Minecraft server IP as domain name?

[SypherRS]

Hi, 

I'm currently trying to host my own little Minecraft server from a repurposed PC I had gathering dust in my closet. I've managed to get it up and running fairly smoothly on my own network, but my friends need to connect to it using my public IP address and I don't really like that. I've setup a domain on the server, running Windows server 2019 btw, but I am unable to get it to work. I'm really not too skilled when it comes to networking, but I've even managed to setup a DNS and entries pointing to the server IP which is set to static (192.168.1.254). When I run nslookup it gives me all the right information

Is there a way and if so, what is it that I'm not seeing? I'd really appreciate it, since I don't really like having my public IP on display like this. It also changes dynamically since static public IPs are pretty pricy where I live.

 

Thanks

[Eigenvektor]

Your own domain works inside your own network, because your computers use your DNS server. Anyone else who isn't using your DNS server can't resolve the name to an IP. For that you need to buy a domain name from a hoster/registrar.

[SypherRS]

1 minute ago, Eigenvektor said:

Your own domain works inside your own network, because your computers use your DNS server. Anyone else who isn't using your DNS server can't resolve the name to an IP. For that you need to buy a domain name from a hoster/registrar.

is there now way I could host my own public domain?

[Eigenvektor]

1 minute ago, SypherRS said:

is there now way I could host my own public domain?

No, not really. At least not easily.

 

DNS names need to be unique, which is why people can't just make up their own. That's why you need to buy it from a reseller, who in turn registers it with a registrar who is responsible for that TLD (e.g. ".com", ".de", ".co.uk", etc.).

 

You can certainly run your own DNS server on the internet. But that comes with a few rules. For one thing, you need to have at least two, for redundancy. You can't just hand out domain names as you want, because you'll get in trouble if you use names that are already registered. And last but not least, no one is going to use your DNS server to resolve IP addresses unless they know about it.

[SypherRS]

1 minute ago, Eigenvektor said:

No, not really. At least not easily.

 

DNS names need to be unique, which is why people can't just make up their own. That's why you need to buy it from a reseller, who in turn registers it with a registrar who is responsible for that TLD (e.g. ".com", ".de", ".co.uk", etc.).

 

You can certainly run your own DNS server on the internet. But that comes with a few rules. For one thing, you need to have at least two, for redundancy. You can't just hand out domain names as you want, because you'll get in trouble if you use names that are already registered. And last but not least, no one is going to use your DNS server to resolve IP addresses unless they know about it.

alright, well looks like I can't just get around this. I really wanted this to be as cheap as possible. Guess I can do without the comfort of the domain adress. Thank you though

[Eigenvektor]

1 minute ago, SypherRS said:

alright, well looks like I can't just get around this. I really wanted this to be as cheap as possible. Guess I can do without the comfort of the domain adress. Thank you though

For dynamic IP addresses, you could use a service like https://www.noip.com, I think they have or used to have a free tier, which might be enough for what you want.

 

But you know using a domain name doesn't really hide your IP address, right? If someone wanted to hack your PC a domain name or IP address are pretty much equivalent, since you can just use nslookup to get the IP that's behind that name.

[PorkishPig]

19 minutes ago, SypherRS said:

I've managed to get it up and running fairly smoothly on my own network, but my friends need to connect to it using my public IP address and I don't really like that.

A domain will not necessarily mask your IP address, people can just ping your subdomain and get your IP address in seconds. You're probably looking for something like CloudFlare Spectrum, which is not free (at all).

5 minutes ago, SypherRS said:

alright, well looks like I can't just get around this. I really wanted this to be as cheap as possible. Guess I can do without the comfort of the domain adress. Thank you though

You'll probably want a domain for this anyways, which are really cheap. See https://www.namesilo.com/pricing for pricing for each TLD.

[Eigenvektor]

3 minutes ago, PorkishPig said:

You'll probably want a domain for this anyways, which are really cheap. See https://www.namesilo.com/pricing for pricing for each TLD.

Yes, exactly. I have a domain name with my hoster and I pay less than 4€ per year for my domain. The server itself costs more than that per month

[SypherRS]

7 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

For dynamic IP addresses, you could use a service like https://www.noip.com, I think they have or used to have a free tier, which might be enough for what you want.

 

But you know using a domain name doesn't really hide your IP address, right? If someone wanted to hack your PC a domain name or IP address are pretty much equivalent, since you can just use nslookup to get the IP that's behind that name.

no-ip has a free teir, but you have to keep changing the name every month if you want it to stay free

8 minutes ago, PorkishPig said:

A domain will not necessarily mask your IP address, people can just ping your subdomain and get your IP address in seconds. You're probably looking for something like CloudFlare Spectrum, which is not free (at all).

You'll probably want a domain for this anyways, which are really cheap. See https://www.namesilo.com/pricing for pricing for each TLD.

I might look into it, but I really didn't want to pay for this, guess I can sacrifice a few euros though