DynDNS Cuts Back Free DNS Options 223
First time accepted submitter LazyBoyWrangler writes "Just noticed the 'free' non-commercial service from DynDNS has been deprecated. Not my place to argue with their business model changes, but the home router infrastructure out there has been built around the promise of free dynamic DNS service. Most manufacturers offer DynDNS as their only option. Removing the free service for non-commercial folks seems disingenuous when they are the only option for many users." According to the linked page, the free service is being drastically cut back for new users (one free hostname, rather than five, and from a shorter list of branded domains), but not ended entirely. Existing users, it says, will see no changes "as long as you keep your hostnames active and up-to-date. If you allow your account or hostnames to expire, you will have to select from the new domains instead and will be limited to the one free hostname."
Doesn't matter (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Doesn't matter (Score:5, Informative)
It does matter when 99% of routers only have dyndns as an option.
Re:Doesn't matter (Score:5, Funny)
It does matter when 99% of routers only have dyndns as an option.
we are the 99%
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occupy DNS?
Re:Doesn't matter (Score:5, Funny)
Occupy X.500, it has a classier name and more features.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Doesn't matter (Score:5, Insightful)
The economy is in the shitter, so of course people complain about increasing expenses, since they can't afford them either.
Re:Doesn't matter (Score:5, Informative)
Dyndns's subscription cost, while it isn't epsilon, certainly is delta. A one-year subscription is $20, or you could do monthly for $2.
$20. If you really need the service, you could practically find that in the couch cushions over the course of a year.
Re:Doesn't matter (Score:5, Insightful)
Then buy the service or run your own DNS why don't you?
I tried this actually. If you run your own dynamic DNS service most consumer routers won't update it - they're hardcoded to only support DynDNS. That's why this is such a big deal. Because the free DynDNS option was "good enough" for so long nearly all hardware manufacturers didn't bother to support anything else.
Re:Doesn't matter (Score:5, Insightful)
Pretty much. Of course, since nearly all hardware manufacturers probably also didn't bother to support DnyDNS *financially* for the feature they used to sell their product, DynDNS probably got more and more workload from those freeloaders and couldn't afford to keep the free service up. It would have been pretty trivial to have a "configuratble http request to a configurable host" in the router to update pretty much all dynamic dns providers out there. But router manufacturers seem to have chosen to cheap-skate.
(Although for 99% of people out there the one host name per router should still be enough, the few who absolutely *Need* more are most likely to also be able to pay for the better service.)
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Doesn't matter (Score:5, Interesting)
It's not like updating via a router is the only choice. If you are hosting something on that IP you are going to have at least one box that can run a software client to update.
Also the vast majority of non-commercial users don't need multiple sites on one account - and they don't need a huge selection of dozens of host domains. DynDns is simplifying their free service without affecting the needs of 99.9% of new users. And if you need more sites it is not that hard to setup a free email account to link it to.
So the bottom line is, this is a non-story.
Re:Doesn't matter (Score:4, Interesting)
Not always. Think about a remote security DVR, or a remote (mostly) brainless NAS hard disk for backups, and you'll be on the right track: The fact that there is a network connection and some gear that needs a dynamic hostname does not also mean that there is also a PC capable of running arbitrary software.
Throwing a cheap router into the mix (which PPPOE users needed to have anyway) just plain fixed that, for a lot of folks, for a long time. This (actually rather old) announcement changes things somewhat.
This is important because some people might not have seen an email from DynDNS for a decade or more, and will be very surprised when their things stop working after all this time.
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Not always. Think about a remote security DVR, or a remote (mostly) brainless NAS hard disk for backups, and you'll be on the right track: The fact that there is a network connection and some gear that needs a dynamic hostname does not also mean that there is also a PC capable of running arbitrary software.
Also X10. Turning on porch/driveway lights and turning up the heat remotely can be a cost saver for people who don't come home at the same time every day.
Plus, there's the extra geek point for coffeepot.dyndns.foo
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This is important because some people might not have seen an email from DynDNS for a decade or more, and will be very surprised when their things stop working after all this time.
Happened to me recently: I went on vacation for a few weeks and the home server croaked in the meanwhile. No ddclient update for a month -> end of dyndns service. Plenty of things didn't work when I got back for this very reason.
