Trixology

WeatherCat => WeatherCat General Discussion => Topic started by: elagache on April 14, 2012, 10:25:34 PM

Title: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services?
Post by: elagache on April 14, 2012, 10:25:34 PM
Dear WeatherCat fans,

The Grand Poohbah has asked us to make our current conditions available publicly so we could have a map.  However, that does mean we solve this dynamic DNS problem.  Stu used dyndns.org (http://www.dyndns.org) service that has been around I think for over a decade and used to be a favorite of the LINUX home-server crowd.  Steve has gone with no-ip.com (http://www.no-ip.com).

All of a sudden I'm feeling like a man with two watches . . . . .  [lol]

Is there any pearls of wisdom about these services?  Are there any others worth thinking about? It doesn't seem too expensive, but I'd prefer to understand a little better the pros and cons of these systems before hitching up on a particular service.

Also, is there anything else we might want to be using dynamic DNS services for?  Steve mentions access to home cameras (not a bad use.)  Is there any reason to imagine WeatherCat would use this sort of thing in some other way?

Opinions solicited!!  [bounce]

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

Title: Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services?
Post by: Tornado Tim on April 14, 2012, 11:05:19 PM
I use Dynamic DNS and it works really well, I have used the free version (where you pick from a list of end domain names) preceded by a name you wish to you on the domain.

Reliability on the DNS in itself is very good. I now use the paid services provided by them and have not had any problem in using them.

I highly recommend them :)
Title: Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services?
Post by: Randall75 on April 15, 2012, 12:13:54 AM
Hi Edouard
 To use either one you must have a static IP other than that they both work very well
 [cheers1]
Title: Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services?
Post by: Steve on April 15, 2012, 01:17:27 AM
I have a Sharx wireless IP camera, and it came with detailed setup instructions for how to use it with an Airport and either no-ip or dyndns. Both are free services with pay options for special domain names as Tim mentioned. I went with no-ip, because I could remember how to spell it better than dyndns. :D

Randall, you do not need to have a static IP to use these services. In fact, that is what they are designed to do; to simulate a static IP for those users who have ever-changing dynamic IP addresses, such as cable and DSL subscribers. If you have a static IP, you wouldn't need these services as far as I can tell.

As for other uses for such  service: If you wanted to run a server on your dynamic IP address I'd think you'd need to use it to point back to your computer, or if you had any sort of shared folder or file on your computer. I have it on my camera so I can see what is happening in my yard from anywhere I can get a wifi or cell signal.
Title: Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services?
Post by: Tornado Tim on April 15, 2012, 01:18:42 AM
Hi Edouard
 To use either one you must have a static IP other than that they both work very well
 [cheers1]
No you dont, thats the whole purpose of a dynamic DNS, so eachtime your IP changes the DYN client on your router and or PC will tell dyndns or whatever service it may be to your new IP :)
As long as your router has dyndns compatibility or use the PC client everything should be fine.
Title: Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services?
Post by: Randall75 on April 15, 2012, 02:07:49 AM
Hi cat Fans
 With my Internet Satellite the only thing I get is a 192.168.1.1 which is my router ip  I talk to both companies and you can't use DNS or no-ip with it without an personal address. all local networks have this 192.168.x.x and if you can tell me how it use it with my IP  192.168.1.253 Subnet 255.255.255.0 router 192.168.1.1  it would be great.I would have to  give my IP  20.00 more a month to get an static IP
 As long as your router has dyndns compatibility
       it does not Hughesnet blocks this


So maybe I was wrong but not all IP providers gives you access to dyndns compatibility
Title: A whole mess of 'em!! (Re: Dynamic DNS services?)
Post by: elagache on April 15, 2012, 03:12:07 AM
Dear WeatherCat fans,  [cat]

While researching some of the replies I came across this list of dynamic DNS providers:

http://dnslookup.me/dynamic-dns/ (http://dnslookup.me/dynamic-dns/)

So just in case you needed a few more watches to get yourself really, really confused - here you are!!  [biggrin]

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Randall, your ISP is cheatin'!! (Re: Dynamic DNS services?)
Post by: elagache on April 15, 2012, 03:28:54 AM
Howdy Randall and WeatherCat fans,

With my Internet Satellite the only thing I get is a 192.168.1.1 which is my router ip  I talk to both companies and you can't use DNS or no-ip with it without an personal address. all local networks have this 192.168.x.x and if you can tell me how it use it with my IP  192.168.1.253 Subnet 255.255.255.0 router 192.168.1.1  it would be great.I would have to  give my IP  20.00 more a month to get an static IP

Not sure what is going on here, but that shouldn't EVER happen.  I don't know how to make this simpler, but there are three groups of Internet addresses that are reserved for use on Intranets only.  That means they cannot appear on the "outside."  If you are assigned such an address, you effectively don't exist.

