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.

Re:dyndns.org

[rjch]

Seconded, thirded, fourthed and fifthed... I've been using dyndns.org for several years and have almost never had a problem with them - any time I have had a problem, it's because my auto-updater stopped working without me knowing.

Added to this, nowadays dyndns.org is running so many value-added services, they really can become your one stop shop for DNS services, although they will not let you delegate subdomains. All subdomains (if you set it that way) get diverted to the same IP address.

Good Service From...

[AllMightyPaul]

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.

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.

zone edit, free easy and solid

[pillohead]

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.

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.

Re:Watch your AUP/TOS

[DrSkwid]

yawn

check your facts. homegurl

Here's the relevant section of ntl:'s TOS for their cable modem service :

17. Servers

(i) You are solely responsible for the setup and security of all servers that you may run on your PC. You are also responsible for all traffic that may pass through your PC. ntl cannot be held liable for any losses or damages that may occur as a result of a compromise of your server. Please note that your account may be subject to immediate suspension or disconnection without notice, if any security breaches do occur or any server causes any degradation in network performance. You should also note that running servers on your PC may cause your own connection to operate in a less than optimal manner.

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.

Re:I like no-ip.com

[LordLucless]

I second that. I've been using no-ip for 2 years for domain registration, dynamic DNS and mail backup. Not even a whiff of a problem in all that time, nor even in the time before that when I was using their free service.

EveryDNS does dynamic addresses.

[stoborrobots]

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...

afraid.org

[voisine]

afraid.org

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

ZoneEdit Dynamic

[kroniq]

ZoneEdit has free dynamic DNS (for up to 5 domains).

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?hos t=www.mydomain.com'

More details: http://www.zoneedit.com/doc/dynamic.html

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.

DHS

[BRTB]

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.

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.

Re:EasyDNS

[a9db0]

I'll second this recomendation, as I have used them for 3-4 years. They provide full DNS services, so bring your own domain name. They give full control over MX records, and will do email forwarding for you if you like. They don't supply update clients, but do have links to several that users report work well. (ezipupdate works nicely on linux). Service is excellent.