Setting Up Dynamic DNS For Your Domain

I

inspector71

New Member
jhcrisp said:
Seriously stuck with ddclient seeming to have backflipped into the lava since a few days back when the clients tried to update.
Click to expand...

FWIW, using ddclient version 3.8.3:

Code: 
dpkg -l | grep ddclient
ii  ddclient                    3.8.3-1.1                           all          address updating utility for dynamic DNS services

... installed via APT from the Raspberry Pi raspbian buster repository, this:

Markdown (GitHub flavored): 
cat /etc/ddclient.conf
# Configuration file for ddclient generated by debconf
#
# /etc/ddclient.conf

protocol=zoneedit1
use=web
web=api.ipify.org
#server=api.cp.zoneedit.com
server=dynamic.zoneedit.com
login=<my.zoneedit.username>
password='<zoneedit.token>'
<my.domain.name>

... seems to be working for me:

Code: 
ddclient -verbose
CONNECT:  api.ipify.org
CONNECTED:  using HTTP
SENDING:  GET / HTTP/1.0
SENDING:   Host: api.ipify.org
SENDING:   User-Agent: ddclient/3.8.3
SENDING:   Connection: close
SENDING:
RECEIVE:  HTTP/1.1 200 OK
RECEIVE:  Server: Cowboy
RECEIVE:  Connection: close
RECEIVE:  Content-Type: text/plain
RECEIVE:  Vary: Origin
RECEIVE:  Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2022 01:02:21 GMT
RECEIVE:  Content-Length: 13
RECEIVE:  Via: 1.1 vegur
RECEIVE:
RECEIVE:  <WAN.IP.address>
SUCCESS:  <my.domain.name>: skipped: IP address was already set to <WAN.IP.address>.

Note the commented out Zoneedit server domain in the conf(ig):

Code: 
#server=api.cp.zoneedit.com
server=dynamic.zoneedit.com

Do not recall / know why ddclient appears to need / works with:

Code: 
dynamic.zoneedit.com

... instead of ...

Code: 
api.cp.zoneedit.com

... but it works.

Hope that helps in some way.
 
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J

jhcrisp

New Member
inspector71 said:
I understand you are a bit frazzled so maybe forgot
Click to expand...

LOLz - yes I am right now. Too many competing priorities!

Thanks for your comments.

I'm not completely stupid with ddclient as I did a PR for the dinahosting section some while ago :)

And ironically this is on Koozali SME server which I help to develop - the system templates configuration files to (try and) save stupid mistakes..... !

So your comments made me go back and check some basics and I finally noticed in the config file that the working version had:

Code: 
server=dynamic.zoneedit.com

But the failed version had:

Code: 
server=www.zoneedit.com

I then checked the templates and found that one of my colleagues had inadvertently changed the template!!

Modifying it to 'dynamic' fixes it. Doh. Patched and new rpm in build now :)

For reference, whilst I was messing about I also tried ez-ipupdate. That has a config like this:

Code: 
service-type=easydns-partner
partner=zoneedit
server=api.cp.zoneedit.com
url=/dyn/ez-ipupdate.php

I also note there are other endpoints eg generic.php so I guess it is possible to use them somehow. I couldn't properly test ez-ipupdate as it tries to modify the network device which I don't want.

I did try some variations of the URL with ddclient without success. It is not easy trying to find information on using them.

Anyway, thanks for making sit down and rethink the issue!
 
I

inspector71

New Member
jhcrisp said:
Anyway, thanks for making sit down and rethink the issue!
Click to expand...

No problem! Glad I could help. Took a little while to document what I had going as I've not touched this stuff for a while but I am very glad it helped. Also found the -verbose option I'd not used before. Very handy!

Can feel quite dis-empowering to be poking a faceless third-party system continuously. Sometimes intimidating to ask for help as it puts us in a vulnerable position. Very natural to get dispirited. The history of BOFH bullies from (hopefully) the early days of the interwebnets, has possibly taken a toll. People have emotions, compuderers do not. Can be a difficult clash!

I think I considered ez-ipupdate as well. Hopefull that config example you posted helps someone who may be using it.

Expect the zoneedit / easydns providers, bless them, could perhaps migrate everything to one single instance / method that works. There does appear to be a few permutations which may not be ideal. Then again, that might break service for existing users. Tricky.

BTW, it seems you suffer from somewhat of a self-bashing habit. Referencing yourself as "stupid". I understand where that instinct comes from all too well. May end up battling it all my life. One thing that can help is to stop doing that. You're not "stupid" merely because you make mistakes as doing so is part of learning so how can that be "stupid"?