Now, normally computers on an intranet can still get access outside through a system called IP Masquerading or more recently called Network Address Translation (NAT).  That means there is one address accessible to the world, and all your computers on the Intranet use that address.  They "masquerade" as that public address one after the other taking turns to get outside.  Since multitasking is very fast, you effectively have directly access to the outside Internet and so does everyone else in your house, (organization, etc.)

Now on the "inside" of your home router, indeed the address should be an intranet address.  So my MacBook has the address of: 192.168.1.74.  However, we have a Mac as our network server and it's outside address is: 76.21.52.29.  In order to get "inside" it also has an "inside address" which is the key: 192.168.1.1.

Normally, your home router has this "outside address".  You need to dig into your documentation, but it probably has one.  With that, any of these dynamic DNS services will give access to your computer even if you have a home network using private addresses like most of us do.  All you need to do is run the software on the computer on the inside of your network that you want to get "outside."  The service will take care of the problem of making sure that the data gets to your computer even though the "dance" of  IP Masquerading.

The alternative is that your satellite provider is really cheating and using Intranet addresses for their own network.  Even so, these dynamic DNS services *might* work.  You'd have to try and see.  However, either your ISP is telling lies or is running a sloppy network.  You'll have to just do some experiments to find out which!  >:(

Aren't computers . . . . . fun  [banghead]

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services?
Post by: Randall75 on April 15, 2012, 01:39:46 PM
Hi Edouard and Cat Fans
Let;s see if I can shed some more light on this
If you go to what's my ip it gives an IP address of 69.19.14.23
If you try to go to this it takes you to the hughesnet server and there location
they block your address so you can not run a server with there system
they want you to but a static IP to get more money from you
I am out in the boonies and there is no other high speed internet out here
the only way to get high speed internet in with satellite and it is pretty fast but sucks
So  I can't use either dnsdyn or no-ip I have tried google about this and can not get it to work with there modem/router combo  and i have tried
thanks for the info but I have spent many hours trying to get it to work they block it all


 [cheers1]
Title: Darn right unfriendly! (Re: Dynamic DNS services?)
Post by: elagache on April 15, 2012, 04:43:15 PM
Howdy Randall and WeatherCat fans,  [cat]

If you go to what's my ip it gives an IP address of 69.19.14.23
If you try to go to this it takes you to the hughesnet server and there location
they block your address so you can not run a server with there system

I've heard of such things but still cannot imagine how they implement it unless they run their entire service as a kinda of Intranet.  Still as you say:

they want you to but a static IP to get more money from you
I am out in the boonies and there is no other high speed internet out here
the only way to get high speed internet in with satellite and it is pretty fast but sucks

And folks complained about the way the railroads behaved 100 years ago.

Oh well, to paraphrase George Santayana: Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services?
Post by: Barzi on April 18, 2012, 09:43:29 PM
Just in case...

If you are using a IP webcam and a Mac with WeatherCat, you'll to configure your router with two separate port forwarding: one for the webcam, and one for the WeaterCat Client.

For exemple, for my webcam, I use the port 8080: cocker.dyndns.info:8080

WeatherCat Client use the port 49250: you can try this address in your WeatherCat client: cocker.dyndns.info:49250

Here is the port forwarding configuration on my Linksys modem-router:

(https://img.skitch.com/20120418-qscgjd6nhxnq9s9h2jjnf94ps4.preview.jpg) (https://skitch.com/barzi/8wrfx/single-port-forwarding)Click for large view (https://skitch.com/barzi/8wrfx/single-port-forwarding) - Uploaded with Skitch (http://skitch.com)

Oh, and your Mac who run WeatherCat must have a manual IP address
Title: Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services?
Post by: The Grand Poohbah on April 20, 2012, 07:39:33 PM
There is an article in the WeatherCat Clients section of the WeatherCat Wiki wiki.trixology.com (http://wiki.trixology.com) about how to up a Dynamic DNS Server for WeatherCat.

--grand
Title: Thinking 5 years later? (Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services?)
Post by: elagache on March 24, 2017, 10:12:25 PM
Dear WeatherCat community,

Can you believe I started this thread almost 5 years ago?  I'm feeling old!

I was pondering finally setting my the iOS clients to be accessible outside the house and was wondering once more which dynamic IP address finding service to use.  I was considering afraid.org (http://freedns.afraid.org/) because they seem committed to keeping it free.  Some of the other services like dyndns.com are no longer available in a free version.

So what is current thinking on this sort of service these days?

A curious mind would like to know!!