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There are other options for DynDNS only routers (Score:5, Informative)
Worth a look: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/What_is_DD-WRT%3F
Open source router firmware provides support for a number of dynamic dns providers. Including: DynDNS, easyDNS, FreeDNS, No-IP, TZO, ZoneEdit, custom, and others
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I only use open-source router firmware. The stuff normally provided has no worthwhile support for IPTables (or replacements thereof), IPv6, Multicast, Dynamic DNS, honeypots, IPSec, SK/IP, AQM, or indeed anything much that Linux has.
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Is there any open source router firmware that supports load balancing and dynamic failover between multiple WANs (with corresponding dynamic DNS update)?
When I bought my router, there sure weren't any of those (not counting using a generic Linux server as a router and writing your own failover programs).
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Nonsense. You always have the option of paying your ISP for a static IP address and registering a normal DNS entry.
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Also, it doesn't help when you have failover between two services.
DynDNS takes care of that need.
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My cable company only has dynamic IP for home. Minimum cost is $29.95/mo (5 Mbit down). The cheapest business internet with a static IP is $87.99/mo.(20 Mbit down, 3 Mbit up).
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It does matter when 99% of routers only have dyndns as an option.
I very much doubt the 99% figure as I have never encountered or heard about such a router.
But that doesn't matter because the authoritative nameserver that you choose does not need to be the same as whatever people are using to make DNS queries for them to find your site.
Re: (Score:2)
So what?
The point of DynDNS is being able to reach machines behind your router, so if they're online, they can run any dynamic DNS updating client they like, and even as a cronjob or scheduled thingamabob (however Windows might call them, I don't do Windows).
So, if you *have* machines running, *they* can update the IP, and if you *don't* have anything running, what's the point of dynamic DNS?
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Then you introduce the problem with uptime requirements for that PC. You can't just shut it down or even reboot it, because it's now running an essential service.
One might argue that you can run the dynamic DNS client on the same server as provides the service you need reachable by dynamic DNS. But that's not always feasible either. coffeepot.dyndns.example or other X10 services, or an all-in-one NAS, for example.
Then there's the situation which I'm sure nobody here have encountered - having to help fami
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Currently using that and these other [buddyns.com] two [nether.net]. But then I only ever wanted secondary service, if possible with NOTIFY support. Someday I'll mail in some cash to these fine folks, as I did with everydns before it got eaten by dyndns.
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I used to use afraid.org, but switched to something else when their domains inexplicably weren't resolving for a long time ago for what seemed to last a week or two.
Much more recently, I just buy my own domains for the pittance that it costs per year, pick a free DNS provider (Zone Edit still works fine, for instance), and do the dynamic DNS thing that way. If I ever find that the DNS provider is down for some reason, I can fix it myself.
Yep (Score:5, Interesting)
Already lost a domain name I had for I have no idea how many years because google marked the notification as junk so I never saw it.
I'm partly to blame for not logging in every other day to make sure my account didn't expire.
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Already lost a domain name I had for I have no idea how many years because google marked the notification as junk so I never saw it.
I'm partly to blame for not logging in every other day to make sure my account didn't expire.
I guess it was worth less than $30/year to you then ;)
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Unlikely to help if you IP hardly ever changes...
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Which would be behaviour they explicitely list as abuse on the link above. But if they don't care about their own rules (or can't be bothered specifying them accurately) I guess it doesn't matter.
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They don't specify what the frequency for abuse would be, but hourly would probably be a touch excessive, however daily wouldn't. I've used DynDNS and most clients update daily, or based on changes. Never had a problem.
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The text says updating when the IP hasn't changed is abuse. Sure, they don't actually mean that, but that's what they wrote.
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Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
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What's most disturbing is the lack of others... (Score:5, Interesting)
While there are services, like DynDNS with proprietary interfaces the reality is that dynamic DNS has a standard interface. RFC 2136 style updates should work with any provider, allowing equipment makers to support everyone. While DynDNS has supported people well, I hope this move makes end users demand RFC standard support in devices so that ANY dynamic DNS provider can be used. There are choices other than DynDNS, they have maintained their lead only via a proprietary interface and a market lead.
