that transmits audio and video data in segments, allowing users to stream buffering while downloading and playing. This technology allows users to watch a video without waiting for the entire video file to download.VOD streaming works by breaking video content into small chunks of data (usually a few seconds in length) that are then transmitted over the network to the user's device. After receiving the data block, the user device streams the buffer and plays it back in real time. This allows users to start watching the video at the same time it loads, without having to wait for the entire video to download completely.The advantage of VOD streaming is that users can choose and watch video content according to their own preferences and schedule, without being limited to a specific time and place. Users can pause, continue, rewind or fast forward the video at any time to better fit their viewing habits and schedule.The development of streaming media technology and the popularity of broadband Internet make VOD streaming media become one of the important ways of modern entertainment consumption. Many streaming platforms and video services offer VOD streaming services that enable users to easily watch various types of video content.<img class="image_resized" style="width:45.56%;" src="https://edgeone.ai/media/fc1cf435-eb9a-4dc7-bcad-6fc9213acd7a.png" alt="vod streaming app, streaming platforms">If you don't know what streaming media, here is where you can learn more about <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/learning/what-is-streaming-media">streaming media</a>.<h2 id="What-is-The-Difference-Between-Live-Video-and-VOD?" style="margin-left:0px;">What is The Difference Between Live Video and VOD?</h2>Live video and VOD (Video on Demand) are two different video service models, and they have the following differences:<ul><li>Real-time: Live video is the real-time transmission and playback of the happening content, and the audience can watch the event that is happening in real time. VOD is pre-recorded video content that users can choose and watch at any time according to their needs.</li><li>Interactive: Live video is usually interactive, and viewers can interact with anchors or other viewers in real time through bullet screens, comments, likes, etc. VOD is pre-recorded content, and viewers can't interact with the content in real time.</li><li>How to watch: Live streaming requires viewers to instantly connect to the live stream source while the live stream is in progress to watch what is happening. VOD can be selected and watched at any time according to the needs of the audience, regardless of time and place.</li><li>Video content: Live video is usually a live event, performance, competition, etc., that viewers can watch in real time. VOD provides pre-recorded video content, including movies, TV series, documentaries, etc.</li><li>Storage and bandwidth requirements: Live video requires real-time transmission and processing of video data, which requires high storage and bandwidth. VOD is pre-recorded video that can be processed and stored in advance, with relatively low storage and bandwidth requirements.</li></ul>To sum up, live video and VOD are two different video service models. Live video is real-time and interactive, suitable for watching events that are happening. VOD has the flexibility and convenience to select and watch pre-recorded video content at any time according to individual needs.<h2 id="Why-VOD-is-Essential-for-Businesses?" style="margin-left:0px;">Why VOD is Essential for Businesses?</h2>In today's competitive market, VOD (Video on Demand) has become an indispensable tool for businesses. VOD can help businesses grow in the following ways:<ul><li>Branding and marketing: Businesses can use VOD platforms to showcase and promote their brands, products and services. By producing and publishing engaging video content, businesses can reach a larger target audience and increase brand awareness and exposure.</li><li>Product demonstration and education: VOD can be used to demonstrate the functionality, features, and usage of a product. Businesses can create product demo videos or educational videos to provide potential and existing customers with detailed information and guidance about the product, thereby increasing their knowledge and trust in the product.</li><li>Training and education: Companies can use VOD platforms to provide training and education content, including employee training, skills training, industry knowledge sharing, and more. By providing high-quality training videos, companies can upgrade the capabilities and knowledge of their employees, thereby improving overall business performance.</li><li>Customer Support and Service: VOD can be used to provide video content for customer support and service. Companies can create videos that answer frequently asked questions, demonstrate how to use products, and provide troubleshooting guides to help customers solve problems and provide a better service experience.</li></ul>By leveraging the advantages and capabilities of VOD, companies can expand brand influence, enhance product awareness, increase sales opportunities, improve customer satisfaction, and so on, thereby contributing to business growth.<h2 id="How-to-Choose-the-Right-Video-on-Demand-Platform?" style="margin-left:0px;">How to Choose the Right Video on Demand Platform?</h2>When choosing the right Video on Demand platform, you should consider whether it has the following key features:<ul><li>Automatic transcoding: This creates multiple files of the same video, each with a different size, resolution, and bit rate to make the content viewable on the widest possible range of devices.</li><li>Video hosting: This simplifies the uploading, storage, management, organization, and distribution of VOD content.</li><li>Adaptive streaming: It adjusts video quality based on device capacity and network conditions to provide viewers with seamless playback.</li><li>CDN: This reduces the load on the original server and ensures that VOD content reaches viewers around the world faster and more safely.</li><li>Privacy and security: This protects VOD content from unauthorized access and download with features such as AES encryption, DRM, signing tokens, and geographic and domain restrictions.</li><li>Data analytics: This helps businesses measure video performance and make informed business decisions based on the data.</li><li>API and SDK access: This allows customization and integration of external applications and technologies. If you want to make your own app to connect to streaming platforms, this is what you need.</li></ul><h2 id="Why-Choose-EdgeOne-VOD-Service?" style="margin-left:0px;">Why Choose EdgeOne VOD Service?</h2><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/products/mediaone"><span style="color:#1E6FFF;font-family:Inter, Roboto, &quot;pingfang SC&quot;, &quot;hiragino sans gb&quot;, &quot;Apple SD Gothic Neo&quot;, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, &quot;system-ui&quot;, sans-serif, &quot;helvetica neue&quot;, arial, &quot;microsoft yahei ui&quot;, &quot;microsoft yahei&quot;, &quot;Apple Color Emoji&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Emoji&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Noto Color Emoji&quot;;">EdgeOne VOD</a><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Inter, Roboto, &quot;pingfang SC&quot;, &quot;hiragino sans gb&quot;, &quot;Apple SD Gothic Neo&quot;, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, &quot;system-ui&quot;, sans-serif, &quot;helvetica neue&quot;, arial, &quot;microsoft yahei ui&quot;, &quot;microsoft yahei&quot;, &quot;Apple Color Emoji&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Emoji&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Noto Color Emoji&quot;;"> provides one-stop VPaaS (Video Platform as a Service) solutions for audio/video capture, upload, storage, automated transcoding, and accelerated playback, as well as media asset management. It enables you to deliver high-quality video in a quick and flexible way, so you can focus on your business, select services as needed, and respond to market changes with agility.