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Anti-DDoS:Overview of Sec-Traffic Manager

Last Updated:Mar 31, 2026

Sec-Traffic Manager is a free feature of Anti-DDoS Pro and Anti-DDoS Premium that intelligently routes traffic between Anti-DDoS Proxy and other cloud services based on whether a DDoS attack is in progress. During normal operations, traffic flows directly to your origin server—bypassing Anti-DDoS Proxy to keep latency low. When an attack is detected, traffic automatically shifts to Anti-DDoS Proxy for scrubbing before reaching your origin server.

Sec-Traffic Manager is included with Anti-DDoS Pro and Anti-DDoS Premium at no additional cost.

How it works

Without Sec-Traffic Manager, all traffic—both legitimate and attack traffic—is routed through Anti-DDoS Proxy. Anti-DDoS Proxy filters out attack traffic and forwards clean traffic to the origin server. This applies even during normal operations, which adds latency to every request.

With Sec-Traffic Manager, the routing path changes based on attack status:

  • Normal traffic: Service traffic goes directly to the origin server. Anti-DDoS Proxy stays dormant, so no additional latency is introduced.

  • Under attack: Traffic is automatically rerouted through Anti-DDoS Proxy, which scrubs the attack traffic and forwards clean traffic to the origin server.

Beyond cloud service interaction, Sec-Traffic Manager also coordinates routing between Anti-DDoS Proxy and Anti-DDoS Origin, Alibaba Cloud CDN (CDN), Dynamic Content Delivery Network (DCDN), the Chinese Mainland Acceleration (CMA) mitigation plan, and the Secure Chinese Mainland Acceleration (Sec-CMA) mitigation plan.

Interaction scenarios

The table below summarizes each interaction scenario, how it routes traffic, and which Anti-DDoS Proxy variant supports it.

A cross (×) indicates that Anti-DDoS Proxy (Chinese Mainland) does not support the scenario.

ScenarioDescriptionAnti-DDoS Proxy (Chinese Mainland)Anti-DDoS Proxy (Outside Chinese Mainland)References
Cloud service interactionFor services using Alibaba Cloud public IP resources and protected by Anti-DDoS Pro and Anti-DDoS Premium. Normal traffic: Service traffic flows directly to the origin server; Anti-DDoS Proxy stays dormant to prevent added latency. Under attack: Anti-DDoS Proxy scrubs traffic and forwards clean traffic to the origin server. Anti-DDoS Proxy can also interact with Alibaba Cloud Global Accelerator (GA).Use the cloud service interaction feature
Tiered protectionFor services protected by both Anti-DDoS Origin and Anti-DDoS Pro and Anti-DDoS Premium. Normal traffic: Anti-DDoS Origin handles daily attacks; service traffic flows directly to the origin server with no added latency. Under attack: When volumetric DDoS attacks are detected, Anti-DDoS Proxy takes over, scrubs traffic, and forwards clean traffic to the origin server.Use the tiered protection feature
CDN or DCDN interactionFor website services with Alibaba Cloud CDN or DCDN acceleration enabled and protected by Anti-DDoS Pro and Anti-DDoS Premium. Normal traffic: Requests are served by the nearest CDN or DCDN node. Under attack: Traffic is automatically rerouted through Anti-DDoS Proxy.Use the CDN or DCDN interaction feature
Network accelerationFor services protected by an Anti-DDoS Pro and Anti-DDoS Premium (Outside Chinese Mainland) instance of the Insurance or Unlimited mitigation plan, combined with a CMA. Suited for services deployed outside the Chinese mainland whose users are primarily from the Chinese mainland. Normal traffic: Traffic flows through the CMA IP address, improving access speed. Under attack: The Anti-DDoS Proxy (Outside Chinese Mainland) Insurance or Unlimited mitigation plan instance takes over automatically. For setup details, see Configure an Anti-DDoS Proxy (Outside Chinese Mainland) instance of the CMA mitigation plan.×Use the network acceleration feature
Secure accelerationFor services protected by an Anti-DDoS Pro and Anti-DDoS Premium (Outside Chinese Mainland) instance of the Insurance or Unlimited mitigation plan, combined with a Sec-CMA. Suited for users in the Chinese mainland who need both accelerated access to services outside the Chinese mainland and DDoS protection. Traffic is routed based on the Sec-MCA version in use. Sec-MCA 2.0: Traffic from China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile in the Chinese mainland is routed to the Sec-MCA IP address. All other traffic is routed to the Anti-DDoS Pro and Anti-DDoS Premium (Outside Chinese Mainland) IP address. Sec-MCA 1.0: Traffic from China Telecom and China Unicom in the Chinese mainland is routed to the Sec-MCA IP address. Traffic from China Mobile in the Chinese mainland and from outside the Chinese mainland is routed to the Anti-DDoS Pro and Anti-DDoS Premium (Outside Chinese Mainland) IP address. For setup details, see Configure secure acceleration for Anti-DDoS Pro and Anti-DDoS Premium (outside the Chinese mainland).×Create a secure acceleration rule

Add services to Anti-DDoS Proxy

Before configuring Sec-Traffic Manager rules, add your services to Anti-DDoS Proxy: