is this a DDoS attack?

[LiquidFractal]

For weeks now (I'd actually say a couple of months), my Cpanel Error log has recorded hundreds of instances from an IP address 46.229.168.*, which tries to access all sorts of weird port numbers on my VPS: 49712, 7906, 39942, 5554, 29068, 12832, 14748....you get the idea.  These requests are all done twice per second, so in a given second a different IP (the last part being different) will rapidfire two attempts to access a given port.  Then a different iteration of 46.229.168.* will try another port and so forth.

I've blocked this IP block from my server so no harm is being done.  I emailed the company who previously owned the IP block (SemRush), and they told me it was a legit search engine, which I think is BS.  Now it's DataWeb, who has so far not responded to my cease and desist request.

I'm not up on my lingo so I thought I'd ask: Is this an attempt at a DDoS attack, or is it a port hack attempt?  Is there anything else to be done apart from reporting the IP to abuse websites?  I don't even know how effective that is.

[Misi]

2 hours ago, liquidfractal said:

These requests are all done twice per second, so in a given second a different IP (the last part being different) will rapidfire two attempts to access a given port.  Then a different iteration of 46.229.168.* will try another port and so forth.
... 

I'm not up on my lingo so I thought I'd ask: Is this an attempt at a DDoS attack,

 

No, it's not a DDoS attack.

DDoS attack would be when there would be an attempt to access your site not twice in a second but hundreds, thousands of time.

 

[bfarber]

It sounds like port scanning on the surface

[LiquidFractal]

Thanks for the replies.  I assume that no search engine has any business port-scanning.

[Mark H]

No, they really don't have any business port scanning like that.

Here's who currently controls that x.x.x.* IP address range:

Since you've blocked it, there's little more you can do.

And it's "parent" range, which as you noted is DataWeb, is:

 

If you do not have any audience in the Netherlands at all, you may wish to block the entire range of 46.229.160.1 thru 46.229.175.255.

In CIDR format that would be: 46.229.160.0/20