Can providers tell I'm using my VPS for [redacted]?
So I've got this /32 on AS64512 (private range for diagram purposes only) and my prefix is announced via Contabo. Running some... specialized workloads. Nothing illegal per RFC 3514 (the Evil Bit, for the uninitiated), but definitely [redacted].
My concern: can they actually see WHAT I'm doing, or just that I'm doing a lot of it?
Traffic pattern looks like this: [ME]====[VPS]~~~~[INTERNET] | [redacted]
Mostly outbound, sustained ~80Mbps, some peak bursts. No DMCA letters, no abuse tickets. Yet.
Anyone with actual ASN experience know if consumer-grade providers do deep inspection vs just flow analysis? My gut says they don't care unless abuse@ lights up, but AS operators think different than single-homed folks.
Diagram: my edge router is just a Linux box. Nothing fancy.
Can they actually see WHAT I'm doing, or just that I'm doing a lot of it?
Hey folks! Gonna keep this super stoked and simple
They dont inspect your packets bro. Nobody got time for that. Flow data only unless you trigger abuse. Super stoked youre being careful tho!
Made same mistake once ran plex open and got flagged in like 20min. Fixed it fast now I tunnel everything through https://www.wireguard.com and zero issues
So heres the thing about traffic analysis versus content inspection (and this is something ive been thinking about for years because I used to work adjacent to this space not directly but you know how it is you pick things up) the economics of deep packet inspection at scale are basically impossible for lowend providers (and even mid tier honestly) because you need specialized hardware or very clever software and either way youre talking about significant capex that doesnt align with their business model of selling cheap vpses by the thousands so what they actually do is netflow or sflow sampling which gives them src dst port protocol bytes packets and maybe some basic flags but absolutely no payload visibility (and even if they wanted payload visibility https makes that largely moot now unless theyre doing mitm which is a whole different can of worms that would require them to have a ro
They cant see inside your packets unless they own both ends and even then only if no tls which you should have anyway so just encrypt and dont worry the only thing they see is volume and destination and if destination is residential ips thats the flag not content so tunnel through something legit looking or use a vps in country with better privacy laws and stop worrying so much about it because the reality is they dont care unless you cost them money or get them letters
Not in the way youre thinking. They buy transit and peer at exchanges like DE-CIX. The traffic still reaches residential eyeballs through last mile providers but Contabo doesnt have direct settlement free peering with Comcast or whatever. What matters for engzur is that the destination ASN shows up in netflow as residential allocated space and thats enough for some providers to flag it if theyre looking
Appreciate the stoke but "nobody got time for that" is exactly what I want to be true, not what I know is true. My specific worry is the sustained outbound to residential ranges, not the content itself.
Lou1 said:
Sustained upload is the main tell
This. This is the thing. 80Mbps out for weeks. My contract says "unmetered" but thats not the same as "unnoticed."
Has anyone actually been throttled by Contabo for traffic pattern rather than overage? Not abuse, just... shape?
Has anyone actually been throttled by Contabo for traffic pattern rather than overage?
Not Contabo specifically but I had a Hetzner box years back that got a friendly "your usage profile doesnt match typical hosting" email. No throttle, just a nudge. I moved the workload to a dedi and never heard again.
The real protection is diversity. One VPS pushing 80Mbps is a signal. Four VPS pushing 20Mbps each through different ASNs is just internet. More expensive but way less interesting on a flow graph.
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