<h3 style="margin-left:0px;">Product Architecture</h3>The product architecture of EdgeOne VOD is shown in the diagram below:<h3><img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/d89d7f3c-6136-4eaf-a331-84beeb7cede1.png" alt="product architecture of EdgeOne VOD"> &nbsp;</h3><h3>Product Advantage</h3>EdgeOne VOD has the following product advantages:<h4>1. Storage</h4>VOD supports redundant storage across architectures and devices, remote site disaster recovery, and isolated storage.Media files can be deleted automatically when they expire, saving storage space and reducing storage costs.<h4>2. Transcoding</h4>VOD has more than 12,000 distributed transcoding clusters, which can support up to 2,000 concurrent transcoding tasks.You can add watermarks to videos as needed and set different transcoding formats to adapt to different scenarios.To meet the personalized transcoding needs of VOD for customers from various industries, such as improving face recognition accuracy, reducing bitrates, and optimizing image quality, EdgeOne VOD has launched the scenario transcoding feature. Users can apply more suitable transcoding templates according to their different transcoding needs without configuring transcoding parameters, thereby improving video effects and reducing video storage and distribution costs.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/demo/template">Click here</a> to experience the effect of scenario transcoding template online for free.<h4>3. Media AI</h4>Powered by Tencent Cloud’s advanced AI technologies and rich experience in content management, VOD offers media AI capabilities including content moderation, content analysis, and content recognition, helping you minimize manual work.<ul><li>Content moderation: VOD leverages AI technologies to detect pornographic and other non-compliant content in images, speech, and text. It can detect various types of sensitive information with different levels of strictness to meet your and your customers’ needs, helping you protect your brand image and avoid potential legal risks.</li><li>Content analysis: Intelligent categorization, labeling, and thumbnail generation.</li><li>Content recognition: Face recognition, speech recognition (subtitle generation), OCR, opening and closing segment recognition.</li></ul><h4>4. Just-In-Time Transcoding</h4>Just-In-Time Transcoding function refers to the real-time generation of transcoding content according to user requests, and the instant transcoding file cache to the on-demand CDN. The processing time of real-time transcoding is much less than that of offline processing, and it is almost completed synchronously during distribution, which realizes the effect of instant broadcast and instant transfer. And real-time transcoding media files do not occupy storage space, can effectively save storage costs.Instant transcoding has the characteristics of extremely short time, low storage cost and simple configuration operation. Suitable for UGC short video, long video, broadcast OTT and other video scenes.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/demo/instant">Click here</a>, you can free online experience Just-In-Time &nbsp;transcoding, simple operation can be online preview Just-In-Time &nbsp;transcoding effect.<h2 id="Conclusion">Conclusion</h2>VOD is a video service model that allows users to choose and watch video content at any time according to their needs, without having to watch it on a pre-set schedule or channel. VOD streaming is a technology that transmits audio and video data in segments, allowing users to stream buffering while downloading and playing. The technology allows users to watch videos without waiting for the entire video file to download. Live video and Video on Demand (VOD) are two different video service modes, the difference is that the real-time video, interactivity, video source, video content, storage and bandwidth are different.&nbsp;When choosing a VOD streaming platform, consider factors such as automatic transcoding, video hosting, adaptive streaming, CDN, privacy and security, data analytics, and API and SDK access to meet the needs of uploading, storing, managing, distributing, and securing VOD content, as well as providing a quality viewing experience and business decision support.Here we recommend you to use <span style="font-family:Inter, Roboto, &quot;pingfang SC&quot;, &quot;hiragino sans gb&quot;, &quot;Apple SD Gothic Neo&quot;, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, &quot;system-ui&quot;, sans-serif, &quot;helvetica neue&quot;, arial, &quot;microsoft yahei ui&quot;, &quot;microsoft yahei&quot;, &quot;Apple Color Emoji&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Emoji&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Noto Color Emoji&quot;;">EdgeOne VOD platform for video media storage, transcoding, distribution and playback. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/pricing">Click here</a> to start free trial or <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/contact">contact us</a> for more information.

What is VOD? A Comprehensive Guide to Video on Demand

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<img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/a71d91a1-1345-4792-bda5-97ec51218a05.png" alt="What is TS File Format and How to Play TS Videos?">Many people may not be familiar with the TS file format, as it is not as popular as the MP4 format. To help you better understand TS videos, this article will provide detailed information about the origin of the TS video format, its applications, how to open it, and how to edit and convert it.<h2 id="What-is-a-TS-Video?">What is a TS Video?</h2>A TS file, short for Transport Stream, is a type of video file format used for storing, transmitting, and playing digital video and audio streams. TS is an encapsulated format, also known as <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG_transport_stream">MPEG2-TS</a>. MPEG2-TS is a standard data container format for transmitting and storing audio and video, as well as program and system information protocol data. It is mainly used in digital broadcasting systems, such as DVB, ATSC, and IPTV. The transport stream was originally designed for broadcasting. Later, by adding a 4-byte time code (TC) to the standard 188-byte data packet, making it a 192-byte data packet, it was adapted for use with digital cameras, video recorders, and players.MPEG2 is a multimedia transmission and multiplexing technology that can provide hundreds of program channels in digital TV broadcasting. Multiplexing means that multiple layers of programs can be transmitted simultaneously. In the MPEG-2 standard, there are two different types of bitstreams output to the channel: one is the program stream (PS), which is suitable for scenarios without transmission errors, and the other is the transport stream (TS), which is suitable for scenarios with channel noise.&nbsp;The program stream is used for stable and reliable media, such as optical discs (e.g. DVD/CD), while the transport stream is used for unstable transmission, such as terrestrial or satellite broadcasting. In addition, the transport stream can transmit multiple programs, and they do not have a hierarchical relationship. Logically, they are all composed of PES (Packetized Elementary Stream) packets, so they can be easily converted between each other.<h2 id="What-is-TS-File-Format?">What is TS File Format?</h2>TS videos (streams) can be divided into three layers: the TS layer (Transport Stream), the PES layer (Packetized Elementary Stream), and the ES layer (Elementary Stream).The ES layer contains the audio and video data, the PES layer adds information about the data frames, such as time stamps, to the audio and video data, and the TS layer adds necessary information for data stream identification and transmission to the PES layer. A TS video (stream) is composed of multiple TS packets.