Re:What's most disturbing is the lack of others... (Score:5, Interesting)
I mean, look at IPv6; IP address space is now gone. There were economic and technical incentives years ago to convert but nobody did. Now IP addresses, a completely artificial and invented thing, has become equivalent to real property... and people are reluctant to switch now because they've made an investment in this intangible.
No, if there's anything the internet has taught me it's this; The answer to "They couldn't POSSIBLY be that stupid..." is always "Oh yes they could."
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The theory is that an ISP should have a fat upsteam pipe of cost X and N thin downstream pipes of cost Y and price Z, such that X + N.Y < N.Z + some reasonable profit margin. The practice is that market forces want Z to be below what can be sustained because it kills off the competitors, provided you don't mind providing a degraded service. The catch is that so many customers are happy with degraded service that the ISPs aren't killed off and Z stays below what the infrastructure can tolerate.
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Re:What's most disturbing is the lack of others... (Score:5, Interesting)
2. Double-NAT inherently breaks ... VPN connectivity.
No it doesn't. It does break PPTP and IPSEC because the people who created those standards never believed people would be stupid enough to use something as dumb as NAT in the real world. But the more recent OpenVPN and some of the it's copycats (eg IPSEC variants) will always work with NAT at one end and can work the NAT at both ends; if you're using a high performance NAT, eg a linux router or a "CGN".
3. Forces users that need a public facing IP ... to pay
I don't mind the paying so much, but I'll make REAL SURE I don't pay my ISP for the connectivity "extras". Use a third party preferably using OpenVPN (because it's rather hard to identify on the wire) and preferably in another country.
2. Double-NAT inherently breaks ... bit torrent,
Yup, breaks the most efficient file transfer protocol invented so instead the people have to use a VPN or streamed video. (assuming we're assuming the MPAA assumption that all bit torrent is video) Streamed video is the worst; it has to be delivered on time and at the rate required, no slip-ups, no slow-down, no delays. And they hope this will mean their network can be cheaper for the same level of complaints ... fat chance.
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that is not the way a market works. One ISP will switch to ipv6 and offer all those abilities back to their customers. The others will follow suit or go out of business, with some having the ability to survive with the less service due to local market monopoly only.
That's not how the market works. The switch has to lead to a perceived benefit for the customers. If it means the customers have to invest in extra equipment and gets a couple of percent slowdown in return, and things they were able to do before suddenly becomes too complicated, the winner might very well be the last one to switch.
IPv4 -> IPv6 isn't seamless. Far from it. The best any ISP can hope to do at this time is placing a 6to4 gateway router in front of the customer, and still provide IPv4 NAT
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What's really disturbing is the sense of entitlement on the internet
Not really. DynDNS was a good-enough free option for so long that a lot of home routers don't support sending IP update to anything else. There are alternatives out there and ways of running your own, but that doesn't matter because due to DynDNS providing a free service most people are locked in to using them even if they now have to pay. Their free service harmed competition and now they're reaping the rewards.
Not really proprietary... (Score:5, Informative)
DynDNS, they have maintained their lead only via a proprietary interface and a market lead.
Dyn has submitted their HTTP update API as an IETF draft:
http://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-jennings-app-dns-update-02.txt [ietf.org]
So it's not proprietary (limited to or owned by them). You might call it non-standard, but if that draft was accepted it would be on the IETF standards track.
Also, Dyn *does* offer DNS UPDATE support, but only for paying customers:
http://dyn.com/support/clients/dynamic-dns-updates-via-tsig/ [dyn.com]
Awesome! Finally. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think this is great news. Maybe router manufacturers will now be smart enough to simply include DNS Update (RFC 2136) support instead of the proprietary dyndns garbage. Enter your domain name and a key and you're all set.
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Um, guys? You do realize that dyndns offers a secure update mechanism over SSL. RFC2136 punts when it comes to security, and basically says it's implementation-dependent.
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Yeah, but SSL's useless because the CAs are crap about maintaining security and the customers want dirt-cheap rather than integrity. You can't get cheaper than a thief.
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SSL's useless because the CAs are crap about maintaining security
So you're saying online banking is dead?
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Online banking typically uses two-step authentication -- precisely because SSL is crap. But even then, do a Slashdot search for CitiBank. If you're brave, you might even want to look up prior discussions on certs and look at which ones mention fake PayPal certs being issued. It has come up a few times. Online banking's not dead, the banks have improved some, but it is dangerous and ill-advised for more than a few banks.
