Smart Hub 2 for dynamic DNS

[grepkin]

I want to set up dynamic DNS for a home server on my BT internet connection.  The Smart Hub 2 offers me five well-known dynamic DNS services, two of which offer a basic free package.

I'd rather run my own dynamic DNS, so that I can use a domain I own that runs on an external server.  That way it can be (e.g.) homeserver.mydomain.com and not (e.g.) freds-server.noip.com.

This would require the router to send a message, any message, to an address I specify, whenever it reconnects to a new external IP address.  Can it be made to do this? 

Or is there some other way to know  when the IP address changes?  I can poll every five minutes of course.  But what happens if I establish a connection from the server and keep it alive?  Would this make the router use the same IP address?  I imagine the network lease would expire at some point.  Would that break the connection?

[Crimliar]

You can run DDNS software on a server within your network.  That software then sends a specially prepared query to the DDNS service that you've "delegated" your domains to.

For basic DDNS the company you registered your domain name with will probably provide that service (check first), for IPv6 and the ability to specifiy specific hosts using just the one query it gets more complicated!

*I've been doing this for years!

[grepkin]

Thanks Crimliar,

but I'm confused.  So I run DDNS software on my home server.  And I use a DDNS service, by which I assume you mean one of DynDNS, NoIP etc, which my software connects to.

In that case, the SmartHub must surely still be configured to send a message to the DDNS service when the external IP address changes.  If not, the DDNS service will not get told of that event - unless it polls or leaves a TCP connection established.

And using a DDNS service means I must use a subdomain of one of the domains they provide, surely.  One reason I'm asking is that I want to use a subdomain of a domain that I own.  Do you do that?  And if so, how? 

[licquorice]

One thing is certain, the hub will not provide the functionality you require, it only provides DDNS capability for the pre-configured options.

[grepkin]

Yes I thought as much.  I'd go for one of the pre-configured DDNS providers if I could use my own domain with it.  But even if that's technically possible I doubt it would be available on a free plan.

[licquorice]

I don't see why not, surely you can use any domain.

https://www.noip.com/support/knowledgebase/can-i-use-my-own-domain-name-with-no-ip

$2.92/m