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Dynamic DNS - The Good, The Bad and The Cheap?
flyman asks: "I recently was 'downsized' from a company, and have had to really cut back on expenses. One of those cut-backs was to cancel my business class DSL with static IPs. I have since signed up for standard Cable Internet, which only has dynamic IPs. I know there are several DDNS providers out there, but which ones are good? Easy to use? Free or cheap? I still want to host some dev sites from home, if possible. Any advice would be appreciated."
I would try dyndns.org. Your first five hostnames are free. :)
US businesses that currently accept chip and PIN/signature
http://www.dyndns.org/
It's free, the interface is easy to use, lots of routers have clients built in. Gives you a hostname like yourname.dyndns.org. That's probably your best bet.
Although I'm not running anything exceptional, I've been using these guys for years and have never had any problems. They offer a wide range of host names and you can get your address in a mynamehere.dyndnsnamehere.com format. They also provide links to 3rd party software which will automatically update your dynamic ip address to the hostname in their database every time you log on to the net, turn your computer on, or if you're always online (probably) they can simply check the hostname every so often and update when necessary with no intervention on your part aside from the setup process. First rate service, no question.
Most cable internet providers provide a more or less static IP address. Technically they aren't, but my IP address hasn't changed in at least seven months. With DNS updates occuring every five minutes now (rather than every twelve hours), you should be able to easily keep things up to date. With that in mind, I would probably not worry to much about which service you go with, as long as they aren't likely to shut down any time soon. Or, better, find a friend who has their own DNS server and won't mind updating your entry a couple times a year.
:)
I was recently laid off and had to change some of my spending habits, too. I ditched my telephone service for VoIP. $20 beats $100 hands-down. I still have my $10/mo Safari subscription, though. Helps to keep up to date on technologies, even when you're unemployed.
Go with DynDNS.org. Most popular, and best supported among various clients. LinkSys routers even come with support to update DynDNS.org right in the official firmware.
They have a variety of domains you can choose from; I chose ath.cx simply because it's very short.
I use it, it rocks
http://zoneedit.com/
I had a dynamic ip on a cable modem but for some reason my freebsd box that firewalled my lan never changed ip's. I was never brave enough to run apache, postfix and bind 9 on it so I let zoneedit do the dns for me. If your ip stays the same over a long period of time, that might be an option for you. Of course your mileage may vary your head my explode or the feds may bust down your door for breaking the acceptable use policy. Then again you probably already breaking the aup by running apache.
Given, most providers don't do anything to actively find these things, but a thought anyway -
Most ISPs prohibit servers in their AUP/TOS/whatever.
You could face disconnection if you're caught running one (or more). Unlikely, but possible.
I just recently got ddns service from http://www.no-ip.com/. They've got a number of different levels of service starting with free. They appear to be a stable company with a good business model. They've got Linux, Windows, and Mac clients for download. I run FreeBSD which has a port of their linux client in /usr/ports/dns/noip.
Well EveryDNS is a DNS hosting service which also offers dynamic addresses... It's really been great, I've been with them for the last three years without problems...
"Go to CNN [for a] spell-checked, fact-checked summary" -- CmdrTaco
afraid.org
fast, stable, free, powered by bsd, change your dns records from a script with a call to wget.
A few years back, I went with them to get an email domain. IIRC, DynDNS didn't offer those services at the time, or they were more expensive than Nikhilino. My mistake.
I kept having billing problems with them. On the last billing, I had a pile of trouble with them over cashier's checks. They actually *didn't* want a check in their business name, but in a person's name.
Something stunk about that one.
I went to DynDNS, and never looked back.
ZoneEdit has free dynamic DNS (for up to 5 domains).
s t=www.mydomain.com'
Great thing is, it doesn't need a client. A simple wget works:
wget -O - --http-user=username --http-passwd=password 'http://dynamic.zoneedit.com/auth/dynamic.html?ho
More details: http://www.zoneedit.com/doc/dynamic.html
He was asking which ones are good, not which ones exist. It's very easy to find ones that exist, but how do you know if they're good? Ask.
I'd have to recommend DHS. Very reliable, they've mentioned outages on their site a few times but I never notice them. And they've been around forever... way back when Monolith (remember ml.org anybody?) went under, a few of the guys who worked for/supported ML created their own, and DHS was born.
ZoneEdit is great if you own your own domain. If it offers the full gambit of DNS services, from setting up a round-robim, editing your A, MX and CNAMES to setting up web and mail forwarding. Best part it's free - up to 5 domains if I remember correctly.
And if you ever find your own DNS, you can also let ZoneEdit act as a slave zone as well - I highly recommend it.
Looking for hardware (Currently need: Large Etch-a-Sketch) Have one? See my journal!
I have had excellent experiences with http://easydns.com/.
Not only do they offer just about any DNS-related service you can think of (including dynamic DNS, using standard clients for any OS), but also provide fall-back mail spooling, great management tools, convenient and honest domain registration and EXCELLENT customer service.
I have been using their services since 1999, and can honestly say that despite EasyDNS not being priced quite as low as some other services, I prefer the convenience, great service, features and peace of mind to saving a few bucks.
You aren't remembered for doing what is expected of you