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RFC 3007, was standardised in 2000 as a method of securing updates.
Support of RFC 2137+3007 is built into Mac OS (System Preferences -> Sharing -> Edit -> Use Dynamic Global Hostname).
For Linux, *BSD add a call to nsupdate from dhclient-exit-hooks.
if test -n "$new_ip_address"
then
nsupdate -y key:secret
update delete hostname A
update add hostname 300 A $new_ip_address
send
EOF
fi
router-ready DNS UPDATE client (Score:2)
Well, they're not a charity (Score:5, Insightful)
I use them, but I only have one address anyway.
If it has value to you (Score:5, Insightful)
Vote with your checkbook. We're not talking thousands of dollars or life critical systems here.
Re:If it has value to you (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly. Spend a few bucks people.
I've been paying them the pittance they ask every year since dirt. Its well worth it for the reliable service, and
access to machines behind dynamic ips. Way cheaper than a static IP these days, and essential for a
traveling machine. (I register two names per interface on traveling laptops, external IP, and internal IP).
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I registered a domain with them for 10 years. Pretty cheap and they don't swat me for camping on it.
I've used Dyndns for a long time and I just paid them for the pro version for a year.
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Old news (Score:4, Informative)
This was done a *long* time ago. Years? Old news is old.
Re:Old news (Score:5, Informative)
True just went back and checked my email from August 2010 and there is the notice.
Subject: Changes to NEW DynDNS.com Accounts
Message-ID: bfd1113cf66806ecb6d56590e45d7736@marketer.sendlabs.com
Return-Path: marketer@bouncelabs.com
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:39:14 -0300
From: "DynDNS Support"
Reply-To: support@dyndns.com
Hello:
As you may have seen, we are making some changes to Dynamic DNS accounts.
Instead of making the changes without notice, we wanted to give all of our
existing customers a heads up and explain why we are making these changes.
What changes are you talking about?
Previously we allowed each Dynamic DNS account to have 5 free hostnames and
you could select them from 88 different domains that we own. Now this will
be limited to 2 free hostnames from 18 DynDNS branded domains.
Also, we are increasing the number of hostnames that come with a DynDNS Pro
upgrade. Previously, each DynDNS Pro upgrade gave you the ability to add 25
additional hostnames. We are increasing that number to 30.
Why are you making these changes?
There are a number of reasons that we thought it was important to make
these changes now.
1. Having 88 free domains to choose from was overwhelming for many of
our new users. By reducing this to 18 it makes it easier for people to get
started.
2. By limiting the free options to the DynDNS branded domains, it helps
grow the awareness of our services. Although we are happy to offer our free
services, we simply ask that you help spread the word to other people who
might find our paid services helpful. We have to pay those bills somehow.
3. Looking at the stats of our users over the past 12 years, we see that
the vast majority of people only use 1 free hostname. Our support team has
seen a lot of confusion caused by the five free hostnames, so when you
combine that with the normal use case, it just made sense. We are allowing
the 2nd hostname for those who need to create a WebHop to access your
hostname. If you are going to need more than 1 or 2 hostnames there's a
good chance you are using us for something important. If that's the case,
we simply ask that you pay $15/yr for the DynDNS Pro upgrade, which
provides a number of other benefits.
4. If you are using our services for business critical needs, you should
consider our Custom DNS service.
What will happen to my current account and hostnames?
Nothing, as long as you keep your hostnames active and up-to-date. If you
allow your account or hostnames to expire, you will have to select from the
new domains instead and will be limited to the 2 free hostnames. To ensure
you aren’t affected by these changes, upgrade to DynDNS Pro for just
$15/yr. Again, there are a number of other benefits to upgrading.
You're just trying to force us to pay you, aren't you?
No, not really. As long as you keep your account active, you won't be
affected by these changes. We would never want to have a user feel like
they were forced to use our services. This does not seem to be a very good
business model to us. You do your part (log into your account or update
your hostname monthly) and we will do ours (continue to offer free Dynamic
DNS services to you).