<h3 style="margin-left:0px;">TS Layer</h3>The size of a TS packet is fixed at 188 bytes. The TS layer is divided into three parts: TS header, Adaptation Field, and Payload. The TS header is fixed at 4 bytes. The Adaptation Field may or may not exist and is mainly used to fill in data that is less than 188 bytes. The Payload contains the PES data.<img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/a3573532-6f49-4ffb-b132-29db8c08fe25.png" alt="transport stream syntax diagram"><h4 style="margin-left:0px;">1. TS Header</h4>TS packet header provides information about the transmission.The length of the TS packet header is not fixed. The first 4 bytes are fixed, and there may be an adaptation field following the header. The 4 bytes are the minimum header length.The structure fields of the packet header are as follows:<ul><li>sync_byte (Synchronization byte): Fixed at 0x47. This byte is recognized by the decoder to separate the packet header and payload.</li><li>transport_error_indicator (Transport error flag): '1' indicates that there is at least one uncorrectable error bit in the related transport packet. Once set to 1, it cannot be reset to 0 until the error is corrected.</li><li>payload_unit_start_indicator (Payload start flag): When set to 1, it indicates that the payload of the current TS packet contains the start position of PES or PSI. After the first 4 bytes, there will be an adaptation byte with a value of length for the length of the following adaptation field. Therefore, the position where the payload starts should be offset by 1+[length] bytes.</li><li>transport_priority (Transport priority flag): '1' indicates that the priority of the current TS packet is higher than other TS packets with the same PID that do not have this bit set to '1'.</li><li>PID: Indicates the type of data stored in the grouping effective payload.</li><li>transport_scrambling_control (Scrambling control flag): Indicates the encryption mode of the effective payload of the TS stream grouping. Empty packets are '00'. If the adaptation field is included in the packet header, it should not be encrypted. Other values are user-defined.</li><li>adaptation_field_control (Adaptation field control flag): Indicates whether the packet header has an adaptation field or effective payload. '00' is reserved for future use by ISO/IEC; '01' contains only effective payload without adaptation field; '10' contains only adaptation field without effective payload; '11' effective payload follows the adaptation field, and the first byte in the adaptation field indicates the length of the adaptation field, and the position where the payload starts should be offset by [length] bytes. Empty packets should be '10'.</li><li>continuity_counter (Continuity counter): Increases with each TS stream grouping with the same PID and returns to 0 after reaching the maximum value. The range is 0~15.</li></ul><h4 style="margin-left:0px;">2. TS Adaptation Field</h4>The length of the Adaptation Field should include one byte for the Transport Error Indicator flag.PCR (Program Clock Reference) is a program clock reference. PCR, DTS, and PTS are all sampling values of the same system clock. PCR is incremental, so it can be set to the DTS value, and the audio data does not need PCR.When packing the TS stream, the PAT and PMT tables do not have an Adaptation Field. If the length is insufficient, it can be filled with 0xff.Both the video stream and audio stream require an adaptation field, which is usually added to the first and last TS packets of a frame, but not added to the middle TS packets.<h4 style="margin-left:0px;">3. TS Payload</h4>The information transmitted in the Payload of a TS packet includes two types: PES packets for video and audio, as well as auxiliary data, Program Specific Information (PSI).TS packets can also be empty packets. Empty packets are used to fill the TS stream and may be inserted or deleted during demultiplexing.The ES streams of video and audio need to be packaged into PES streams. Auxiliary data (such as teletext information) does not need to be packaged into PES packets.<h3 style="margin-left:0px;">PES Layer &amp; ES Layer</h3><h4 style="margin-left:0px;">1. PES Layer</h4><img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/a7413421-f15e-40be-9071-f4bfa0e0c1e6.png" alt="pes packet syntax diagram">The PES layer adds information such as time stamps to each video/audio frame. The content of a PES packet can be complex, but the most commonly used fields are:<ol><li>PES start code: Fixed at 0x000001.</li><li>Stream ID: For audio, the value is between 0xc0-0xdf, usually 0xc0. For video, the value is between 0xe0-0xef, usually 0xe0.</li><li>PES packet length: The length of the PES data that follows. A value of 0 indicates that the length is not limited, but only the video data length may exceed 0xffff.</li><li>PES data length: The length of the data that follows, with a value of 5 or 10.</li><li>PTS: A 33-bit value indicating the Presentation Time Stamp.</li><li>DTS: A 33-bit value indicating the Decoding Time Stamp.</li></ol>PTS (Presentation Time Stamp) is used for display timing, while DTS (Decoding Time Stamp) is used for decoding timing.Both video and audio data require both PTS and DTS timestamps. However, for audio data, PTS and DTS are the same, so only PTS is required.PTS and DTS are both used for B-frames. For I-frames and P-frames, PTS is equal to DTS. If a video stream does not contain B-frames, then PTS will always be equal to DTS.When reading video frames from a file, the order of the frames is the same as the order of the DTS timestamps. The DTS algorithm is relatively simple, with an initial value plus an increment. The PTS calculation is more complex and requires an offset added to the DTS.For audio PES, only PTS (same as DTS) is required, while for video I-frames and P-frames, both PTS and DTS timestamps are required. For video B-frames, only PTS (same as DTS) is required.<h4 style="margin-left:0px;">2. ES Layer</h4>The ES layer refers to the elementary stream layer, which contains the raw audio and video data.In general, video is encoded in H.264 format, while audio is encoded in AAC format.<h2 id="Why-Use-TS-File-Format?">Why Use TS File Format?</h2>As a type of container file format, the TS videos have a wide range of applications, including:1. Broadcasting and television: TS videos are commonly used in broadcasting systems such as DVB and ATSC. The format has error correction and stream synchronization functions, which can maintain transmission integrity when the signal is degraded. The most classic application of TS streams is in digital high-definition television that we use in our daily lives.2. Real-time streaming media: Apple's HTTP Live Streaming media is based on TS files. In live broadcasting, video streams are sliced or segmented into file fragments for transmission, or played sequentially through given TS file addresses.3. Blu-ray discs / Full HD videos: As a container format, TS can encapsulate MPEG-2 or VC-1 encodings, and is also a commonly used container format for Blu-ray discs and Full HD videos. Therefore, videos in the TS format usually have high video quality, large file size, and accurate restoration, making it a favorite format among high-definition enthusiasts.4. Digital cameras: To be used in digital cameras, the TS format grouping has an added 4-byte time code. In addition, with the help of time codes, it can be used to synchronize content shot by multiple cameras.The TS video format is used for several reasons：<ol><li>Error correction: TS videos are designed to handle errors better than other formats. This is crucial for data that's being streamed or broadcast over networks where data loss might occur.