Dynamic DNS

[Ob1]

can anyone shed some more light on DDNS for me? i have a general idea of how it works, but if someone could explain how it works in more detail i would appreciate it. Also is this the preferred method now a days, or is payin the extra money for a static ip address still better? if DDNS is the preferred method, can anyone recommend some good providers? im sure you have to pay for the DDNS service as well, i just havent spent the time to investigate that. Are there any cons to using DDNS over static?

[ktkendall]

I think your mixing up things a bit. DNS is how you can type in a website name like www.pcmech.com in your browsers nav bar, and DNS servers are what your PC contacts first thing to get the actual IP address of www.pcmech.com which is 209.68.45.231, then the browser contacts the website for the requested page via this actual IPaddress.. Your DNS servers are pretty much determined by your ISP wether you set them statically or obtain them automatically.. Sounds like what you are really questioning is DHCP which is when your PC is set to obtain IP address automatically, and depending on which provider and type of Internet service you have you don't always have a choice. I have DSL and can get a different IP address everytime I connect and that is just how it is. With some cable internet providers is where you can have static IP address, which is perhaps what you want for certain applications, like many server apps, where you want it to always be the same IP address and would not be good for your IP address to always be changing...

[glc]

www.dyndns.org

BEFORE you think about hosting servers on a residential broadband account, I'd advise you to read your ISP's acceptable use policy. Commercial hosting is so cheap these days there's no sense in trying to host your own.