--
Chris Widner
DynDNS Ninja Squad Sensei
They're complete asshats about DMCA emails (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:They're complete asshats about DMCA emails (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:They're complete asshats about DMCA emails (Score:5, Insightful)
Ok, but the correct response was to send a DMCA counter-notice. DMCA Safe Harbor requires them to take down infringement, unless a counter-notice is filed.
Re:They're complete asshats about DMCA emails (Score:5, Insightful)
So instead of sending the simple counter notice that requires them to put ot back you decided to send something else that acting upon would expose them to legal liability.
And you were surprised that they decided not to lose their safe harbour protection?
My anecdote can beat up your anecdote (Score:3)
It's disheartening that DynDNS are such complete shit heads.
I've done business with Dyn, Inc., before, and found them cluefull and willing to help. I know some of the people who work there, and they are not complete shit heads.
Sorry about your situation. Another reason to hate the DMCA, I think.
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You are directing your hostility towards the wrong thing here... surely DMCA is the real issue.
Actually I kind of wouldn't mind DMCA takedown notices except there doesn't seem to be enough punishment for malicious takedown notices so (as in your case) it's too easy to just shoot one off and see if it sticks.
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So, you moved from their service because you did the wrong thing? If they ignore a DMCA takedown notice, then they are liable for any copyright infringement. Any US-based hosting company will do the same (which is a good reason not to do business with them, but I digress). If you send a DMCA counter notice, then they are absolved of any liability if they restore the content. The dispute is then between the person filing the notice and the counter notice (and, since the original notice is signed under pe
Who is being disingenuous? (Score:5, Interesting)
It seems like the router manufacturers, who have essentially been free-riding on dyndns' service as a selling point for their routers.
timothy ... (Score:5, Funny)
You actually read the submission and checked the facts, possibly avoiding a flame fest. This is totally unacceptable and goes against everything /. stands for.
Re:timothy ... (Score:5, Funny)
You actually read the submission and checked the facts, possibly avoiding a flame fest. This is totally unacceptable and goes against everything /. stands for.
"You cannot go against nature, for if you do
go against nature, that's part of nature too!"
Timothy's one of the few editors left from the old days; don't scare him off.
I'm using no-ip.com (Score:2)
I'm using no-ip.com for my dynamic DNS needs. How do they compare against the others?
no-ip.com (Score:4)
This is news? (Score:5, Informative)
This policy change is many months old, maybe even over a year.
When I saw the article, I thought that maybe there were even more changes, but I saw nothing new that I did not know since at least the first quarter of this year. I'd have to go rifle through my email archive to know for sure exactly when I first heard about this change.
I was notified 27 Aug 2010 (Score:5, Informative)
Agreed -- this is old news. I got my notice about this change on 27 Aug 2010 -- about a year and a half ago. Submitter has been asleep at the switch.
Given that they're still giving me free stuff, just not quite as much free stuff, I didn't really feel all that upset about it. :)
Here's most of the text of the notice:
From: "DynDNS Support"
To: dragonhawk@
Subject: Changes to NEW DynDNS.com Accounts
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:39:14 -0300
Reply-To: support@dyndns.com
Return-Path: marketer@bouncelabs.com
What changes are you talking about?
Previously we allowed each Dynamic DNS account to have 5 free hostnames and you could select them from 88 different domains that we own. Now this will be limited to 2 free hostnames from 18 DynDNS branded domains.
Also, we are increasing the number of hostnames that come with a DynDNS Pro upgrade. Previously, each DynDNS Pro upgrade gave you the ability to add 25 additional hostnames. We are increasing that number to 30.
Why are you making these changes?
There are a number of reasons that we thought it was important to make these changes now.
Having 88 free domains to choose from was overwhelming for many of our new users. By reducing this to 18 it makes it easier for people to get started.
By limiting the free options to the DynDNS branded domains, it helps grow the awareness of our services. Although we are happy to offer our free services, we simply ask that you help spread the word to other people who might find our paid services helpful. We have to pay those bills somehow.
Looking at the stats of our users over the past 12 years, we see that the vast majority of people only use 1 free hostname. Our support team has seen a lot of confusion caused by the five free hostnames, so when you combine that with the normal use case, it just made sense. We are allowing the 2nd hostname for those who need to create a WebHop to access your hostname. If you are going to need more than 1 or 2 hostnames there's a good chance you are using us for something important. If that's the case, we simply ask that you pay $15/yr for the DynDNS Pro upgrade, which provides a number of other benefits.