</li><li>Multiplexing: TS videos can contain multiple audio and video streams, as well as metadata. This makes them ideal for broadcasting applications where you might need to include multiple languages, subtitles, or additional data services.</li><li>Synchronization: The TS format includes timing information, ensuring that the audio and video streams can be correctly synchronized on playback.</li><li>Compatibility: The TS video format is part of the MPEG-2 standard, which is widely supported in both hardware and software, making it a good choice for broadcasting.</li><li>High Quality: TS videos maintain high-quality video and audio, making them suitable for professional broadcasting and production.</li></ol><h2 id="How-to-Play-TS-Videos?">How to Play TS Videos?</h2>Several programs support TS Videos:<ul><li>VLC Media Player</li><li>Windows Media Player</li><li>MPC-HC</li><li>KMPlayer</li><li>PotPlayer</li></ul>Furthermore, we provide a free online <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/tools/hls-player">M3U8 Player</a> that supports WebRTC, FLV, and HLS live streaming, as well as on-demand playback in HLS, DASH, FLV, and MP4 formats for your convenience. Feel free to use it.Some TS videos may require additional codecs to play properly. If you encounter any issues playing a TS file, you may need to install additional codecs or use a different media player.<h2 id="How-to-Convert-TS-to-MP4?">How to Convert TS to MP4?</h2>If you want to play TS video files on your mobile or other portable media player, the best way is to convert them to a more accessible format, such as MP4. While both TS and MP4 formats are used for storing video files and streaming media, they are vastly different in their applicable areas. TS is more suitable for professional streaming media playback, while MP4 is an excellent choice for storing and watching videos on computers and mobile devices. If you want to play TS video files on a mobile device, it's best to convert them to MP4 format for easier access and playback.Below is a table explaining the salient difference between TS and MP4.<img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/b626fb3c-81b0-4d2d-8329-9815bbd9eeb3.png" alt="the difference between TS and MP4">To convert TS to MP4, you can use video converter software. There are many video converter software available, such as HandBrake, Freemake Video Converter, Any Video Converter, and Wondershare UniConverter. The steps to convert TS to MP4 may vary slightly depending on the software you use.<h2 id="Tencent-EdgeOne-VOD">Tencent EdgeOne VOD</h2><img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/623ce4c3-5d15-45c7-aa06-2955eac8ddbb.png" alt="Tencent EdgeOne VOD Architecture Diagram, Media Asset Management, Media Processing, Copyright Protection, Media Playback, QUIC Acceleration, Fragmented Upload, Storage Management, Content Control, Access Management"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/products/mediaone">Tencent EdgeOne <span style="color:rgb(30,111,255);font-family:Inter, Roboto, &quot;pingfang SC&quot;, &quot;hiragino sans gb&quot;, &quot;Apple SD Gothic Neo&quot;, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, &quot;system-ui&quot;, sans-serif, &quot;helvetica neue&quot;, arial, &quot;microsoft yahei ui&quot;, &quot;microsoft yahei&quot;, &quot;Apple Color Emoji&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Emoji&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Noto Color Emoji&quot;;">Video on Demand (VOD)</a> offers comprehensive VPaaS (Video Platform as a Service) solutions, including cloud video storage, video transcoding, and video playback acceleration, cater to audio/video capture, upload, storage, automated transcoding, accelerated playback, media asset management, and audio/video communications. VOD enables swift and flexible delivery of high-quality videos, allowing you to concentrate on your business, choose services as needed, and adapt to market changes with agility. On the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/demo/template">demo page</a>, you can conveniently experience the EdgeOne video services firsthand.&nbsp;We have now launched a free trial, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/pricing">click here</a> or <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/contact">contact us</a> for more information. And feel free to visit <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://edgeone.ai/">our official website</a>.&nbsp;

What is TS File Format and How to Play TS Videos?

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<a href="https://www.tencentcloud.com/products/teo?from_mkt=blog">Tencent EdgeOne</a> is <a href="https://www.tencentcloud.com/?from_mkt=blog">Tencent Cloud’s</a> security and site acceleration solution for the global market built on Tencent’s edge node network.&nbsp;This article will walk us through the steps to create your first EdgeOne caching configuration. We’ll start with a review of what caching is, followed by a brief glossary of important terms.<h2 id="What-is-Caching" id="What-is-Caching">What is Caching</h2>Caching is a fundamental part of computing and networking, yet it is often misunderstood. There’s a famous quotation from Phil Karlton, “There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things,” which touches on the idea that caching is difficult. Fortunately, Tencent EdgeOne’s CDN platform makes caching straightforward to use and abstracts the complexities that make Karlton’s words true to this day. But first, what is caching exactly and why is it helpful? As usual, an analogy probably works best.Let’s pretend that you’re in search of a particular book at the library. You walk in and ask the librarian for the title. Because this particular library lacks the Dewey Decimal System, the librarian begins to search through every shelf and corner of the library. The process takes longer than you would like, but they eventually find it.The next day, someone else comes into the library and asks for the same exact book. Again, the librarian must search every shelf and corner until they find the title. This is starting to become quite tedious, so they wonder if there’s a faster way to find and deliver books to customers.They devise a new system where they track how popular each book is by keeping a tally on a piece of paper. Every time someone requests Book A, its count increases by one. And every time someone requests Book B, its count also increases by one. The librarian decides to keep the top 10 most popular books on a shelf near the front door of the library. By doing so, they greatly improve the efficiency of the finding and delivering process. They can find the requested book faster because it’s on a small shelf with only 10 books on it. And they can deliver the book faster because the shelf is near the front door, which removes the need to walk through long hallways and up and down flights of stairs.Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) work in a very similar way. They intelligently keep track of how often web resources (HTML, CSS, images, video, etc.) are requested by clients, such as web browsers, smartphones, etc. They then temporarily store (a.k.a. cache) the most popular web resources on servers near the client, much like how the librarian stored the most popular books on a shelf near the front door. CDNs also have the benefit of dealing with digital content, so they can easily make copies of web resources and store them on “shelves” around the world, benefiting clients who may be located far away.Now, let’s walk through how to configure the cache in Tencent EdgeOne.