Monday, November 19, 2012

Dynamic DNS - dnsdynamic and no-ip


Dynamic DNS (ddns) allows for remote access to publicly hosted server with dynamic IP address, using a pre-defined URL. 

I am covering two dynamic DNS providers offering free services, and how to setup their ddns clients respectively:

1. No-IP
No-IP comes with its own linux ddns client, which can be installed using "apt-get noip2". 
To manually setup your details, run noip2 with the "-C" option. 

root@web-host:# noip2 -h

USAGE: noip2 [ -C [ -F][ -Y][ -U #min]
        [ -u username][ -p password][ -x progname]]
        [ -c file][ -d][ -D pid][ -i addr][ -S][ -M][ -h]

Version Linux-2.1.9
Options: -C               create configuration data
         -F               force NAT off
         -Y               select all hosts/groups
         -U minutes       set update interval
         -u username      use supplied username
         -p password      use supplied password
         -x executable    use supplied executable
         -c config_file   use alternate data path
         -d               increase debug verbosity
         -D processID     toggle debug flag for PID
         -i IPaddress     use supplied address
         -I interface     use supplied interface
         -S               show configuration data
         -M               permit multiple instances
         -K processID     terminate instance PID
         -z               activate shm dump code
         -h               help (this text)


Note: the /usr/local/etc/noip2.conf returns some seemly encrypted text, so it's not meant to be changed. 

DNSdynamic service uses ddclient in ubuntu. Herewith my configuration for reference:

root@ubuntu:# cat /etc/ddclient.conf
# Configuration file for ddclient generated by debconf
#
# /etc/ddclient.conf

daemon=60
protocol=dyndns2
use=web, web=checkip.dyndns.org
server=www.dnsdynamic.org
login= (username)
password=(password)
(domain).dnsdynamic.com

Replace the corresponding fields with your own account details.

P.S. Remember to set up port forwarding if your servers are sitting behind NAT.


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