ZAP-Hosting releases reverse-proxy walkthrough for FiveM DDoS protection and endpoint proxying

1. What ZAP-Hosting released

ZAP-Hosting published a practical guide titled “FiveM: Setup a Reverse Proxy” that walks server admins through setting up a reverse proxy for FiveM. The guide is structured with clear sections, Introduction, Preparation, Connect Proxy, Server Proxy, SSL Certificate, and Conclusion, and uses Ubuntu as the example distro while recommending Nginx and Certbot for the proxy and TLS work.

2. Why a reverse proxy for FiveM matters

ZAP-Hosting spells it out: “A reverse proxy server is a server that acts as an intermediary between the end users (your players) and your FiveM server. This can be highly beneficial for servers that receive frequent DDoS attacks, as it provides an extra layer of security and reliability by reducing visibility of the main host and provides extra mitigation.” Practically, that means the public IP players see can be the proxy/VPS while your backend sits behind it, which lowers direct attack surface and lets you add caching and URL-based routing for integrations.

3. The two proxy types you need to know

The guide distinguishes two proxy types you will configure: the connect proxy and the server proxy. The connect proxy handles the FiveM connect endpoint (server listings, metadata), while the server proxy covers raw TCP/UDP game traffic; ZAP-Hosting emphasizes that “Both can be setup independent of each other.” That independence matters, you can protect the listing endpoint without touching the game packets, or vice versa, depending on the threat profile and your routing needs.

4. Prep: VPS, distro, and required software

Preparation requires a Linux VPS; ZAP-Hosting uses Ubuntu as the example and notes steps are similar across Linux distributions. The guide walks admins through “Accessing VPS” and “Installing Nginx” as the core pieces, Nginx is used for HTTP/stream proxying and Certbot is recommended for TLS. ZAP-Hosting points readers to its “Install Certbot guide,” saying it “covers the entire process of requesting and automatically renewing SSL Certificates for your domain(s).”

5. Connect proxy: what to do and why

For the connect proxy the guide includes an Nginx setup section specific to the connect endpoint plus FiveM configuration tweaks to make the listing and metadata route through the proxy. Use Nginx’s HTTP functionality to terminate TLS and forward HTTP(S) requests to your backend metadata endpoint. This is the path you’ll want if you’re protecting server listings and preventing attackers from scraping or targeting your backend directly.

6. Server proxy: TCP/UDP proxying for gameplay

For the server proxy ZAP-Hosting covers Nginx setup and the FiveM configuration required to proxy raw TCP/UDP traffic (game connections). In practice that means setting up Nginx’s stream module (or equivalent) on the VPS to pass traffic through to your backend server’s non-public IP:port. The guide explicitly notes that you can expose port 30120 on the service and run your backend on a non-standard port: “Note: You can use your service to be open to connections on port 30120 and yet have your backend server run on a non-standard port. Just make sure that your backend server is configured appropriately.”

7. X4B DDoS protection and the required server.cfg changes

The vendor X4B marketing fragments included alongside the guide explain how to integrate a filtered/protected IP into FiveM by editing server.cfg. When using the filtered IP assigned by a DDoS provider, replace the placeholder IP in these exact lines: set sv_forceIndirectListing true set sv_listingIpOverride "<replace_with_filtered_ip>:30120" set sv_endpoints "<replace_with_filtered_ip>:30120" # This is only required for Reverse Proxy setups set net_tcpconnlimit 10000 Those lines are literal and must be copied with <replace_with_filtered_ip> replaced by the IP you receive from the protection service. ZAP-Hosting and X4B together make clear this is how you point FiveM to the protected endpoint.

8. Encapsulation vs reverse proxy (GRE / IP-in-IP)

X4B’s documentation clarifies encapsulation is optional: “This step is only required if you are intending to use a GRE or IP-in-IP. If you are intending to use a Reverse Proxy (RP) style connection (the easiest) then you can skip this step.” In short, GRE/IP-in-IP gives you a routed tunnel into your network when you can manage interfaces and routing, while a reverse proxy is the simpler choice when you lack CLI/network interface access or are using a panel without console access.

9. Buying DDoS protection: location guidance and purchase step note

X4B instructs customers to “Pick a suitable package from the DDoS protection page. We suggest choosing one geographically close to your server location (or your primary user base). We offer numerous locations in the United States and Europe.” The excerpts include a “Step 2: Purchase DDoS Protection Service” heading and indicate the purchase flow asks customers for setup details, but the provided material cuts off where those specific purchase questions would appear, so you’ll see the recommendation to choose geographically close mitigations but not the full purchase form content in the excerpt.

10. Vendor UI snippet and panel code (verbatim)

The supplied materials include a dashboard/template PHP fragment that appears in the vendor UI; include it exactly as provided if you’re reproducing UI snippets or auditing the panel: /\ @var \X4B\DB\Port $port \/ $port = $_->vars['ports']; $server_selector = false; if(isset($_->vars['lease']){ $server_selector = count($_->vars['lease']->getServers()) != 1; } $header_type = $port->isSingle()?'single':'range'; include(__DIR__ . '/../../dashboard/ip/sub/port_header.php'); foreach($_->vars['ports'] as $port) { include(__DIR__ . '/../../dashboard/ip/sub/port_row.php'); } ?> This is the exact code block present in the source material and reflects how the provider lists ports and leases in the panel.

11. Known gaps you must verify before rolling this into production

The supplied guide and vendor fragments contain several explicit omissions you should not guess at: the exact recommended VPS specs are referenced but missing, full Nginx configuration blocks for both HTTP and stream proxying aren’t included in the excerpt, the X4B purchase flow cutoff (“During the purchase process you will be asked to:”) is incomplete, and there are no pricing or example IP delivery details. The research explicitly lists these as items to follow up on: publication date/version, full Certbot instructions if you need them, pricing, how the filtered IP is delivered, and GRE/IP-in-IP setup specifics.

12. Final note and support line

ZAP-Hosting closes the guide with an encouraging note: “Congratulations, you have successfully setup a reverse proxy for your FiveM server, providing you with various security, reliability and performance improvements. For further questions or assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact our support team, which is available daily to assist you! 🙂” Use that as the wrap: the vendor intends support to be available daily, but the excerpt does not include contact channels or hours, get those directly from ZAP-Hosting or the X4B portal before you depend on them for an incident.