<h2 id="Glossary" id="Glossary">Glossary</h2><ul><li>Resource - the file requested by end users. Common examples are HTML, CSS, images, and video. Keep in mind that it's possible to request a subset of a resource using an&nbsp;<a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Range">HTTP range header</a></li><li>Origin - where you upload your resources and where EdgeOne will download resources from</li><li>DNS record - this defines the specific network location behind a hostname such as&nbsp;example.com</li><li>example.com is the site domain name for your EdgeOne caching configuration</li><li>image.jpeg is the asset we will download from the EdgeOne</li></ul><h2 id="Configure-cache-in-EdgeOne" id="Configure-cache-in-EdgeOne">Configure cache in EdgeOne</h2><ol><li>Log in to the&nbsp;<a href="https://console.tencentcloud.com/?from_mkt=blog">Tencent Cloud console</a>.</li><li>Select Tencent Cloud EdgeOne from the list of products.</li><li>Select Site List from the left-side panel and click New Site</li><li>Enter the domain name, e.g.,&nbsp;example.com</li><li>Select the appropriate payment plan</li><li>Select the acceleration area</li><li>Verify ownership of your domain,&nbsp;example.com, by creating a TXT record at your DNS registrar</li><li>Select Domain Name Service from the left-side panel and then Domain Management. Press Add domain name. For example,&nbsp;test.example.com, or if you simply want to use the root,&nbsp;example.com, enter&nbsp;@</li><li>If desired, select a template Rule Engine configuration. You can also create your own by navigating to the Rule Engine page in the EdgeOne console</li><li>Make note of the CNAME that is generated (e.g.,&nbsp;example.com.eo.dnse5.com)</li><li>At your DNS registrar, create a CNAME record to point&nbsp;example.com to the generated CNAME (example.com.eo.dnse5.com)</li><li>Download the asset at the URL&nbsp;example.com/image.jpeg in your web browser</li></ol>Good job! You now have your first caching configuration. From here, you can explore other features such as image optimization, file compression, cross-border acceleration, custom Rules, Edge Functions, etc. by navigating to the left-side panel in the console.<h2 id="Author" id="Author">Author</h2>Ray Fung is a Solutions Architect at Tencent. He is a member of the Tencent Cloud International team and focuses on the EdgeOne service for customers based in North America. His area of expertise encompasses content delivery for video (VOD and live streaming) and game/software downloads and has worked with some of the most recognized media companies including Disney+, HBO, Prime Video, NFL, Microsoft, and Valve.<hr><a href="https://edgeone.ai?from_mkt=blog">Tencent EdgeOne</a> is an integrated security and acceleration platform based on 3,200 Tencent Cloud edge nodes worldwide. It supports domain name resolution, dynamic/static content acceleration, L4 TCP/UDP acceleration, DDoS mitigation/CC protection/Web application firewall/Bot protection, edge function compute, and more. It helps customers respond to user requests more quickly, securely, and flexibly.Don't miss out on exclusive content - follow us!<figure class="table" style="width:100%;"><table class="ck-table-resized"><colgroup><col style="width:30.01%;"><col style="width:37.33%;"><col style="width:32.66%;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://x.com/TencentCloudEO"><img class="image_resized" style="width:100%;" src="https://edgeone.ai/media/eb3c9b22-78d3-4e1b-94d7-2ca644028adf.png" alt="follow us on x"></a></td><td><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@TencentCloudEdgeOne"><img class="image_resized" style="width:100%;" src="https://edgeone.ai/media/ddcc11f0-96c4-4680-8445-c33b02b81d16.png" alt="follow us on youtube"></a></td><td><a href="https://edgeone.ai/contact?from_mkt=blog"><img class="image_resized" style="width:100%;" src="https://edgeone.ai/media/09cd960a-4ab9-465a-a13e-3ae0dc80caa6.png" alt="contact us now"></a></td></tr></tbody></table></figure>

How to Configure EdgeOne Cache?

The Problem of Mixing Dynamic and Static Content

How to Separate Dynamic and Static Content?

How to Enable EdgeOne Smart Acceleration?

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When we learn how to use CDN to accelerate website access speed, most users will choose to directly connect their services to CDN acceleration services in one go, hoping for an excellent acceleration effect. However, many times, this original access method cannot bring the expected lightning-fast website speeds. Next, we will discuss a common optimization technique: separating dynamic and static content.<h2 id="What-is-Dynamic-Content?">What is Dynamic Content?</h2>Dynamic content refers to web content that changes or is generated in real-time based on user interactions, preferences, or other variables. Unlike static content, which remains the same for every user, dynamic content is personalized and can vary from one user to another. This type of content is often generated by server-side scripts or applications, such as PHP, ASP.NET, or JavaScript, and can include elements like user profiles, real-time data feeds, and interactive forms. The primary goal of dynamic content is to provide a more engaging and personalized user experience.Dynamic content is a key feature of modern web applications, enabling websites to deliver tailored experiences to individual users. This content is typically generated on-the-fly by querying databases or other data sources, and it can adapt based on user behavior, preferences, or other contextual factors. Examples of dynamic content include personalized recommendations on e-commerce sites, live chat interfaces, and social media feeds. By leveraging dynamic content, websites can offer more relevant and timely information, thereby enhancing user engagement and satisfaction.<h2 id="What-is-Static-Content?">What is Static Content?</h2>Static content refers to web content that remains constant and does not change in response to user interactions or other variables. This type of content is typically pre-generated and stored on the server, and it is delivered to users exactly as it is. Examples of static content include HTML pages, images, CSS files, and JavaScript files that do not change unless manually updated by a developer. Because static content does not require server-side processing or database queries, it is generally faster to load and can be easily cached, making it an efficient way to deliver consistent information to users.Static content is a fundamental component of many websites, providing a reliable and straightforward way to present information that does not need to be personalized or frequently updated. This content is often used for elements like company information, product descriptions, and blog posts that remain the same for all users. Since static content is served directly from the server without additional processing, it can significantly reduce server load and improve page load times. Additionally, static content can be easily distributed through content delivery networks (CDNs), further enhancing performance and scalability.Understanding the difference between dynamic content and static content is crucial for optimizing website performance and user experience. Dynamic content is often generated on the server-side and requires frequent updates, which can result in slower response times and higher network latency. In contrast, static content is often cached on the client-side or CDN edge servers, reducing the need to access the origin server and improving website loading speed.<h2 id="The-Problem-of-Mixing-Dynamic-and-Static-Content">The Problem of Mixing Dynamic and Static Content</h2>In the early stages of business development, it is common to mount Nginx on the server as a static resource downloader and start an HTTP service in the backend to handle external requests through Nginx's reverse proxy. The server serves as both a static and dynamic service, which can save resources and facilitate management in the early stages. However, as the business grows, the number of images and videos on the server increases, and user traffic continues to rise. More and more customers complain about slow service, slow loading of images and videos, increased stuttering, and slow overall response.