DDNS Service -- Which is best?

[Mike S]

And for me its been rock-solid for years.

I'm trying to set this up on my Asus Router. I'm confused on what should be listed in the host name field. Is there any detailed info on how to set this up?

 

[eibgrad]

I'm trying to set this up on my Asus Router. I'm confused on what should be listed in the host name field. Is there any detailed info on how to set this up?

Host name is the domain name you've reserved w/ the DDNS provider.

There really isn't all that much else to it other than your username/password for your DDNS provider account.

 

[macster2075]

I've been reading here and I see some are saying afraid.org is better because it's free, but isn't the Asus one free as well, or am I missing something?
I too have been looking for a more stable ddns to use as Asus one seems to have issues connecting from time to time and I have to keep restarting the service in order to connect.

 

[eibgrad]

I've been reading here and I see some are saying afraid.org is better because it's free, but isn't the Asus one free as well, or am I missing something?
I too have been looking for a more stable ddns to use as Asus one seems to have issues connecting from time to time and I have to keep restarting the service in order to connect.

For those having reliability issues w/ ASUS DDNS, we're only mentioning it's free because that's sometimes a concern in switching to another DDNS. It's NOT being suggested as alternative because it's free.

 

[macster2075]

@eibgrad - thanks for clarifying. I am looking for a more stable ddns because of issues with Asus. I've been looking into afraid.org, but not sure how to configure it. I've seen a few posts here, but I'm still a bit confused as it doesn't really get into where to enter those credentials. For example, what do I enter for hostname?.. is that what the subdomain is?

 

[Crimliar]

Gotta admit I took the easy way out and used Google Domains. I'm not aware of any downtime since doing this. The setup to use the registered domain for DDNS is just a touch cumbersome, though it's pretty much set and forget!

 

[macster2075]

I get an error..any ideas?

 

[eibgrad]

@eibgrad - thanks for clarifying. I am looking for a more stable ddns because of issues with Asus. I've been looking into afraid.org, but not sure how to configure it. I've seen a few posts here, but I'm still a bit confused as it doesn't really get into where to enter those credentials. For example, what do I enter for hostname?.. is that what the subdomain is?

There usually isn't much to it. You specify the fully-qualifed domain name you were given by the DDNS provider, and the username/password for the account. In most instances, you should be using Internal for Method unless you're double NAT'd and the router has a private IP on the WAN.

Any details in the syslog as to the problem?

 

[Crimliar]

I get an error..any ideas?

I think on freedns.afraid.org in the "password or DDNS key" field you have to enter your subdomain "," passkey

Send IP changes to DNS automatically with your router

 

[macster2075]

There usually isn't much to it. You specify the fully-qualifed domain name you were given by the DDNS provider, and the username/password for the account. In most instances, you should be using Internal for Method unless you're double NAT'd and the router has a private IP on the WAN.

Any details in the syslog as to the problem?

Could not authenticate.

 

[nbdwt73]

Could not authenticate.

I have been using Afraid for years. I think the router instructions are a bit confusing. I do not think that you need to use the 'update key' if you are using one of the public domains that Josh owns (the person that runs afraid) - chickenkiller.com is one of his. Just use the login and password that u used to set up afraid.com and the subdomain that you used in the setup there (xxx.chickenkiller.com). I have several setup that way and have been working fine for years.

 

[macster2075]

I have been using Afraid for years. I think the router instructions are a bit confusing. I do not think that you need to use the 'update key' if you are using one of the public domains that Josh owns (the person that runs afraid) - chickenkiller.com is one of his. Just use the login and password that u used to set up afraid.com and the subdomain that you used in the setup there (xxx.chickenkiller.com). I have several setup that way and have been working fine for years.

That's what I have entered in there, but it still won't connect and gives that error...

 

[panni]

afraid.org. No question.

 

[dosborne]

I have been using afraid.org ever since I heard Merlin used it. If it was good enough for him... After all, we trust his firmware revisions!

But, I also paid to have a private domain rather than one of the weird ones.

The client interface took a little getting used to, but I don't make many changes and the owner of the site is a small business guy who helps you directly when you ask a question. Not much to it really though.

 

[XIII]

But, I also paid to have a private domain rather than one of the weird ones.

Is that one of the (“expensive”) plans on this page?

Available Membership Levels

Or did you buy a (much cheaper) regular domain name from a registrar?

If it’s the latter, how do you use that at afraid.org?

 

[nbdwt73]

That's what I have entered in there, but it still won't connect and gives that error...

The only difference I can see between tour setup and some of my setups is that your username looks like a domain name. Although I doubt it makes any difference, try changing your afraid login to a single word name instead of your domain name...

 

[macster2075]

I just noticed something and I not sure if this is normal or not. I see that even if I disable the ddns client, I am still able to connect to the router via OpeVpn.
Is this normal? If so, then what is the purpose of setting up the ddns client if I am able to connect to the router anyway?

 

[nbdwt73]

I just noticed something and I not sure if this is normal or not. I see that even if I disable the ddns client, I am still able to connect to the router via OpeVpn.
Is this normal? If so, then what is the purpose of setting up the ddns client if I am able to connect to the router anyway?

Unless you have a static IP address from your ISP (that is an option in most cases but expensive) your IP address will change from time to time. The DDNS service running on your router will notify, in this case afraid.org, of that change and your DNS name will be updated with the new address. Otherwise you would have to know the specific IP address assigned by your ISP in order to connect.

The reason that you still are able to connect is that the IP address for your gateway has not changed... yet. I still suggest that you try changing your login name. I just setup a test (using chickenkiller) and it works fine with no setup other than a subdomain name...

 

[eibgrad]

I just noticed something and I not sure if this is normal or not. I see that even if I disable the ddns client, I am still able to connect to the router via OpeVpn.
Is this normal? If so, then what is the purpose of setting up the ddns client if I am able to connect to the router anyway?

All DDNS does is allow you to associate your WAN's public IP w/ a fixed domain name. That's important for home users who typically require use of a dynamically assigned public IP from their ISP, since it could change over time. But you could just as well use the explicit public IP, provided you knew it.

So DDNS has nothing to do w/ whether or not your OpenVPN server (or anything else) is remotely accessible over the WAN.

 

[macster2075]

@eibgrad oh ok, so the ddns is just to get the most current public IP address, so when it changes I can still connect to my router?
So the reason I can connect without connecting to ddns service is because the public IP hasn't changed?