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Best way to get DDNS for DtDNS.com on RN104
I have tried a number of dynamic dns providers (dtdns, dyndns, no-ip) and have found dtdns to be the most reliable and best service. OK the website is out of date, but like most things its doesn't look great but it works.
I have two locations I work at and want to run DDNS for both. I own the router for one but not the other. As a Netgear fan, I have a Nighthawk 4XS, but it only supports no-ip.com, which is not my preference.
Anyway I have PCs and a NAS at each location but the PCs sometimes turn off, so I want to use the NAS' as my DDNS hosts.
DtDNS have a range of scripts for Linux they suggest work with their service (https://www.dtdns.com/dtsite/updateclients) and there is a DDNS app for the NAS, but I'm not sure this does. I would prefer to use a package built by someone who knows what they're doing, but I am on the learning curve of SSH and command line instructions for my NAS, provided I find exactly what to type on the internet! Like some Brit abroad using a translator app - I have no idea what the words are saying, I just plug them in and hope my NAS understands ;-)
So what is the advice from the folks that know?
Thanks in advance for any responses.
Jon
Sincere apologies to anyone who tried my solution - I just spent a few hours diagnosing why my second NAS wasn't updating and eventually found a daft error... the ddclient.conf file should start with use=web and not user=web as I wrote in the initial solution - otherwise everything is as-is.
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You could just try the DDClient app (it should be in available apps, and it also can be downloaded from http://apps.readynas.com/pages/?page_id=9 and manually installed). I don't know if it will work with DtDNS or not.
FWIW, my older R8500 router and my current RBR40 Orbi support both no-ip and dyndns (but not DtDNS). I've switched to no-ip some time ago (when dyndns dropped their free service), and have had no issues with it.
You might consider also using no-ip.com in the 4XS router, since there is no downside to using both services.
Well that wasn't simple but finally got it working and thought I'd post how to help others...
I did try the DDClient that comes with the NAS apps, but it gets complicated. As per this post (https://community.netgear.com/t5/Using-your-ReadyNAS/ddclient-seting-up-readynas-104-missing-ddclient-conf-file/m-p/1019730#M100107), the install recommends editing the ddclient.conf file in the DDClient share. This issue is this is a link to a file retained in the /etc folder. Although the ddclient link in the NAS share has all file permissions enabled, it doesn't help, as the 'real' file in the /etc folder has only -rw------, which means you have to Putty into the NAS under SSH and logged in as root to be able to edit it!
This effecetively means enabling SSH and for password authentication and enabling shell access for admin (I think) - at least that was the only way I managed it - which means you have to remember to close it all down again after you're done.
So once you have opened the terminal window and logged in as 'root' using your admin user password, navigate to /etc using 'cd /etc' and just check you can see the ddclient.conf file using 'ls -la'.
Now you have to learn the linux editor 'vi' to be able to edit the ddclient.conf file in the Putty terminal window. Lots of You Tube video tutorials, but its a real pain initially as all of your normal ways of editing in Windows are useless. Basically learn how to put 'vi' editor into command and edit mode and learn the necessary shortcuts to exit, save, delete lines etc.
There is a good list of different configs for different DDNS providers here (https://sourceforge.net/p/ddclient/git/ci/60fe051b7a504573386e2df2ffa8703dd47a8cb9/tree/sample-etc_ddclient.conf) and mine almost worked first time, except it didn't. Using the config directions from this page I swapped all of the config in the ddclient.conf file for:
protocol=dtdns
server=www.dtdns.com
client=ddclient
password=mypasswordmydomainwithdtns.com
NB note the fact you don't need your username!
Eventually I tried a few things and finally after adding 'use=web' to tell the ddclient where to get the IP address from to upload to DtDNS, it seems to work - yay!!
So my ddclient.conf file now reads:
use=web
protocol=dtdns
server=www.dtdns.com
client=ddclient
password=mypasswordmydomainwithdtns.com
Save, exit vi editor, close putty, restart DDClient app in the NAS and you should be done! If you find this difficult to follow, then don't bother, as I have written it for a newbie linux user like myself to follow... any less proficient and you probably risk leaving your NAS open or vunerable. Obviously those with more knowledge will find this overly simple, but hopefully will help anyway.
Hi redstamp,
Thank you for sharing your resolution and/or workaround. We appreciate your contribution to the community.
Feel free to post any suggestions, questions, recommendations or anything about your NAS that you think needs attention or will help others.
Regards,
JohnCM_S
NETGEAR Community Team
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