&nbsp;At this point, users are uploading more and more resources, and during peak business hours, the bandwidth peaks are high, and server I/O is frequently maxed out. Many people have experienced this phenomenon, and many businesses are even deeply trapped in it. Even if they are anxious to connect the business to CDN for acceleration and load reduction, it may be difficult to achieve the expected results.<img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/fb7bad36-3428-475d-8371-7f3e7fc0513b.png" alt="mixing dynamic and static content">When the business encounters the above phenomenon, it is a sign that it has reached the point where dynamic and static content needs to be separated. From the scenario described above, we need to realize that the key to this problem lies in the fact that static data such as images and videos are mixed with dynamic services such as HTTP Service, causing interference between two types of data with different characteristics. The solution is simple, which is to deploy static data and dynamic services separately.<h2 id="How-to-Separate-Dynamic-and-Static-Content?">How to Separate Dynamic and Static Content?</h2>Static data can be stored in cloud object storage or on separate cloud servers, categorized by different paths such as /img/, /video/, /js/, /html/, etc. If you use object storage, you can even create different buckets for each type, such as img-bucket, video-bucket, etc., and use the object storage address as the origin server to connect to CDN for static resource acceleration. By distinguishing different types of static resources (such as images and videos) and combining rich static acceleration strategies with a powerful intelligent scheduling system, the ultimate acceleration effect can be achieved for this type of data.After the dynamic service is deployed separately, if there are very high requirements for access latency from global visitors, you can also consider integrating CDN dynamic acceleration services to optimize access latency and improve customer experience.<img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/0a2e7f2e-d351-41ae-9842-e118226bd833.png" alt="separate dynamic and static content"><h2 id="Tencent-EdgeOne-Smart-Acceleration">Tencent EdgeOne Smart Acceleration</h2>While separating dynamic and static content is an ideal configuration, in many cases, websites provide either pure dynamic content or a mix of dynamic and static content. In situations where dynamic content requires origin requests to generate different resource content based on user responses, complex network environments and differences in user location and ISP can lead to slow access and high packet loss rates.To simplify configuration and improve website response speed, users can use the EdgeOne smart acceleration feature. <a href="https://edgeone.ai/document/46182">EdgeOne Smart Acceleration</a> can adjust and optimize network paths in real-time. After enabling this feature, <a href="https://edgeone.ai">EdgeOne</a> will detect node network latency in real-time and select the best access path through intelligent algorithms. Based on real-time network conditions, EdgeOne can dynamically adjust resource allocation and utilization to improve user experience and ensure business continuity.<h2 id="How-to-Enable-EdgeOne-Smart-Acceleration?">How to Enable EdgeOne Smart Acceleration?</h2><h3>Scenario 1: Enable smart acceleration for all domain names of the site</h3><ol><li>Log in to the <a href="https://console.tencentcloud.com/edgeone">Tencent EdgeOne Console</a> and click Site List in the left sidebar. In the site list, click the target site to enter the site details page.</li><li>On the site details page, click Site Acceleration &gt; Smart Acceleration to enter the smart acceleration details page.</li><li>Find the smart acceleration configuration card, which is off by default. Click the switch to configure on/off.</li></ol><img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/a9ff57db-d6c2-4cf3-b0bb-31b8ff271306.jpeg" alt="enable edgeone smart acceleration for all domain names"><h3>Scenario 2: Enable smart acceleration for specified domain names</h3><ol><li>Log in to the <a href="https://console.tencentcloud.com/edgeone">Tencent EdgeOne Console</a> and click Site List in the left sidebar. In the site list, click the target site.</li><li>On the site details page, click Rule Engine.</li><li>On the rule engine management page, click Create Rule to enter the new rule editing page.</li><li>On the rule editing page, select the Host matching type to match the requests of the specified domain name.</li><li>Click Operation &gt; Select Box, and in the pop-up operation list, select the operation as smart acceleration, and click the switch to turn on/off.<img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/e1dade9a-c9e1-4180-8c49-50cbd995c660.jpeg" alt="enable edgeone smart acceleration for specified domain names"></li><li>Click Save and Publish to complete the rule configuration.</li></ol><h2 id="Conclusion">Conclusion</h2><a href="https://edgeone.ai/products/edgeone">Tencent EdgeOne</a> Dynamic Acceleration has the following advantages:<ul><li>IPv6 Compatibility: Supports IPv6 network environments, ensuring that clients can access accelerated resources in IPv6-only or dual-stack network environments. This helps improve access performance and meets future network compatibility requirements.</li><li>Intelligent Optimization: Uses Tencent Cloud's proprietary network transmission optimization technology to smartly monitor and optimize HTTP business backhaul routes, enhancing the access experience for dynamic requests.</li><li>Policy and Compliance: In some regions or industries, policy or compliance requirements necessitate IPv6 support. Enabling IPv6 access helps meet these requirements.</li></ul>We have now launched a <a href="https://edgeone.ai/pricing">Free Trial</a>, welcome to <a href="https://edgeone.ai/contact">Contact Us</a> for more information. &nbsp;

Boost Your Website Speed: The Power of Separating Dynamic and Static Content

How to Configure IPv6 in the EdgeOne Console?

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<img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/88dfe471-91fd-45c1-8356-2dea0d523730.png" alt="ipv6 security Q&amp;A">IPv6 is the sixth-generation Internet Protocol. The fourth-generation Internet Protocol, IPv4, has gone through the rapid development stage of the mobile Internet, providing services for video, gaming, and payment. However, with the development of the industrial Internet, IPv4 can no longer meet the skyrocketing network demands of the world, and IPv6 was born as a result. In simple terms, the number of IPv6 addresses can assign an IP address to every grain of sand worldwide. And an IP address is our "house number" on the Internet.<h2 id="25-IPv6-Security-Questions-and-Answers">25 IPv6 Security Questions and Answers</h2><h3>Q1: Is the IPv6 protocol more secure than the IPv4 protocol?</h3>Answer: In addition to its rich address resources, precise correspondence, and traceable information, data transmission between IPv6 addresses will be encrypted, making it more difficult for information to be eavesdropped or hijacked. Therefore, overall, security is an important feature of IPv6. However, the increased complexity of IPv6 may lead to a higher number of attack vectors, allowing malicious hackers to execute various types of attacks. So, from a protocol perspective, IPv6 will face more security risks.<h3>Q2: In terms of deployment security, which is safer, IPv6 or IPv4?</h3>Answer: From the perspective of deployment security, IPv6 and IPv4 need to be compared in the following four dimensions:<ul><li>Protocol Specification Maturity: Security researchers discovered and patched Network security protocol-related vulnerabilities through long-term observation. The IPv4 protocol has undergone long-term maintenance and patching by security personnel, making it more mature and stable at this stage compared to IPv6.