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."

Comments

dyndns.org

[mind21_98]

I would try dyndns.org. Your first five hostnames are free. :)

Re:dyndns.org

[mattboston]

this is probably the best. and you can also do static IP, backup mail, mail relaying(for those using Comcast Cable, they will relay for you), and a bunch of other services. they also have lots of free DynDNS client programs to automatically update your IP, and a great developer area for those interested in developing DynDNS applications

Re:dyndns.org

[Curtman]

Absolutely. I've been using dyndns forever it seems. They also have a great service called webhop that lets you redirect from a dyndns hostname or one of your own if you've registered one, to those ugly isp provided webstorage addresses like http://members.myisp.com/~someuser/, so you can access that page from http://someuser.mine.nu or whatever domain you choose.

Summary, DynDNS rocks. Reward them with your business if you ever get the opportunity. They deserve it. (And no I don't work for them ;)

Re:dyndns.org

[binaryspiral]

I second the nomination for dyndns.org - top notch.

I would call them the defacto-standard in dynamic dns because they are so widely supported by clients built into most residential broadband routers.

Also, smoothwall knows DynDns - so that works peachy for me.

DynDNS.org

[Guspaz]

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.

Watch your AUP/TOS

[boredMDer]

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 like no-ip.com

[phammann]

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.

afraid.org

[voisine]

afraid.org

fast, stable, free, powered by bsd, change your dns records from a script with a call to wget.

Re:Another case solved...

[PianoComp81]

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've been using ZoneEdit

[Judg3]

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.

EasyDNS

[toolz]

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.