Routing a domain name to a dynamic IP?

xelados · 2010-06-04 06:56:15

Due to financial problems, I cannot afford another year of hosting for my website. With a little luck, I'll be able to afford my domain registration (just $10 or so), however. I'd like to keep my site up while I continue to look for employment by hosting it on my desktop. Unfortunately, I have a dynamic IP and don't know how I would configure my server (and domain name) to work with each other transparently.

I already have an existing account at DynDNS, and currently my box is at http://sporkbox.ath.cx:90 . I thought perhaps I could route my domain (sporkbox.us) to the DynDNS address (masking the port if at all possible), and using a dynamic DNS updating script/daemon to keep everything up-to-date. Would this work out?

I'm open to ideas...

As for suggesting a free web host (since my site's current needs are quite light), I need PHP 5.3 and Python/webpy support and doubt I will find dependable free hosting for those two things. No big deal; I'd like to learn more about running my own server anyway.

I use lightty on the desktop, if it matters.

EDIT: If this topic is in the wrong section, I apologize. I couldn't figure out exactly where it belonged...

Last edited by xelados (2010-06-04 06:59:15)

toffyrn · 2010-06-04 08:22:04

You could redirect it using a CNAME so that sporkbox.us renames to your.dyndns-adress.com

fukawi2 · 2010-06-04 08:57:24

+1 for the CNAME to your dyndns, however hiding the port won't be as easy. You'll have to put a redirect in your port forward on your router so incoming requests on port 80 get forwarded to port 90 of your desktop.... But I guess you're avoiding port 80 for a reason, so if you can't use port 80, then you won't be able to hide it.

xelados · 2010-06-04 09:30:54

I'm avoiding port 80 because (iirc) I couldn't get it to work cleanly... I could do some testing on it before my deadline comes up, though.

toffyrn: I'm not aiming for a rename. My apologies for not clarifying. Basically, I want it so that all existing links out there that point to sporkbox.us (and any files under it) work seamlessly, with the domain name still displaying just fine in the address bar. So it's more of a masked redirect instead of a regular one. I've seen it done before, but I don't know how...

EDIT: Going to port 80 made my webserver work but killed the Teamspeak server a family member has going on his machine... so I'm pretty much stuck at my port 90 deal.

Last edited by xelados (2010-06-04 10:26:25)

Lexion · 2010-06-04 12:21:45

+1 for dyndns. There is also a daemon for linux that connects to dyndns. (I haven't tried it though)

gohu · 2010-06-04 18:02:35

Maybe you don't need dyndns.
Some registrars offer a thing similar to dyndns, so you should use that if yours does.

bruce · 2010-06-04 23:43:06

Hiding the port number should be possible(ish) as that's what we have working at my house... Our ISP won't let connections come into our machine on port 80, so we use 81 (and 82 for that matter) and have them registered under different domains that handle the redirects...
I don't know the details I'm afraid, but it is possible...

fukawi2 · 2010-06-05 02:43:33

xelados wrote:

toffyrn: I'm not aiming for a rename.

A CNAME isn't a rename, but an alias. It tells the DNS resolver that in order to find the IP address for abc.domain.com, look at xyz.domain.com. It doesn't actually rename or change the address of in the browser.

xelados · 2010-06-05 07:13:17

fukawi2 wrote:

xelados wrote:
toffyrn: I'm not aiming for a rename.
A CNAME isn't a rename, but an alias. It tells the DNS resolver that in order to find the IP address for abc.domain.com, look at xyz.domain.com. It doesn't actually rename or change the address of in the browser.

Ah, my mistake. Sorry for my ignorance. That does sound close to what I'm after, though.

gohu: How do I figure out what my registrar offers?

bruce: Could you perhaps talk to whoever set that up for you and ask them about it? That sounds like what I need.

tomk · 2010-06-05 07:34:35

Moved to Networking, Server, and Protection.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-06-04 06:56:15

Routing a domain name to a dynamic IP?

#2 2010-06-04 08:22:04

Re: Routing a domain name to a dynamic IP?

#3 2010-06-04 08:57:24

Re: Routing a domain name to a dynamic IP?

#4 2010-06-04 09:30:54

Re: Routing a domain name to a dynamic IP?

#5 2010-06-04 12:21:45

Re: Routing a domain name to a dynamic IP?

#6 2010-06-04 18:02:35

Re: Routing a domain name to a dynamic IP?

#7 2010-06-04 23:43:06

Re: Routing a domain name to a dynamic IP?

#8 2010-06-05 02:43:33

Re: Routing a domain name to a dynamic IP?

#9 2010-06-05 07:13:17

Re: Routing a domain name to a dynamic IP?

#10 2010-06-05 07:34:35

Re: Routing a domain name to a dynamic IP?

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