</li><li>Implementation Maturity: Currently, IPv6 lacks appropriate recommendations to prevent vulnerability implementation, and its protocol design still needs improvement.</li><li>Confidence/Experience in the Protocol: Compared to the mature IPv4 network environment, network security engineers will need some time to accumulate experience in combating network security threats in the new IPv6 environment.</li><li>Support from Security Devices and Tools: Although security devices and tools can effectively support both IPv4 and IPv6 after improvements, the network security risks in the process of IPv6 deployment and application have not yet been fully revealed. There are still shortcomings in the features and performance of security devices and tools.</li></ul><h3>Q3: Do users of IPv4 networks need to deploy security measures for IPv6?</h3>Answer: Yes.Since the end of November 2017, when the national "Action Plan for Promoting the Large-scale Deployment of the Sixth Edition of the Internet Protocol (IPv6)" was launched, various operators have been able to install native IPv6 broadband networks for users. Therefore, the network used by users is likely to have dual-stack access, capable of communicating with both IPv4 and IPv6 networks. If an attacker enables global IPv6 connectivity on the user's network, nodes in the user's network may inadvertently use IPv6 nodes intended for local traffic for non-local traffic, providing opportunities for attackers.<h3>Q4: Do users need to increase the use of IPv6 Internet Security Protocol (IPSec)?</h3>Answer: Currently, IPv6 IPSec is disabled by default, and users do not need to increase the use of IPSec themselves. Previous IPv6 specifications required all nodes to support IPSec, and the expected ability of IPv6 networks to use local IPSec could lead to widespread use of IPSec and affect network transmission rates.<h3>Q5: What tools can users use to assess their networks and devices?</h3>Answer: Users can use SI6 Networks' IPv6 Toolkit, The Hacker's Choice IPv6 Attack Toolkit, and Chiron, which are three free and open-source IPv6 toolkits.<h3>Q6: Can IPv6 network addresses be scanned?</h3>Answer: Usually not, as standard IPv6 subnets are /64s and user-end device network addresses are randomly distributed within a vast address space, making global scanning impossible. However, when infrastructure nodes (such as routers, servers, etc.) typically use predictable addresses and client nodes (laptops, workstations, etc.) use random addresses, "targeted" address scanning can easily discover infrastructure nodes and then use scanning tools to obtain user-end device network addresses based on specific address patterns.<h3>Q7: Can network reconnaissance be performed in an IPv6 network?</h3>Answer:&nbsp;<ul><li>If the target is a local area network, network reconnaissance can be performed using multicast probing and multicast DNS queries.</li><li>If the target is a remote network, techniques such as Pattern-based address scans, DNS zone transfers, DNS reverse mappings, Certificate Transparency framework, and search engines can be used to achieve network reconnaissance.</li></ul><h3>Q8: Is it possible to execute host-tracking attacks in IPv6?</h3>Answer: It depends.Host tracking refers to the correlation of network activity when a host moves across networks. Traditional SLAAC addresses require nodes to embed their MAC addresses into the IPv6 interface identifier, making IPv6 host tracking very weak. Temporary addresses mitigate some issues by providing random addresses for (client-like) outbound communication, while stable privacy addresses replace traditional SLAAC addresses, eliminating the problem.Over time, implementations have evolved towards temporary addresses and stable privacy addresses. However, you should check if your operating system supports these standards.<h3>Q9: Should unpredictable addresses be set for servers?</h3>Answer: After analyzing the relevant trade-offs and conveniences of each network scenario, administrators can set unpredictable addresses for some important servers. By setting unpredictable addresses, attackers will have a hard time "targeting all servers within a given prefix."<h3>Q10: How to deal with network reconnaissance behavior based on DNS reverse mapping?</h3>Answer: You can configure DNS reverse mapping only for systems that require it, such as mail transfer agents, or configure wildcard reverse mapping so that every possible domain name in the reverse mapping contains a valid PTR record.<h3>Q11: Are there address resolution and auto-configuration attacks in the IPv6 network environment?</h3>Answer: IPv6's Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) combines protocols such as ARP, ICMP router discovery, and ICMP redirects from IPv4, and makes improvements to them. As a foundational protocol of IPv6, NDP also provides prefix discovery, neighbor unreachability detection, address resolution, duplicate address detection, and address auto-configuration functions.Therefore, NDP and auto-configuration attacks in the IPv6 network environment are equivalent to ARP and DHCP-based attacks from IPv4. If users' IPv4 networks are threatened by ARP/DHCP attacks, they must also pay attention to the security threats brought by NDP and auto-configuration attacks in IPv6 networks.Users can address the security risks caused by NDP and auto-configuration attacks in IPv6 networks by using RA-Guard and DHCPv6-Shield/DHCPv6-Guard methods.<h3>Q12: What are the differences between SLAAC and DHCPv6 in terms of address records?</h3>Answer: When using SLAAC for address configuration, there is no centralized log of IPv6 addresses since the addresses are "auto-configured."When DHCPv6 is applied for address configuration, the server typically maintains an IPv6 address lease log. Once a host is compromised and the maintenance of the IPv6 address lease log is detected, malicious actors can easily launch attacks through infected nodes.At the same time, DHCPv6 does not prevent hosts from configuring addresses on their own (i.e., not requesting addresses through DHCPv6), so DHCPv6 logs should only be used when nodes cooperate with the network.<h3>Q13: Can RA-Guard and DHCPv6-Guard/Shield be used to defend against auto-configuration attacks?</h3>Answer: It depends.Many implementations of these mechanisms can be easily bypassed through IPv6 extension headers. In some cases, bypassing can be reduced by discarding packets containing "hop-by-hop options."<h3>Q14: Should users deploy Secure Neighbor Discovery (SeND) on their networks?</h3>Answer: Deployment is not recommended.Currently, there are hardly any host operating systems that support SeND.<h3>Q15: What is a Neighbor Cache Exhaustion (NCE) attack, and how can it be mitigated?</h3>Answer: NCE can cause target devices to become unresponsive, crash, or restart. The goal of an NCE attack is to create an arbitrary number of entries in the neighbor cache, making it impossible to create new legitimate entries, leading to a denial of service. NCE can also be a side effect of address scanning in remote networks, where the last-hop router creates an entry for each target address, eventually exhausting the neighbor cache.Mitigating NCE can limit the number of neighbor cache entries in an incomplete state. Or, when facing an NCE attack from point-to-point connected nodes, using long prefixes (e.g., /127s) for point-to-point links to artificially limit the maximum number of entries in the neighbor cache.<h3>Q16: Will the gradual popularization of IPv6 networks promote the transformation from a network-centric security paradigm to a host-centric security paradigm?</h3>Answer: No.The security model of IPv4 networks is not entirely "network-centric" either, but rather based on both host-based firewalls and network-based firewalls. Future IPv6 networks are likely to follow the previous hybrid model.