Can I manage my own domain using a web sever at home without having a static IP address using NO-IP?

Question

I have purchased my own domain in GoDaddy. I have a server at home, Windows Server 2008 R2 to be specific. I do not have a static IP address, however I have created an account in No-IP, have the DUC software running which assures that the hostname I was provided with will always point to the dynamic IP address at my place.

However, in GoDaddy they ask for an IP to specify where is the site hosted. How can I do this?

Solution 1

You can point sub-domains at your dynamic DNS name using CNAME records. However, you cannot point the base of the domain itself without using a proxy.

So if your domain is example.com, you can make www.example.com work just by adding a CNAME for www to your dynamic DNS name.

GoDaddy's offers a redirection service. Say your domain is example.com. To make http://example.com work (without a www) use GoDaddy's HTTP proxy service to redirect example.com to www.example.com. You'll need an A record for example.com that points to GoDaddy's redirection service.

Solution 2

Just to add to the already helpful answers, here's confirmation from GoDaddy that as of 1 week ago (May 2012) they do not directly support dynamic DNS:

http://support.godaddy.com/groups/domains-management-and-services/forum/topic/dynamic-ip-1/

Sounds like you would be best off migrating your domain to another company. If you like No-IP they can handle a domain with a dynamic IP if you sign up for a paid No-IP Plus account. See more details here:

http://www.no-ip.com/services/managed_dns/plus_dynamic_dns.html

Solution 3

However, in GoDaddy they ask for an IP to specify where is the site hosted. How can I do this?

Since GoDaddy hosts your DNS for you, they want to know where to point DNS. If you use a Dynamic DNS service you will need to move your DNS to them.

More info: https://serverfault.com/questions/234625/godaddy-hosting-with-dynamic-ip

Solution 4

If you point your NS (name servers) from GoDaddy, to your No-ip address, then that should work. Say Example.com is your domain and Example.no-ip.org is your No-Ip address then in godaddy's control panel change your name servers to example.no-ip.org then in windows dns on your server, set up a new forwards zone for your ip, then add an A record for www with the ip being your current dynamic ip. Every time your ip changes you will have to alter this A record, put you shouldn't have to alter your settings for godaddy

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Comments

[uSlackr]

I moved my DNS to ZoneEdit.com. It supports dynamic DNS, so every couple hours a script runs on my PC to update the IP address with zoneedit. In 5+ years I've been able to host my web site and manage the machines on my home network without issue.

[Soph]

So, your suggestion would be for me to move from GoDaddy to ZoneEdit? Is this easy to do?

[uSlackr]

Yes, but you should check it out for yourself. ZoneEdit's help system will educate you

[Soph]

Great, I could make it work with DavidSchwartz post, but this would have probably been my alternative plan. Thanks a lot!

[Soph]

My IP address at home changes (at least) every 12 hours. So sadly thats not a choice. Thanks for pointing out that mistake, I meant to say "I do not have a STATIC ip address"

[David Schwartz]

He doesn't need them to support dynamic DNS since he already has a dynamic DNS server that's working.

[nerdherd]

Right, I just said that it doesn't directly support dynamic DNS and in my opinion it's just easier to do the whole setup through a company that does. Your answer is a perfectly valid option as well of course.

[Soph]

Im trying this as we speak. I just changed the CNAME records, it takes a while to update. I'll come back as soon as I have a result! Thankss

[Soph]

I could make this work for the www.example.com. However, I tried adding an A record that points to GoDaddy's redirection service and forwarding example.com to http://www.example.com. The GoDaddy redirection service I found is this one: 64.202.189.170. But I am not quite sure if this is correct, because it is not working. Have you got any idea why? Thanks in advance!

[David Schwartz]

"It is not working" is not a helpful problem description. What goes wrong exactly?

[Soph]

Sorry! It wasn't a helpful description at all but your answer was. I thought it wasn't working because I was checking the response of each url from the cmd making a ping for www.example.com and for example.com but example.com was not answering. When you answer with no specific comment on what I was doing I opened a browser and test each url, it was working fine. Thanks a lot for your help!