this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
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Sorry, but what exactly is a "sustained download event" supposed to be? It sounds like they're describing some sort of DOS-like attack that isn't a DDOS, where a user manages to force the server to serve up way more data over a sustained period of time than would be reasonable for downloading a single MP3 for normal use.
But maybe that's not what they mean. It's very unclear.
I'm pretty sure they're describing something akin to what many small site owners have referred to as 'the hug of death'. If you're a small site that blows up on the front page of lemmy (or an actually large community site), you're going to experience sustained traffic that your site isn't capable of handling (be that at the computer resource or financial level in this case).
Normally the hug of death' just takes you offline when your provider can't handle the load or you blow past your providers thresholds. In this case, that threshold didn't appear to exist and it just kept adding to the bill.
Oh right. So they just mean the Slashdot Effect? A large and unexpected amount of organic traffic?
I think that "sustained download event" is a weird way of phrasing that, but thanks for the explanation.
They mean a lot of downloads were happening for a period of time.
Basically, it was a giant uptick in use that was likely made by human beings instead of a DDoS botnet, and they're still investigating where it came from