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Dynamic DNS How-to

Creating your first Dynamic DNS host

• Step One: Create an Account
• Step Two: Create a Dynamic DNS Host
• Step Three: Install an Update Client
• Step Four: Configure your Network

Step One: Create an Account

First, you will need to create an account. Account creation is free and fast: simply fill out the form and click Create Account, and complete the confirmation email delivered to you. (If you do not receive your confirmation email within fifteen minutes, ensure our support@dyndns.com address is whitelisted in your spam filters, and use the Reset Password form to confirm the account.)

Step Two: Create a Dynamic DNS Host

Once your account is created and confirmed, log in and visit the New Dynamic DNS Host page. You will be presented with the following options for your host:

• Hostname: This is the hostname you wish to use. Enter the desired third-level hostname into the field, and select a second-level domain from the drop-down box of available domains. For example, if you enter myhost into the field and select dyndns.org from the drop-down box, your hostname will be myhost.dyndns.org.
• Wildcard?: If Wildcard is disabled, only the third-level hostname will resolve, e.g. myhost.dyndns.org works but www.myhost.dyndns.org doesn't. If Wildcard is enabled, any fourth-level hostname will resolve, e.g. www.myhost.dyndns.org, asdf1234.myhost.dyndns.org, and so on. This feature is particularly useful for virtual hosting.
• TTL: TTL, or Time To Live, is how long the host's IP address is cached (remembered) before a computer has to ask for new information. For dynamic IP addresses, having a low TTL ensures changes are received quickly; for static IP addresses, a high TTL means the record is stored longer, and visitors don't have to spend extra time looking up your host.
• Service Type: There are three service types:
  • A-record pointed to IP address: This is the most common use for our Dynamic DNS service. This "maps" your IP address to your hostname for easy access. For example, if you have a webcam, VPN, or game server at home, and want visitors to reach it using the host, you should select this service type.
  • WebHop Redirect: This configures your host to use our WebHop url forwarding service. WebHops are HTTP-based redirects which can send visitors to any URL. This is useful for creating short links to long URLs (myhost.dyndns.org to freewebhost.com/really/long/~sub/directory/) and for directing visitors to your web services on alternate ports (myhost.dyndns.org to mysecondhost.dyndns.org:8000). You can learn more about common WebHop configurations here.
  • Offline Hostname: This sets the host to our offline web page. This feature is useful for pointing visitors to a temporary site while your server is down for maintenance or otherwise unavailable. (Please note that this feature is manually enabled.)
• IP Address: This is the IP address of your network. The Auto-detected Remote IP shows your current location's address; you can simply click this link to populate the field. (This field is not necessary if you are using the WebHop service.)
• WebHop: This is for the WebHop feature. (These options are not necessary if you are using the A-record feature.)
  • Redirect URL: The full URL (including http://) of your desired destination address.
  • Yes, cloak this page: If you want to hide the address bar to prevent visitors from seeing the redirection, check this box.
  • Cloaked Page Title: This appears if you enable cloaking. It replaces the title bar (at the top of your browser window) with this text when cloaking is enabled.
• Mail Routing: This sets the MX (Mail eXchanger) records for your host. You can learn more about MX records here.
  • My host will receive or reject mail itself: This is the default setting. Choose this if you have a mail server located at the network itself, or have no mail server at all. This creates no MX records. (According to RFCs, mail should be delivered directly to a host if no MX records exist, so no MX record is necessary in this case.)
  • My host and backup mail exchanger should be added to DNS: This will create two MX records for your host: a primary MX record set to the host itself, and a secondary MX record set to the Backup MX hostname field.
  • Specific mailserver will route all mail for my DynDNS host: This creates a single MX record set to the Mailserver Hostname field.

Now that you have selected your options, simply click Create New Host to create your new Dynamic DNS host.

Step Three: Install an Update Client

Now that you have an account and host, you will need to install an update client. Update clients monitor your IP for changes, and send the new address to the Dynamic DNS service whenever a change occurs. This keeps your host automatically up-to-date with your network's address, no matter how often it changes. You can find our update client page here. Please follow the instructions for the chosen client to install and configure it to operate for your operating system and network.

Step Four: Configure Your Network

With a Dynamic DNS host and an update client, you generally do not need to set up any additional services or make any other changes to your account. Now you will need to ensure that your network is properly configured, such as configuring port forwarding in your router, opening ports in firewall applications, and ensuring your web services (cameras, game servers, etc.) are functioning correctly. For a list of common networking problems and solutions, please see our Why Can't I Connect To My Server? article here.

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