I hate updating DNS records every time my IP address changes. But you know what I hate more? Paying another $20/month for a static IP.
The Problem
I host Sitekick Remastered’s game server from my home network. I’m on a 500/500 fiber line, so the usability for the average person is actually pretty great. There is a problem though – the server goes offline every time my IP changes. This is a once or twice per month occurrance. This means that every time it changes, someone notifies me they can’t log in, and I have to go update the DNS records. Basically it’s just a huge pain in the butt.
The Solution
Remember how I don’t want to spend another $20/month for a static IP? Well, there’s a company that offers a free Dynamic DNS service called No-IP. You run a service on your computer or router, and it’ll automatically push any IP changes to one of their subdomains (you get to choose the subdomain name).
So. How does this help? It updates their subdomain – how does this get to my domain?
Well, it’s pretty easy. We create a proxied CNAME record on CloudFlare, then point it to our hopto.org subdomain. This means that game.sitekickremastered.com is pretending to be ________.hopto.org (hosted by no-ip), which is pretending to be my home IP. The benefit of a CNAME record is I can still proxy it, so I don’t have to give out my actual IP for people to hit the game server.
Cons
There’s less cons than you’d think for using a free service. Every 30 days or so I need to click a link in an email to keep the subdomain up and running. That’s it. If I forget to renew it, I might have to re-create the domain and modify the CNAME. Overall, we’ll experience significantly less downtime, and I can use that extra $20/month I’m saving to buy Pizza (Half off on Mondays at Dominos with code MON50P).
Conclusion
If you’re cheap, and you host your own servers, and what you’re hosting isn’t mission critical, I’d recommend digging into a free Dynamic DNS service. It’s a joke to set up, and even if you did decide to pay for it, you’re looking at $25/year, not $20/month – depending on your ISP.
