DynDNS

Take note: https://twitter.com/wesmckinn/status/1080987957983617026

"TIL Google Domains offers free Dynamic DNS. Won't be paying DynDNS in the future"

Client

Unix

Unix-based operating systems don't have a convenient GUI for automatically updating a dynamic IP address for a server with the DynDNS servers. However, it can still be done using ddclient, a perl script that allows for updating of the server's IP address. It has several nice features, one of which is the ability to run in the background in daemon mode.

The basic idea is this: create an executable script that will detect the IP address and send it to the DynDNS servers. Create a configuration file so that the executable knows what information to tell the DynDNS servers. And finally, create a startup item so that ddclient will run in the background.

Once you download the tarball, untar it and put one of the sample init files (sample-etc_rc.d_init.d_ddclient or similar) into /etc/init.d or /etc/rd.d or wherever startup items go for your *nix flavor. When you edit this startup script, you will be able to point the script to the ddclient executable script (wherever you decide to put it, the ddclient web page recommends /usr/sbin) and the configuration file (wherever you decide to put it, the ddclient web page recommends /etc/ddclient/ddclient.conf.

Next, copy the executable ddclient script to wherever you have decided to put it. Likewise, copy the example ddclient configuration file to ddclient.conf in whatever location you have decided to put it. When you're finished, test it out by starting the startup item by hand:

/etc/init.d/ddclient start

(or wherever else you might have put your startup item).

Cloaking

Webhop approach to cloaking, for non-standard port numbers

• http://www.dyndnscommunity.com/questions/1167/forwarding-cloaking-refresh-question
• To hide your server's IP address using a non-standard port, create 2 hostnames: one that people enter, and one that resolves your IP.
• For example, people would enter www.example.com, and be redirected to web.example.com:8080

DOES NOT WORK: This approach doesn't work, because entering www.example.com (which then WebHops to web.example.com:8080, which then WebHops to 127.0.0.1:8080) doesn't keep "www.example.com" in the browser address bar. It puts the IP address, "127.0.0.1:8080", in the browser bar. This approach also fails if www.example.com is a CNAME redirect to web.example.com (which, by the way, can't contain

Another approach:

• http://www.dyndnscommunity.com/questions/5861/custom-dns-cloaking-not-what-i-expected
• First, the site web.example.com is a DNS A record (i.e. a "Hostname" option, with "Host with IP address" selected, forwarding to the IP address 127.0.0.1 - NO PORT!)
• Next, the site that users visit is www.example.com, which is a WebHop to "http://web.example.com:8080" - which should, in theory, resolve into http://www.example.com:8080