> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dcdeploy.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# DDoS Protection & API Rate Limits

> How DCDeploy protects workloads with Cloudflare DDoS mitigation and enforced API rate limiting.

DCDeploy ensures that your applications stay online and secure under heavy traffic and potential attacks.\
This is achieved through **Cloudflare’s global edge network** for DDoS mitigation and **default API rate limiting** to prevent abuse.

***

## Cloudflare DDoS Protection

* All incoming traffic to DCDeploy workloads is routed through **Cloudflare’s edge network**.
* Protects against:
  * **Layer 3/4 attacks** (volumetric floods, SYN floods, UDP floods).
  * **Layer 7 attacks** (HTTP floods, slowloris).
* Uses **intelligent traffic filtering** to allow legitimate users while blocking malicious requests.
* Provides **global anycast routing** for high availability and performance.

**Benefits**

* Automatic mitigation of large-scale DDoS attacks.
* Zero downtime during attacks.
* Faster response due to Cloudflare’s **120+ edge locations worldwide**.

***

## Default API Rate Limits

To protect workloads from abuse and accidental overload, DCDeploy enforces **default request-per-second (RPS) limits**.

### Per-Service Defaults

* **Burst traffic allowed** (short spikes are absorbed).
* Sustained limits are applied per service instance.
* Requests beyond the threshold return:
  ```http theme={null}
  429 Too Many Requests
  ```

### Use Cases

* Protection against brute force attacks – prevents credential stuffing or API abuse.
* Fair usage enforcement – ensures no single client can overload your workloads.
* Cost control – keeps autoscaling predictable and avoids unnecessary overprovisioning.

### Best Practices

* Use authentication + rate limiting in your app for per-user control.
* Configure autoscaling by RPS if you expect sudden traffic surges.
* Monitor logs for repeated 429 Too Many Requests errors.
* For enterprise workloads, request custom rate limits via support.