I’m new to self-hosting. All I did so far was install Ubuntu Server, enable SSH and tried setting up DuckDNS, which I could not set up automatic update of my IP following the documentation, neither updating manually through the website, which even though seems to be changed, when I ssh the domain, I get the initial IP
Anyone using DuckDNS? Is it working properly for you guys? Did I just mess something up?
What other DDNS providers would you recommend me?
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DuckDNS has long enough latency (over 2000ms) where Google Assistant can’t connect. I moved to FreeDDNS and my Home Assistant issues went away.
I already used desec.io for my domains back when I had static IP blocks at home so I just used the dyndns api with ddclient to update them automatically for my dynamic IP.
I am using Dynu. It works fine and it’s free, no complaints. Their app for Linux to update periodically didn’t seem to work well from my experience, I just set up a cron job to do it instead.
Well, if you use DDNS I assume you have some kind of server behind that. I just self host a godns container. No need for any service except an DNS API. I use cloudflare. But my IP only changes rarely, so I can’t tell you how fast that setup propegates
Another one I have seen recommended in here is afraid.org, adding it as haven’t seen it mentioned yet.
I’m surprised the amount of people saying they have had no issues with DucksDNS. I’ve used it for about five years and had issues on and off with it being unresponsive many times.
Gave up and moved to afraid.org about a year back and that’s been a very solid service ever since.
Can you do letsencrypt dns challenges against the free tier now? This was one reason I moved to duckdns. Plus I kept forgetting to login to keep the account alive so it would just stop working until I logged in and reactivated. Duckdns do emulate that experience with their random downtime though 😂
I use them. I also like their vibe and aesthetic
I have been using duckdns for a few years without issues. It should be simple enough , just set up a cron job with your details as listed on their site where you configure it. This keeps your dns entry up to date.
For my server I bought a domain on loopia.se and pay for no other features than the domain name. On the Loopia website I then changed the DNS nameserver to Cloudflare and use a script to update the IP of my network. Cloudflare has some package you can install on Linux to update the IP but I never tried it.
Duck DNS works great… Most of the time. If you cannot accept downtime multiple times a year, get yourself a domain and a service like cloud flare instead. DuckDNS is free and you get more than you pay for, but the bar is low when the cost is zero.
Yeah DuckDNS gave me many false positive outages where its resolution failed, for multiple half-days every year I used it (5yrs+).
I moved to the afraid.org and its been solid, if anyone’s looking for another free service - only cost is you have to log in once every six months to validate your account is not dormant. They have a paid tier which gives more features (that most home users will never need), and that allows the guy running it to fund a very reliable service.
Or just use two dns providers. I have duckdns and desec. That latter seems to be a bit faster and has’t had any downtime for me so far.
I used duckdns for years without any issues at all. Only reason I switched is because I’m using Pangolin and tunneling instead of exposing my IP directly.
I ended up using Dynv6, great and simple serivce does exactly what I need. Made in Germany.
Me too. Draytek Router automatically updates the IP. Set it up once and it is working since 2-3 years (don’t exactly rember when I set it up).
I’ve used no-ip.com for years without issue.
My NAS supports a few services out of the box. If you have anything like that, see what they support natively first.
This is a great question that is relevant for me this week. Been trying to set up a wireguard vpn and found I need a DDNS. Lots of good answers to look into in the comments. Thanks everyone.
You could be behind CGNAT - I’m not sure the best way to tell but it could be the reason.
I would also highly recommend buying a cheap domain to use - it would be the price of a coffee per year but makes life so much easier and you don’t have to depend on duckdns. You can buy through cloudflare, porkbun or many other options which you can search for a good DDNS service to update them.
CGNAT does have a designated range by spec. 100.64.0.0/10, which covers addresses from 100.64.0.0 to 100.127.255.255. Technically they could be using any other private address space but it would be very uncommon in a modern ISP.
I didn’t know that, thanks for sharing
I read briefly about CGNAT, a d I think this is the case, checking the IP of my services with external services I get an IP different from the one I see in my machine. Tested more than one DDNS service and all updated my IP with the same “wrong” value.
How do I solve this? Should I contact my ISP and hope they can provide a solution?
Yeah, first try your ISP to see if you can get a dynamic or fixed IP instead. Check if their website/FAQ mentions dynamic IP or cgnat. They might outright reject it, or try to upgrade you to an extortionate business package though. I signed up for my service and checked the cgnat before signing up but they hadn’t got around to updating their website that they changed their policy. After the surprise of being behind cgnat and after screenshotting their own website, I complained and hit upgraded to a higher level package for free.
You can use tailscale to get around it, but then you need to install it on all devices and login. You can use cloudflare tunnels and think you can set it to not require login for some services. Both rely on third parties. Both are also safer than exposing directly to the public internet.
If you want full control, you have to rent a cheap vps and setup a tunnel between that and your home server, then use the public IP of the vps for your services. Wireguard is probably the best choice for VPN. You could try pangolin, which is an open source cloudflare tunnel so is more complicated than a VPN but also includes a reverse proxy.
My Domain registrar has a reverse DNS service included.