Take it easier on yourself by not hurting yourself so much through hurtful, harsh self-reflection to defend against the potential threat of peer bullies. It's their weakness that causes them to judge people, if they do so, not yours. Takes patience and selflessness to help people. Arguably these qualities are not common in some of those hoarding the keys to compudering. They would rather blast evidence of their knowledge, in the least human way, merely to stroke their own ego publicly. They lack the patience to actually present their help in a manner that the recipient can work with.
 
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J

jfollansbee

New Member
Hi, having a problem with dyn - currently I have three entries, but my router can only update one, so I figured I'd change things up by making only my root on dyn and the rest as * on cname. However, when I change and save my settings, the dyn entries do not save. I'ce tried it multiple times and made no progress whatsoever. Any thoughts???
 
sandy

sandy

Administrator
Staff member
is this using the Streamlined editor? n If so can you please try and delete on the Modular editor then re add as Cnames.

regards.
 
brucehvn

brucehvn

New Member
Ok, so I'm a little confused by this. I've had ddns setup for years here now, but this hasn't come up very often as my ISP doesn't change the IP's that often.

I currently have 2 DYN records for my domain:
@domain.org
*.domain.org

It's my understanding that the "@domain.org" version is for the base domain only and the other is for any subdomain.

My router has support for Zoneedit, but it only allows me to have one update string, which I've done as the "*.domain.org" version. Upon an IP address change, it works and sets the new IP in the "*.domain.org" record, but it does not update the "@domain.org" record and I usually end up logging in and doing that one manually.

Is there a better way to do this so that anything that belongs to the domain including just the base domain name can be updated in one shot?
 
sandy

sandy

Administrator
Staff member
hi there.. if the router does not offer an enable wild card updates check box then it does appear it will only allow one host to be updated dynamically. You could update the root domain only... then create Cnames for other subs you want to resolve to the same place. So you would create Cnames for www. whathaveyou. anything. and point them all to the root domain name.

Hope this helps.
 
brucehvn

brucehvn

New Member
The router does allow me to put in wildcards. I put "*.domain.org" as the update string. After the update happens, when I sign back into Zoneedit, that wildcard DYN record has been updated, but the "@domain.org" DYN record has not.
 
sandy

sandy

Administrator
Staff member
thank ls

You have the MX record pointing to to mail.brucehbase.org which is a Cname, as such it cannot be used as a mail server in the MX record.. it is illegal in bind. so the zone will not load properly, Please delete that Cname and the mail record should be OK being used as the wildcard dynamic record.

regards.
 
brucehvn

brucehvn

New Member
Ok, I've deleted the Cname for mail. Technically, do I need any Cname records since the wildcard DYN record seems to make them happen? I just pinged "bogus.brucehbase.org" and it seems to have come back with the proper IP address.

And I should see the "@brucehbase.org" DYN record updated on the next IP change just by the router changing the wildcard?
 
sandy

sandy

Administrator
Staff member
You would not need those Cnames as they are all pointing to a host covered dynamically and by the wildcard... and yes it is my hope now the zone is clean it will update properly... but there was no way to diagnose the issue until the zone was clean and ready to load properly :)

regards
 
brucehvn

brucehvn

New Member
Copy that. Thanks, and I'll let you know. Seems my new ISP has changed the IP 3 times in less than a week, so we might not need to wait too long...
 
brucehvn

brucehvn

New Member
Hi Sandy,

I deleted all the CNames except 1 and I still have the issue. My Verizon 5G home internet changes IP addresses pretty much daily. My router is using dd-wrt firmware and that's how I'm configuring the ZoneEdit updates. It still only updates my "*.brucehbase.org" DYN record and not the "@brucehbase.org" record.

Now you may be asking why I still left one CName rec in there. It's because for some reason, the subdomain "hass.brucehbase.org" will not resolve using the wildcard. Anything else I can throw at it resolves correctly except that one, so I had to leave the CName rec there for now. I do have an SSL Let's Encrypt cert associated with "hass.brucehbase.org", but I don't know if that would be an issue.

I think I may have a workaround if we can't figure out anything else. I do have another router that is a part of my main network (which also runs dd-wrt) and is used to create a separate network for some devices I have. I could setup that 2nd router to also do DDNS and have it update the main brucehbase.org DYN record and I think that might take care of it, but for now, I want to see if you've got any other suggestions before I turn that on.
 
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