DNS and IP forwarding

[MattK]

I need a little help,

I have set-up a server, the IP doesnt stay the same... how do I keep our .com pointed at our computer?

[Adam Shapiro]

It depends on what you are referring to as the "IP".. If you mean the LAN IP, you need to set a static IP on your computer (different for each OS) and disable the dynamic IP retrieval from the DHCP server. If you are referring to the WAN IP, you must purchase a static IP address from your ISP. Contact the ISP and see if it is possible. It is not possible for some connections (dial-up, etc.)...

[Anarkissed]

most ISPs will kill your account if you have a server on your home connection, if your isp changes get something like dynu i believe it is i cant remember, if you need a server though i could probably hook you up with some space depending on what its for, i have a server in a data center with an oc-12 and backup data center with 2 oc-3s

[Brian M.]

Have you heard of http://www.no-ip.biz/?

[Jeremy_Mc]

you can also mask a cjb.net address with ip fowarding (like set your .com to point to the cjb.net address) and use one of their ip update programs that tells their dns server "hey i'm over here now!"

you could start your own authoratative dns server...that's what we do. but that's a little crazy if you don't know what you're doing, plus you'd have to have a remote dns server for normal dns capabilities... (basically you'd need a static ip for YOUR server then a remote server for dns propagation)

pm/im/e-mail me and i'll see if i can get you setup with a dns entry on our remote server and then set you up with a dynamic updater...can't make any promises but i can give it a try

*jeremy

[MrB]

www.no-ip.com is amazing...

I use it for all my servers and DNS needs for cablemodem connection based servers.

web page is at: http://team871.zapto.org/

web cam (just added today) is at http://871cam1.zapto.org/

it is great. It is so useful that I actually paid the $20 fee to get be able to create more than 5 DNS redirects and get rid of the small pop-up that promotes www.no-ip.com.

It is easy to use and very reliable, and no they don't pay me to say any of this :-)

[Rickertsen2]

wow i will have to try one of these services.

[evulish]

How about this:

www.dyndns.org ... if you use the MyDynDNS Custom service, you pay $30 one-time fee (forever) and you can have your dynamic ip address hosting a permanent webpage. I guess it's like the rest that people posted...but I like this one For this one, you don't have yoursite.dyndns.org. You just use your purchased domain name and dyndns will get it forwarded to you with no interruption by them (no banners, popups, anything).

For their free service, it's yoursite.dyndns.org...well, they have more than just dyndns.org...but that's the main idea.

It's a nice service and it's a one time $30 fee.

[MrB]

that does sound good. I don't know if no-ip.com does all that for the $20 fee.

I know they can redirect real domain names, but I'm not sure which service package it is.. I'll have to check out dyndns.org

[Petey]

Originally posted by MattK
I need a little help,

I have set-up a server, the IP doesnt stay the same... how do I keep our .com pointed at our computer?

Go to www.zoneedit.com
Sign up and download one of their daemons.
They will give you dynamic DNS support for 5 years, free, complete with free subdomains and mail forwarding. You'll need to reset your DNS panel with your domain name provider.
That should be fine if you are not behind a router.

If you are behind a router:
Dial into your router (probably 192.168.1.1) and configure it so that incoming WAN requests are re-directed to your computer's LAN IP number (e.g. 192.168.x.x)

What kind of machine are you running it on? I just set up my own server on an OSX box running in my study.

--Petey

[Pierson]

I use DNS2Go from Deerfield software... When I first signed up, it was free... Then they moved to a fee-based model. It is $19.95 a year for one domain, 6 Domains for $29.95, and up to 12 Domains for $49.95 per year. This does not cover the domain registration, it is just the redirection service.

http://dns2go.com/

It runs as a windows service on my server. So it starts when the computer is turned on and nobody is logged in.

Though it is not free, I like it!

[evulish]

I used to use DNS2go.com too. It was a nice service when it was free...I don't know if I'd pay for it since there are so many other options out there. One thing I did like about dns2go was that you could assign an offline site. Say you had to shut off your server...people trying to access your site would get nowhere...but dns2go will let you redirect to another permanent site (like webspace given to you by your ISP or something). That's what I liked about it. The downside to dns2go is that I don't believe you can assign MX servers (mail exchange...like if you want joe_nobody@something.dns2go.com ..but that may not be a big deal)

For $20 a year, you get less at dns2go.com then you get with the one-time $20 at dyndns.org.

All in all, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. They all do about the same things...just depends on what you feel like paying/doing.