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services?
Post by: Blicj11 on March 24, 2017, 10:42:52 PM
I have had a dyndns account for years (at least long enough to remember how to spell it), which works fine. I use it for my WeatherCat iPad app and for some security system software controls. I use my security system provider's enterprise account, still with dyndns, because I don't have to pay for it. Once in a while, not often, it seems a little slow to resolve. However, in the end, I decided to go with a static IP address. I live in a remote mountain area with one DSL provider. It costs me US$9.99 a month and for that I get a block of 5 IP addresses. I don't know why they made me buy 5. I would rather have paid $2 for one, but they don't offer that option. On holiday weekends, every cabin owner is here and the web gets pounded from sunup until sundown. Lots of streaming, etc. When I went with static IP it was like getting my own little private IP channel. I no longer find my broadband bogging down when the neighbours come to play. Totally worth it.
Title: Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services?
Post by: Steve on March 25, 2017, 01:45:57 PM
I've been using NoIP for about five years, http://www.noip.com/remote-access

It is free to use, but for some reason I can't recall, I upgraded to the Enhanced level. It shows $25/year, but I'm good through 2020 at $15/year less a 20% discount they frequently send out.
Title: Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services?
Post by: Xipper on March 25, 2017, 02:34:32 PM
I too have been a Dyn user forever, however I recently stopped using them due to having a bunch of issues...one of them being that some providers (e.g. my employer's networks) block access to known dynamic DNS providers.  My new router made it easier to use other options, and the Dyn updater client hasn't been reliable for me...so I left Dyn and am actually using Google's DNS for my setup currently. 

Hurricane Electric offers a service as well, and they are a great company donating other services to make the Internet a better place (e.g. IPv6 tunnel services).  I can get IPv6 from my provider, but the IP addresses change all the time...where I have a static block from Hurricane Electric and I don't have to hack my way around using bare IPv6 addresses to bypass some annoying things my employer does.

If you use Google to register a domain (as I do, as it is superior to GoDaddy's junk service) then you can create a dynamic DNS entry using your own private domain.  This is what I've implemented and it works great on my Mikrotik router with a simple script.
Title: More questions (Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services? )
Post by: elagache on March 25, 2017, 09:21:30 PM
Dear Blick, Steve, Xipper, and WeatherCat Internet technologists,

I've been using NoIP for about five years, http://www.noip.com/remote-access

It is free to use, but for some reason I can't recall, I upgraded to the Enhanced level. It shows $25/year, but I'm good through 2020 at $15/year less a 20% discount they frequently send out.

I see that they still claim to have a free service but there is this: "confirm every 30 days" business.  Aren't they forcing you back to their website in order to be exposed to advertising once a month?

If you use Google to register a domain (as I do, as it is superior to GoDaddy's junk service) then you can create a dynamic DNS entry using your own private domain.  This is what I've implemented and it works great on my Mikrotik router with a simple script.

I have a feeling that's more elaborate than I want anyway, but exactly how does this work?  Does your script on your router update the IP address associated with your network domain on the Google DNS servers?

The curious mind continues to be curious!

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: More questions (Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services? )
Post by: Steve on March 26, 2017, 03:10:39 AM
I see that they still claim to have a free service but there is this: "confirm every 30 days" business.  Aren't they forcing you back to their website in order to be exposed to advertising once a month?

I don't know what that is. If so, it is probably not too much trouble to take 15 seconds a month to maintain free use of the site.
Title: Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services?
Post by: xairbusdriver on March 26, 2017, 02:34:55 PM
"15 seconds a month" is still cheap. OTOH, it would probably also entail another 10 seconds to set up a monthly reminder. Then there is the few seconds recognizing the monthly Notification.

I don't see the 'visit every 30 days' as any worse than a pop-up dialog reminding you that you are benefiting from an app but have not yet paid for it. It's just a reminder that "There ain't no free lunch". [lol]
Title: NoIP Daemon
Post by: dfw_pilot on April 04, 2017, 04:14:34 AM
I use NoIP and enjoy the pricing (I have a custom domain) but do have one big beef with them:

The updater daemon does not start up automatically (even when the option is checked to do so) after a restart. They've acknowledged to me that this is a known problem and are hoping to update it in the next macOS version they write, but that's been months. So, with each restart of the iMac, I have to open the NoIP prefs and restart the demonic daemon.

dfw
Title: Thanks for the observation (Re: NoIP Daemon)
Post by: elagache on April 04, 2017, 11:48:05 PM
Dear DFW and WeatherCat Internet users,

I use NoIP and enjoy the pricing (I have a custom domain) but do have one big beef with them:

The updater daemon does not start up automatically (even when the option is checked to do so) after a restart.

Okay, that's one more data point.  Thanks for the report.  I'm once more completely overwhelmed but perhaps I'll get back to this someday.

Cheers, Edouard
Title: Re: Wisdom on Dynamic DNS services?
Post by: jhoke on April 26, 2017, 11:45:10 PM
Not sure if this will confuse the situation further...

I use multiple dynamic dns hosts as I use them for different reasons... but for my home I use dynip (example myhome.dynip.com) and then in my domain's DNS I use a CNAME record to point house.DOMAIN.com to myhome.dynip.com so that I can create TLS certificates for https using LetsEncrypt's certbot (free SSL Certs)

yeah... i'm strnage  [tup]