DDNS Service -- Which is best?

[eibgrad]

@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?

You can always connect to services offered by your router over the WAN provided you know the WAN ip. Since most ISPs do NOT provide a static IP, but a dynamic IP, that becomes problematic since if that changes, you have no means to know it changed. Not unless you're using the DDNS feature of the router to keep a domain name updated w/ the current public IP of the WAN. That's the reason for the DDNS feature. So you can just reference that domain name and always have it resolve to your current WAN ip. Beyond that, DDNS serves no other purpose.

 

[macster2075]

Thanks eibgrad.. So far the only ddns service I can connect is Asus. I've tried others and I get that error I've posted earlier. The problem with Asus ddns is not stable and I have to keep restarting the service manually for it to work.

 

[eibgrad]

Thanks eibgrad.. So far the only ddns service I can connect is Asus. I've tried others and I get that error I've posted earlier. The problem with Asus ddns is not stable and I have to keep restarting the service manually for it to work.

FWIW, I use dnsomatic, which is an aggregator. You configure it w/ one or more DDNS providers, and it in turn updates those DDNS providers when the WAN ip changes. You then configure the router w/ dnsomatic. This simplifies the process by having dnsomatic manage any configuration differences between DDNS providers.

dnsomatic can also be useful when the router doesn't support a certain DDNS provider that you want, but dnsomatic does.

 

[macster2075]

Something interesting I've noticed is that, when I try to connect to another ddns service and I enter the correct password it shows an error as "Request error! Please try again" -- but if I use the wrong password, then I get "Authentication failed".. so this means the credentials are OK, but the service is not working.

 

[macster2075]

This is happening with dnsomatic as well.

 

[macster2075]

I rebooted the modem and now dnsomatic does connect. I guess it was stuck on something.

 

[drinkingbird]

I want to setup a VPN server. I understand that a DDNS service is required. In the DDNS tab in the WAN section of Merlin, there are 13 preset DDNS services to choose from and a custom.

WWW.ASUS.COM
DOMAINS.GOOGLE.COM
WWW.DYNDNS.ORG (3)
WWW.SELFHOST.DE
WWW.ZONEDIT.COM
WWW.DNSOMATIC.COM
WWW.TUNNELBROKER.NET
WWW.NO-IP.COM
WWW.ORAY.COM
WWW.NAMECHEAP.COM
FREEDNS.AFRAID.ORG

Is there thread on the pros and cons of each service (I searched but could not find one).

If not, which one is the best to use? Is the Asus one OK, or is another better?

Thanks

I've been using Dyndns for decades, I got in as a "founding member" and used to use them for lots of static DNS stuff, but now that Oracle owns them, they charge a monthly fee for that. I no longer need static (outsourced all my hosting) and their free dynamic service is working great for me. I use cloudflare to redirect x.mydomain.com to x.mydomain.dyndns.com, and use the asus router to update dyndns.

However I've been grandfathered in to lifetime free service and new users have to pay so probably not a good option for most. Sounds like afraid is the one to go with based on comments here.

Regardless of what provider you use, if you want to have your "friendly" hostname available (assuming you have your own domain), cloudflare has free DNS services and you can use that to create aliases from yourdomain.com to yourdomain.afraid.org or whatever. Can even do it for MX records etc. I actually use cloudflare as my registrar now as they are constantly the cheapest for my .net domain (and I believe they are good for .com and others too). Cloudflare does have dynamic DNS service but it requires some scripting etc and isn't supported natively in most clients, since I already had dyndns I just stuck with that. I do a "forced update" every day just in case an update fails, but again that is something that many of these providers will ban you for doing. If asus allowed it, I'd do every hour, since my grandfathered account has no limits on update frequency. However it isn't really a concern, I've found the automatic updates to be reliable.

In reality cloudflare intends for you to use some of their protection features like DDOS (basic packages are free, but they have more advanced paid ones) but since all I need is dns, I disable that stuff. Of course your registrar probably has DNS services also but I wanted something more bulletproof.

 

[drinkingbird]

Asuscomm.com is down today, which is causing me a LOT of grief. Is this common? Is afraid.org more reliable?

I think anything is probably more reliable than asus. General rule of thumb, go with a company where their primary (or one of their primary) functions is what you want. I.e. don't use email from your ISP and don't buy a washing machine from Toyota (not that they exist, but you get the point).

Asus's DNS is just an add on to bring some extra features/selling points to their routers, likely there is one employee overseeing it and he/she is out on vacation.