If you are using our services for business critical needs, you should consider our Custom DNS service.
What will happen to my current account and hostnames?
Nothing, as long as you keep your hostnames active and up-to-date. If you allow your account or hostnames to expire, you will have to select from the new domains instead and will be limited to the 2 free hostnames. To ensure you arenâ(TM)t affected by these changes, upgrade to DynDNS Pro for just $15/yr. Again, there are a number of other benefits to upgrading.
You're just trying to force us to pay you, aren't you?
No, not really. As long as you keep your account active, you won't be affected by these changes. We would never want to have a user feel like they were forced to use our services. This does not seem to be a very good business model to us. You do your part (log into your account or update your hostname monthly) and we will do ours (continue to offer free Dynamic DNS services to you).
Wayback machine (Score:3)
amusing to see how http://dyndns.org/ [dyndns.org] has changed over the years; in 1999 complaining on the front page about the programmer leaving and taking all his code with him to a completely anonymous, plasticky "professional" look in 2011 and all the slow changes in between,
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Agreed. Way back in their broke and begging days I donated something like $20 or $30 to them. At the time they were one of the only dynamic DNS services and it worked just fine, even then.
Later, when they began offering additional commercial options, I found that my initial free account had been upgraded to a lifetime pro account (it's labeled Dynamic DNS Pro - Permanent) because I had been generous to them in those early times. It's stayed that way, too, ever since 2002. I don't get all of the commerci
Do you seem to be grandfathered too? (Score:3)
I gave them $10 (or something) way back when and it seems I have an indefinitely paid account.
That's pretty classy in my book.
Have they changed the 'rules' or something? (Score:2)
I own a German ADSL modem from a company called AVM, the Fritzbox 7390. (Don't buy one) for some reason, intermittantly it's not logging correctly into the DynDNS account all the time. I have had to re-activate my account at least twice now with DynDNS due to lack of activity. (even though I use the actual domain name daily)
I'm not sure if they want me to log in via the web instead, or the modem is going screwy, or what but it's concerning me as I too, like a few others here have had these names for a h
Rules are the same, AFAIK (Score:3)
As far as I know, the rules are the same.
For the free hostname, you have to submit an update at least once every 30 days, even if your IP address hasn't changed. Otherwise, the free account will be deleted.
If you send updates *too often*, you'll get blocked for abuse. "Too often" isn't defined anywhere that I find easily, but more than once every several days or so is a good threshold to use. You'll get an email if this happens. Also, the "too often" limit only applies if your IP address hasn't actually
Long time ago... (Score:2)
Noticed when my router evidently had most user space apps crash for some reason and, among other things, my domain 'lapsed', and I couldn't get it back for free. Now this is particularly crummy as unlike a 'real' domain, you can't just take it to another provider (you only have a host record in their domain, you don't actually have a domain that can be transferred) because you are mad.
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Yah, how *dare* they not let you take their property (a domain name they pay for) and use it for free?!?
It seems scummy because they managed to lure a whole bunch of people in by offering service for free and then changing the rules, using the fact that users can't move their subdomains to anywhere else to force them to pay for an overpriced service. It's not actually terribly hard to run your own dynamic DNS, it's just that there wasn't any reason to and it didn't work as well because most consumer routers only supported DynDNS.
Bait and switch.. (Score:2, Insightful)
My problem is the bait and switch. If I was going to *pay* for a domain, I sure as hell wouldn't have selected one as limited as a DynDNS subdomain, but I did because it *was* free. Paying to have a host record in one of their domain when for the same amount of money I can have my own domain seems ridiculous.
limited to 5? (Score:2)
Can't see the issue (Score:3)
Personally, I can't really find much of an issue here. Yes, 99% of routers might only have DynDNS as an option, but I'd also wager than about 95% of the routers out there don't use a dynamic DNS server anyways, and of those that do, very few care to setup more than 1 domain name. I doubt this change will affect very many users.