<h3>Q17: After deploying IPv6 networks, will all systems be exposed to the public IPv6 Internet?</h3>Answer: Not necessarily.Although almost all IPv6 networks may use global address space, this does not mean any-to-any global reachability. For example, IPv6 firewalls may be deployed at the same points in the network topology as NAT devices currently used in IPv4 networks. Such IPv6 firewalls may implement "outbound communication only" filtering policies, resulting in host exposure similar to that in IPv4 networks.<h3>Q18: Can IPv6 addresses be blacklisted in the IPv6 environment as they are in the IPv4 environment? What granularity should be used to set blacklists for IPv6 addresses?</h3>Answer: Yes.Since IPv6 hosts can typically configure any number of IPv6 addresses within their /64 local subnet, users should blacklist at least the /64 address detected with malicious activity when a malicious event occurs.Depending on the specific upstream ISP, an attacker can control prefixes of any length between /48 and /64 (e.g., if the attacker obtains a delegated prefix through DHCPv6-PD). Therefore, within the possible range, if malicious activity persists after the customer blacklists the offending /64, you may want to block shorter prefixes (larger address blocks) - for example, start by blocking a /64, then block a /56 or /48 if necessary.<h3>Q19: Is it safe to block IPv6 fragments for security reasons in systems/networks?</h3>Answer: It depends on the situation because discarding IPv6 fragments is only safe when two conditions are met:<ul><li>Use protocols that can avoid fragments - such as TCP with Path-MTU discovery</li><li>Block ICMPv6 "Packet Too Big" (PTB) error messages that notify MTUs should be less than 1280 bytes</li></ul>UDP-based protocols may rely on data fragmentation, so traffic-blocking data fragments are generally not recommended when using such protocols. Other protocols (such as TCP) can completely avoid using data fragments through mechanisms like Path-MTU discovery.When ICMPv6 "PTB" error messages declare an MTU smaller than 1280 bytes, fragmentation may be triggered. Therefore, if IPv6 fragments are discarded but ICMPv6 "PTB" error messages resulting in an MTU smaller than 1280 bytes are not discarded, attackers may exploit such ICMPv6 error messages to trigger data fragmentation, causing resulting fragments to be discarded and leading to a denial of service (DoS) condition.In the revised IPv6 specification [RFC8200], IPv6 fragments that generate responsive ICMPv6 PTB messages are no longer supported, so eventually, all implementations will eliminate this feature and related vulnerabilities. However, you might be using legacy facilities that still exhibit vulnerable behavior.<h3>Q20: Should users remove packets containing IPv6 extension headers?</h3>Answer: Users are advised to flexibly set filtering policies for packets containing IPv6 extension headers based on the enforcement location within the network.If the filtering policy is enforced on transit routers, use a blacklist approach for filtering within the possible range, avoiding packet removal as much as possible; if the filtering policy is enforced on enterprise networks, users would want to allow only the desired traffic, so a whitelist approach should be used.[IPv6-EHS-f] contains recommendations for filtering IPv6 packets, including extension headers on transit routers. Additionally, it includes security assessments of all standardized IPv6 extension headers and options, as well as an analysis of any potential interoperability issues arising from filtering such packets.<h3>Q21: How should users evaluate the use of extension headers to bypass security controls on networks and devices?</h3>Answer: Most IPv6 security toolkits provide support for arbitrary IPv6 extension header attack packets. For example, [SI6-RA6] explains the use of extension headers and router advertisement packets.<h3>Q22: What packet filtering policies should be set for dual-stack networks?</h3>Answer: IPv6 protocol security policies should match IPv4 protocol security policies, but due to the current lack of experience in setting IPv6 protocol policies, there are many vulnerabilities when enterprises set IPv6 protocol security policies.<h3>Q23: How should IPv6 firewalls be configured for networks using temporary and stable addresses?</h3>Answer: Configuration should allow connections to be initiated from any address but only allow incoming connections from stable addresses. Thus, addresses exposed due to client-like activities (such as web browsing) will not be usable for external systems to connect back to internal nodes or for address scanning to internal nodes.<h3>Q24: How will temporary addresses affect users' ACLs?</h3>Answer: Temporary addresses change over time, so specifying nodes using temporary addresses as a single IPv6 address or a set of addresses will usually fail.To implement these ACLs, you can choose the following:<ul><li>Specify ACLs based on each prefix (e.g., /64)</li><li>Disable temporary addresses on affected nodes</li><li>Execute ACLs on stable addresses and configure nodes so that stable addresses are more suitable for accessing services/applications described in the ACL</li></ul><h3>Q25: What new challenges does the IPv6 network environment bring to enterprise security measures?</h3>Answer: In the IPv6 network environment, the IP address space is almost infinite, and the pool of IP resources available to attackers will also expand indefinitely, with a surge in network data. At the same time, with attackers' widespread use of large-scale proxy IP pools, especially per-second dialing IPs, IP addresses are no longer trustworthy, leading to a rapid increase in false positives and missed detections for many traditional security solutions. Traditional security policies based on the IP address dimension can no longer meet the protection needs under the new trend.<h2 id="How-to-Configure-IPv6-in-the-EdgeOne-Console?" style="margin-left:auto;">How to Configure IPv6 in the EdgeOne Console?</h2>In <a href="https://edgeone.ai/">Tencent EdgeOne</a> you can configure IPv6 settings for individual domains through <a href="https://edgeone.ai/document/54765">Domain Management</a>. Here, you'll find three configuration options, with the default being the Follow site configuration.<img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/127a6822-d00a-402b-b7d0-c5fedb822138.png" alt="configure ipv6 in EdgeOne console">&nbsp;Let's explore how to implement global domain acceleration configurations in Tencent EdgeOne. Navigate to the <a href="https://edgeone.ai/document/56724">Site Acceleration</a>'s <a href="https://edgeone.ai/document/49503">Network Optimization</a> module, where you'll discover a wide range of powerful acceleration features. By using the IPv6 Access Switch, you can enable acceleration for all domains under the site with the Follow site configuration. IPv6 configuration with just one click. Additionally, you're encouraged to utilize the <a href="https://edgeone.ai/document/46151">Rule Engines</a> and <a href="https://edgeone.ai/document/58013">Security Protection</a> to configure more robust and feature-rich functionalities and security protections for your domains.<img src="https://edgeone.ai/media/bd99d6de-ba5e-40cc-877b-fa3c6bf67b63.png" alt="enable ipv6 access in EdgeOne console">You can also learn more about the usage and features of the Tencent EdgeOne Rule Engine by reading <a href="https://edgeone.ai/learning/detail/rules-engine">this article</a>. If you are interested in experiencing these benefits firsthand, feel free to <a href="https://edgeone.ai/contact">contact&nbsp;us</a> to learn more about Tencent EdgeOne and its features. You can also <a href="https://edgeone.ai/pricing">click&nbsp;here</a> to get started free and experience its benefits firsthand.