Thanks again Curtis. As for the background on DNS, I went through most of that myself - Superreal HAS to be the authoritative server because it has a static IP. My domain registration points to their servers because of this.
The best luck I've had thus far is with nsupdate. So I was planning on exploring this more, and possibly comming up with a script using nsupdate to change the records on Superreal. I HAVE seen scripts that detect if an IP address changes, and can modified to trigger another script. But it's the actual DNS update that I've been having problems nailing down. I'm not sure I understand your procedure, but that's likely because of my limite experience with Linux at this level. But, I agree that scripting for the IP change (which typically only happens on a reboot - I've never seen an IP change during an active "session"), and using nsupdate is probably the right answer. I need more details on nsupdate - more digging for tonight... I would prefer to keep Bind on the router if only for name caching, but possibly to allow me to create new sub domains as needed (i.e. maybe clug.open2space.com... <grins>). On a slightly different note, I'd like to say that I am VERY impressed with your desire to help Curtis. Most any list I've been on, people are willing to help if they know the answer (which is always great to see). I've even seen people take a few minutes to test a theory before posting, or even an hour to come up with a solution. But I've never seen anyone dive in like you have - for a problem that can possibly take days or weeks (worst case scenario I hope). It's been a wonderful experience, and you have my gratitude. Anything I can do for you, let me know. Shawn -----Original Message----- From: Curtis Sloan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 10:08 AM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: RE: (clug-talk) Dynamic DNS help? >My head hurts... Hehehe... DNS will do that to you. The first time I learned about DNS architecture I kept 2 instructors overtime for 1.5 hrs, both of them were going over it and over it and over it... :-D I'm still thankful for that. Because it's kinda confusing at first. Well, at least it was for me. lol - I just tried open2space.com, and guess what happened? I couldn't get to it from my computer, but I could from the firewall. But now I can get to it from the firewall cache. *sigh* Isn't networking fun?! :-) K, I did some thinking and some poking around a Linux box last night, and here are the principles I came up with; you can tell me if you like them or not. 1. BIND is the "right" tool for handling DNS -- but I personally think that it is overkill in your network scenario. However, if you want to learn BIND, now is a good time. But I think that it is more administrative overhead than you need. 2. I have a working theory for automatically updating Superreal.com's DNS server with your ever-changing DHCP addy. I'm working on a proof-of-concept. It's below at the end of the e-mail. 3. I still believe that someone out there smarter than me has done this idea already and it must be in some really slick, smart package or script. I'm not sure who that person or what that package is yet. But I'm working on it. hehehe - Here's (basically) how DDNS services like TZO, dyndns.org, etc. work: they put a piece of software on your computer/router that monitors whether the IP has changed, and, if it has, it sends the update to their DNS servers. This functionality is most definitely possible with Linux, I just don't know how (yet). But suffice it to say it shouldn't necessitate the use of BIND. After all, these DDNS services do not require you to run a DNS server on your home network. Just a small piece of software. However, if you *do* want to use BIND, you'll have to be able to have BIND talk to Superreal.com's DNS servers in an exchange where they swap zone file information. Typically, you would do this because your DNS server (BIND) is "authoritative" for your domain (open2space.com) -- that is, it is in charge of all the host (or A, for 'alias') records for your web server, FTP server, e-mail server, etc. The Superreal.com DNS server will send people to your BIND server for help in getting to the open2space.com domain which it knows so much about, but, unfortunately, that's not going to work so well if the BIND server is getting a DHCP address from Telus that changes periodically! Suddenly, people won't be able to get to your BIND server, and no one will get to your web site/FTP/e-mail, etc. So we're back to the original problem, which is updating Superreal with your DHCP addy. - I'll interject my own monologue to say that all this is the case *unless* BIND is aware, or can be made aware, of a DHCP address change. I dunno whether it can or not. But I'd sure like to know! :-) Unless you have a lot of DNS entries to manage, and administration becomes troublesome to manage because of it, I think a script that runs dnsupdate or some other tool would be adequate. *Phew*. To prove I'm not made of just words (just mostly made of words) ;-), here's the theory I worked out: ------------ start dhcpcd -d for debug mode - adds syslog logging, then parse syslog using logwatch for renewal events on which to fire DNS update script. another place to parse may be the <ConfigDir>/dhcpcd-<interface>.info file. or possibly you could monitor for anytime the dhcpcd.exe script is executed. ------------ we could script thusly: 0. wait for event 1. on event, parse .info file/syslog for ip 2. store ip in varip 3. fire up dnsupdate and have it send a new a record using varip I don't know if this is feasible, but it seems likely, so I'm going to work on implementing this idea as well as looking for someone who's already done it on Google. All responses are welcome! Test my thinking, my understanding, and maybe together we can find the best solution for Shawn. And then all can have it for all time through the wonder of "archives". :-D Curtis.
