Getting Domain to Point at DDNS Server

[tarfeef101]

So... The second post I made looking for help today... I feel wrong. This isn't how I'm supposed to work. I'm supposed to fix other people's problems!!!

Anyways, here's what's going on:

I have a server which I want to use for development, mainly. So I want ssh access to it from anywhere. I also may spin up a website on it, and some other tools on various ports. Setting that up on the server isn't hard. set those ports to listen, start the services, whatever. So i have done that, (at least for sshd)

I set up a dynamic dns service for my router. I have had an account for a long time with noip, but my router integrates with dlinkddns, so i set that up so i don't have to run a program to update the dns provider at all when my IP changes. I have an address from them, and set that up in my router. I also forwarded the ports I need for the reserved IP of my server. I can ssh into that server from anywhere using the ddns as the hostname. So this works.

The issue comes when I try to use my own domain that I purchased to do the same thing. I purchased a domain from squarespace (cause I wanted to give a certain content creator a little kickback or at least partner satisfaction), and I plan to use that domain as the domain to access my server.

Now, I have tried a bunch of configuration options on there... but nothing has worked frankly. If someone is willing to help, i'll be glad to share what i've tried so far (to the best extent my memory will allow), but if anyone simply knows how to do this and can tell me, I would be the giddiest of posters

Thanks, pre-emptively!

[RixzZ]

Since you can't point a bare domain using a CNAME to the DDNS record you already have, the only thing that occurs to me is to use a DDNS provider as DNS service for your whole domain.

 

You could use Cloudflare, even they aren't a DDNS provider per-se, you can use their API to do so. Point your domain Nameservers to them (you have to create an account). Then after you make a DNS zone with your current dynamic IP, you can use ddclient (or any other ddns client) to update those records on the whole zone everytime your IP changes.

 

I propose Cloudflare + ddclient, because both integrate well using the Cloudflare API, but any other providers would work.

 

PD: If you are going to do this or something similar using a dynamic IP, you should set the TTL to a low value to prevent problems with dns caching.

[tarfeef101]

Thanks. I'm trying one last, desperate attempt to muck around with the settings. 

 

So is that CloudFlare service free? Also, if you can use any ddns, I'll probably stick with D-Link just because my router handles updating the IP automatically without me having to rely on a PC to do it. 

[tarfeef101]

On 3/16/2018 at 7:55 PM, RixzZ said:

- Snip -

Got it to work by forwarding a subdomain to the ddns address instead! ssh.domain.example is more than alright with me. Thanks for the help!!

[RixzZ]

Yeah, you can point any subdomain to the DDNS you already have using a CNAME. The only record you can't point is the bare domain, because it needs an A record.

 

For the solution I proposed, you had to use a DNS zone provider with DDNS support.

Edited March 19, 2018 by RixzZ
Fix typo

[tarfeef101]

3 minutes ago, RixzZ said:

Yeah, you can point any subdomain to the DDNS you already have using a CNAME. The only record you can't point is the bare domain, becuase it needs an A record.

 

For the solution I proposed, you had to use a DNS zone provider with DDNS support.

Yeah, so if I ever implement a proper site on this box I'll have to do that, but I don't think I will for a while. For now it's still mostly just for dev work, so I can make custom domains for each application I have for it, not an issue. Thanks for the help though, I may end up doing that in the future when I bother setting a site up.