I got a homelab, at the moment I am only running some local stuff and tailscale to reach my stuff remotely.
I can use tailscales ddns, but I would like a real domain. Is there a domain registrator that works with dynamic ips? Or do I need to use a CNAME instead of A record?
Cloudflare, Porkbun, Namecheap and many other registrars offer dynamic DNS via API or a ddns client very easy to setup.
All domains works with Dynamic IPs - it all depends on what DNS-provider you use :) Provider like Cloudflare ( I do not recommend Cloudflare) and afraid.org both offer dynamic DNS.
Why don’t you recommend Cloudflare?
It is a giant MITM proxy, and whoever who has access to their logs have the potential to gain a lot of control
If you don’t mind that it’s Google, then Google Domains has exactly what you’re looking for.
They literally just killed that.
Well shit, I guess I gotta start looking for a replacement. It’s one of the few Google services I still use.
Thanks for the heads up, must has missed that news.
Heh, no problem!
As for where to go, people seem to really like Gandi, also keep hearing good things about Porkbun, I myself am very happy with INWX. Take that for what you will :p
Can you tell me a bit about INWX? Likes, dislikes, how they do things etc.? I’m also looking into an alternative to Gandi, I’ve narrowed it down to INWX vs Netim (I have lots of European ccTLD) so far.
They killed Google Domains?!
Nothing is safe from the Graveyard.
CloudFlare ZT tunnels coupled with an Azure AD. Work’s amazingly with their containers to keep the tunnel alive.
What is Azure being used for?
using azure ad for user authentication. azure ad is free but i have a paid o365 so i use that to authenticate against for access to my containers that have a fqdn attached/directed to it. and most of the containers/apps have sso with azure ad integration option available so no more logging into each single app/container.
That is brilliant. I haven’t thought about SSOing my homelab.
Pro Dynamic DNS service from noip.com will let you have dynamic dns using your own domain names for $20/mo.
$20/mo?! When free alternatives exist, why would anybody do this?
noip is supported by almost all consumer routers, so you’re probably paying for convenience. For homelabbers with a bit of scripting skill, it’s completely unnecessary though.
Emphasis on “a bit,” it truly is a simple task to automate. I don’t think that anyone who has need for dynamic DNS should realistically have much trouble tackling that problem.
For anyone who might attempt this and isn’t sure how, here’s what you need. You need a service controlling your domain with API support for updating your DNS records - some have been mentioned here, I just use gandi.net. You need to enable the API for your account/domain. Figure out how to run the command you need against the API from a scripting language of your choice - there should be documentation for the API, and it should be a single API call. Figure out how to determine your server IP from within the same scripting language. Then, write your simple script that determines the right IP and updates the record if it doesn’t match.
All you need to do then is automate running the script - on Linux, a cron job or a systemd service and timer.
Figure out how to determine your server IP from within the same scripting language.
My go to way to figure out my public IP address is
curl ip.me. Very handy and easy to remember.My router actually has a UPnP API that I can request and get my external IP, which I like so I can poll it every few seconds and not worry about rate limiting or something.
Meanwhile, my ISP would often rotate their customer behind their CGNAT, so the IP address from the routers upnp would often return 10.x.x.x . One of the main reason I gave up using dynamic DNS and use Tailscale instead.
Port forwarding wouldn’t work anyway with CGNAT, so I don’t think that’s much of an issue.
Do you want the host to be accessible fully from any host, or do you control all hosts you want to access it?
For mine, all the devices I want to access my personal host I have setup zerotier, and then pointed cloudflare at my zerotier address.
Any device I want to access my host (outside of my local network) requires zerotier.
I don’t want anything outside of my control accessing my host
I used No-IP for this very thing many years ago (using a domain on a server with a dynamic IP, anyway). I don’t know how it is now, but a quick search shows it is still around.
No-IP has been great for me for about a year now. No complaints.
It really depends on the company that you use to manage the domain’s DNS. As long as they have an API to update DNS records…
For example, I can have my domain at Porkbun and have its DNS managed at Cloudflare. Cloudflare allows updating DNS records via API…so there’s programs to update it. Some routers even support it.
Worst case, you can set up a service like duckdns and have your domain, via cname, point to the duck DNS subdomain.
There’s options.