roll own dynamic DNS, even with same router (Score:5, Interesting)
If you have a rented server somewhere running a DNS server, then the usual suggestion I make is to roll your own dynamic DNS. Before somone says "but my router only supports DyDNS", there are solutions that can allow you to update your own dynamic DNS anyway -- the main trick is getting your public IP address. If you also run your own web server, it's quite simple to create a web page like "whatismyip" in PHP:
(start PHP here)
echo $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
(stop PHP here)
And from there you can make a custom shell script that checks your public IP, compares it with what your DNS server has for the entry, and then update your DNS server if needed. This doesn't need to be done at the router -- it can be done through it if necessary. If you run Bind9, look at the 'nsupdate' utility -- and of particular note, it's possible to do this dynamic DNS update via TCP rather than UDP. That way you can guarantee that the update will get there. AFAIK all of the popular DNS servers have a way of doing dynamic DNS updates such that they don't have to be done right at the router.
It's more convenient to do this at the router, though, because the router is on all the time and desktops/laptops aren't. So if you really want to also run a custom router to do the job for you, you might like the Alix hardware such as this:
http://pcengines.ch/alix2d3.htm [pcengines.ch]
Debian runs nicely on the Alix hardware directly, using a kernel for a 486.
Open Source Firmware to the Rescue (Score:2, Informative)
Worth a look: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/What_is_DD-WRT%3F
Open source router firmware provides support for a number of dynamic dns providers. Including: DynDNS, easyDNS, FreeDNS, No-IP, TZO, ZoneEdit, custom, and others
Not only that, but they killed EveryDNS (Score:4, Insightful)
They took over handling of the "EveryDNS" free service, with promises to continue the service.
But now they have forced all EveryDNS users who want to keep using the service to pay them to migrate.
And EveryDNS is gone.
Obviously the choice of DynDNS to be the ones to take over the service was a bit disingenuous, since, it was just a strategy to make more $$$ while pretending to be altruistic
Re: (Score:3)
No, the only ones who will be forced to pay are those who let their accounts expire. If you like your account, keep it active. There is no breach of promise.
First of all... with EveryDNS accounts didn't expire; it doesn't make sense for DNS accounts to expire, you don't need to login to a website to use DNS services -- you just need to keep the domain registered with the registrar, to be using DNS service.
Second of all... they are only doing that for one year or so [entic.net]; in the not so distant future, it
They killed ath.cx for free users. (Score:4, Interesting)
That was what pissed me off. But yeah, this is old news.
Hell I think dynamic DNS should be a basic function of the net. That's how it was supposed to go. What is this Facebook shit. We're supposed to have our own servers. Indeed, back in the day it was actually originally set up where you directly applied for a class C IP range. That was a perfectly reasonable premise. It's interesting how far we've gotten away from that rather simple concept.
hadn't noticed (Score:4, Interesting)
I gave them $10 a decade ago (Score:3)
I still have a permanently free Pro account.
That's pretty classy in my books.
Re: (Score:3)
But I can't say I want one now. I gave them money so they'd stay free. They didn't stay free.
OMG.... (Score:2)
Good (Score:2)
dyn inc service and alternatives (Score:3, Informative)
This thread is worth a read regarding dyndns [webhostingtalk.com] and their practises.
They recently bought everydns and editdns, offered existing users who paid or donated "free" accounts, and then once they bought it, went back on their word. the free accounts included a migration fee for domains, and the accounts were limited, so users would have to pay again to get the same level of service they may have paid for at editdns for example (and due to dyndns strange pricing where you have a limit of 75 subdomains on the standard paid account, you may have to pay them a significant amount of money)
Also worth noting, then editdns users expressed their concerns, dyndns were very quick to close down their old forum and place with a note to email their staff.
Worth noting that Hurrican Electric have a free dns service (http://dns.he.net [he.net]) - with up to 50 domains allowed and it can operate as a secondary dns also. They also include a dynamic dns facility. There are some other free options left, but how long until dyndns buys them too ? :)
It is a business. (Score:2)
Re:Happy Holidays from the Golden Girls! (Score:4, Informative)
Can someone please explain this troll to me?
The first line is to thank you for being a friend.
The second line is a metaphor describing life as a journey.
The third line is very deep. You can meditate for hours on the connections with the first two lines: cosmonauts obviously take long journeys, for example.
The second stanza is again a metaphor, this time on life being a party and the importance of having good friends. This again connects with the sentiments from the first stanza.