This is the third reboot of my Dynamic DNS project. Bah! Do I not have anything better to do? why did I have to (re)create this three times?

For the impatient, let me point out the URL: https://github.com/lordloh/dynDnsEP. You shall also find an setup guide there.

2011

Well, the very first implementation was in late 2011 (blog post). This version was based on a apache and dnsmasq. I was running this on my EC2 instance. A few months later, I got a notice from AWS asking me to terminate my open recursive resolver (What is wrong with an open resolver? Smurf attacks). Apparently dnsmasqis setup as an open resolver on for the local network on installation. For my purpose, I had to make it listen on the WAN interface. At that time, I could not figure out a way to make dnsmasq work just the way I wanted it without compromising on the security.

2013

The second implementation was done in mid 2013 (blog post). This used bind9, apache and php. This should have been my last implementation, but unfortunately, my EC2 server vanished from existence taking with it, three years worth of my blogs. Made me realize that I should never never cut corners on backups.

2015

After the disappointment of loosing all serevr in late 2013, I did not put any serious effort into setting up a new blog or recovering my old one for several months. As for as my Dynamic DNS was concerned, I simply set up a static bind9 server with no front end or any endponit to update it when the address changes. Eventually, I rewrote my lost script. So, this one is a bit sleeker and more elegant. And this time around, I put the source on github | dynDnsEP along with some documentation.

Roadmap

For future, I am planning to make some minor improvements.

  • Add an IP address dashboard to see how recently a host was updated.
  • Build an noip compatible API.

I may list more ideas with time and eventually implement them. Should you feel a feature is lacking, feel free to put in a request here.