In the era of DDoS attack traffic has exceeded 2Tbps, the demand of enterprises for network security has been upgraded from "single-point protection" to "systematic defense". High-defense servers and high-defense CDN as two types of mainstream solutions, often confused. Today, follow 08Host editorial from the technical principles, protection logic, applicable scenarios and other dimensions of the depth of the analysis of the differences between the two, to help you accurately choose to match the business needs of the security infrastructure.
Second, high defense servers and high defense CDN core differences
1. Technical Architecture: Single Point of Defense vs. Distributed Networks
High-defense servers:Based on standalone or clustered hardware, traffic cleansing is accomplished by physical servers with high performance hardware (e.g., 10Gbps ports, multi-core CPUs) and dedicated firewalls (e.g., F5BIG-IP). Typical Architecture:
User request → high defense server (directly processing traffic) → source server
Advantage:Directly protect the source station, suitable for scenarios with high data localization requirements (e.g., financial transactions, game servers).
Limitations:Protection is limited to a single machine's bandwidth (typically 50G-500Gbps), with high latency for cross-regional access.
High Defense CDN:Traffic is decentralized through a globally distributed network of nodes (e.g., 30+ edge nodes), and each node is equipped with independent cleaning capabilities so that malicious traffic is filtered at the edge layer. Typical Architecture:
User request → nearest CDN node (cleaning + caching) → clean traffic back to source station
Advantage:Distributed protection without single point bottleneck, node caching to improve access speed, suitable for globalized business.
Limitations:Relies on DNS resolution, which may increase first access latency (~50-100ms).
2. Layers of protection: network layer-based vs. full-stack protection
High-defense servers:
Core protection is focused onNetwork layer (OSI layer 3)mainstayDDoS Traffic Cleaning(e.g., SYNFlood, UDPFlood), hardened against traffic flooding through hardware resources. Some high-end models will add application-layer WAF, but additional configuration is required.
High Defense CDN:
Realize the network layer + application layer (OSI layer 7) double protection:
- Network Layer:Anycast technologyDisperses DDoS traffic and cleans 800Gbps of malicious traffic from a single node;
- Application Layer:AI-driven CC attack identification (e.g., high-frequency URL requests, human behavior analysis), WAF defense against SQL injection, XSS, and other vulnerabilities.
Typical case: After an e-commerce platform used CDN, the login interface blocking problem caused by CC attack was reduced by 90%, and the page bounce rate caused by the attack dropped from 45% to 8%.
3. Acceleration capability: bandwidth hardness vs. edge intelligence
High-defense servers:Relying on native bandwidth resources (e.g., Hong Kong servers provide 1G-10Gbps international bandwidth), it is suitable for latency-sensitive real-time interaction scenarios (e.g., game battles, financial API calls), but cross-region access is still constrained by physical distance (e.g., the latency of European users accessing Hong Kong servers is about 200ms).
High Defense CDN:
Nearby access is achieved through edge node caching (static resource hit rate of 92%) and dynamic route optimization (e.g., HTTP/3 protocol):
The latency of Southeast Asian users accessing the Hong Kong node is as low as 20ms, which is 3 times faster than directly accessing the source site;
Dynamic content is preprocessed by edge computing, the pressure of the source station is reduced by 70%, and the delay of pushing the stream after use by a live broadcast platform is reduced from 500ms to 150ms.
III. Applicable Scenarios: The Golden Rule of On-demand Selection
1. High-defense servers are more suitable for scenarios
Strong source station protection:Game servers (need to process player data in real time to avoid back to source delays), financial trading platforms (data localization for PCI-DSS compliance).
Case in point:A blockchain exchange uses a Hong Kong server with 1Tbps protection on a single machine. Under a 600Gbps DDoS attack, the response latency of the wallet transfer interface increases by only 5ms, which is not perceived by users.
Dynamic content is predominant:Businesses that rely on real-time database interactions (e.g., forum postings, e-commerce orders) need to avoid data inconsistencies caused by CDN caching.
Localization Compliance:Industries with strict geographical requirements for data storage, such as medical and government, need to deploy servers in specific regions (e.g., Hong Kong for compliant storage of Asian user data).
2. High-defense CDN is more suitable for the scene
Globalization of business:Cross-border e-commerce independent station (European and American users accelerated access through local nodes), blockchain project official website (low-latency access for global community).
Case: After a Shopify seller enabled CDN, the loading time of product detail page for European and American users dropped from 4 seconds to 1.2 seconds, and the mobile conversion rate increased 22%.
Static resources are predominant:Images, videos, CSS/JS and other static files account for more than 70% (such as the official website of the enterprise, blogs), CDN caching can reduce the 80% back to the source request.
High-frequency attack scenarios:E-commerce promotion, game service and other traffic peak scenarios, CDN's distributed cleaning ability can avoid the source station is overwhelmed by the attack traffic.
IV. How to choose: a three-dimensional decision-making model
Type of business:
- Dynamic interactions/data sensitive→Anti-DDoS Servers.;
- Static display/globalization→Anti-DDoS CDN.;
- Complex scenarios (e.g., live streaming + trading) → Combination of both (server protection source site + CDN accelerated edge).
Flow characteristics:
- Attacks are predominantly DDoS (high traffic but simple rules) → Server hard defense;
- Attacks include CC/exploit attacks (application layer precision strikes) → CDN full stack protection.
Cost and Efficiency:
Small and medium-sized teams (limited budget, weak technology) → high defense CDN (e.g.CDN07(Starting at $20/month for the basic version);
Large enterprises (sufficient budget, need deep customization) → High-defense server + CDN hybrid architecture (such as Imperva server + CDN07 node).
V. Practical Case: Hybrid Architecture Attack and Defense Practices
A cross-border gaming company faces a double challenge:
Players need low latency for real-time battles (choose Hong Kong high defense servers with single 10Gbps bandwidth and 15ms latency);
The service was opened with a combination DDoS+CC attack (stacked with CDN's T-level cleaning and AI behavioral verification).
Through the program of "Server Protection + CDN Protection Edge", the drop rate of game clients during the attack was reduced from 30% to 2%, while the login delay of European and American players was reduced from 500ms to 120ms, and the user retention rate was increased by 18%.
VI. There is no best program, only the most suitable choice
High-defense servers and high-defense CDNs are not opposites, but complementary security infrastructures: the former is a "shield" that builds the last line of defense at the source station; the latter is a "network" that filters threats and accelerates access at the edge layer. Enterprises need to make comprehensive decisions based on the type of business (dynamic/static), the distribution of users (local/global), and the type of attack (traffic/application), and even adopt a hybrid architecture to realize the double enhancement of "protection + efficiency".
When choosing, it is recommended that priority be given to testing real scenarios: using MTR tools to detect server latency and packet loss rate, and simulating CC attacks through OWASPZAP to verify the effectiveness of CDN protection. After all, the ultimate goal of network security is not to pile up technology, but to allow business to grow stably in a complex environment.