If you are one of those people who runs a host /server (web server, FTP, Terminal Services) and domain without a dedicated IP Address, Direct Update is the tool for you. We all know that to accomplish such things we need a dedicated / static IP, but this doesn’t come free. We can surely use a dynamic IP address for our domain names, but it is not practical to update our zone record everytime the IP address changes. This is where Direct Update comes into play.
What is Direct Update? (via Directupdate.net)
DirectUpdate is an application that runs transparently in background (as a service, even when no user is logged), and check the IP address assigned to the machine.
Everytime a new IP address is detected, DirectUpdate engine updates your domain name, so it’s always up to date.
DirectUpdate is called a dynamic dns client updater, or “client updater”.
Features:
- Native NT service (NT4.0/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/7/8)
- Remote administration anywhere from the LAN and the Internet.
- Local & remote IP detection with user selection (lan dsl/cable router supported).
- Many dns services/providers supported simultaneously.
- WebAdmin (full administration using your browser!).
- Small & compact executable (the engine is less than 300 KB!).
- Update can be forced every xx days to prevent accounts from being banned.
- Add support for “Wildcard” and “MaileXchanger”.
- Support of proxy server and proxy server authentication.
- Fully customizable notifications (Email and FTP).
- Engine can launch an external app and restart a service when a new IP is detected.
- Monitored log file size, and support of syslog deamon.
- KeepAlive option, to maintain your internet connection up if required.
- Support IP detection via hidden (auto) proxy of ISP.
- Support local IP detection with router direct query!
- And growing…
How to use DirectUpdate?
You can use directupdate to run your own web server, ftp server, a terminal server, remote desktop(or other remote control software) at home or at your work place without the need to pay for a Static/Dedicated IP Address. For my needs I use it mainly for my own ftp server and terminal server/remote desktop server. When I’m on the road I want to have access to my workstation at home, using terminal services and I also want to have access to my files via FTP. I don’t have a static IP address which makes it hard to map a domain name to my workstation. I can but, when the IP address changes, I have to change the zone record for my sub domain and I have to do this everytime the ip address changes which is hard to predict at times.
Thanks to DirectUpdate, now I don’t have to worry and monitor ip address changes, every time my ip address changes DirectUpdate automatically modifies the zone record for my sub domain which I manage at ZoneEdit.Com . To use DirectUpdate you must use a service from one of this Dynamic DNS Services/Providers supported by DirectUpdate.
Here’s my setup, I have an old Dell PowerEdge 840 Server that runs Windows 2003. I use it mainly as a backup for all my files and photos. This server is mapped to a subdomain homesrv.mydomain.com using the dynamic ip address automatically assigned to my router gateway by my ISP, you can find out your ip address by googling “what is my ip address ” assign that ip address to your domain or subdomain. In my Poweredge server I have DirectUpdate running in the background as a service which I configure to check for ip address changes at a specified time. Whenever it detects ip address has change, it updates my zone record. So when I need to access my home server using remote desktop connection, I simply use the subdomain homesrv.mydomain.com, same thing with ftp. DNS Server propagation with zoneedit usually takes one to two hours which is not bad at all. Of course I can use paid service to do all this LogMeIn or GoToMyPC to do all this, for now and for my needs I don’t see any reason for me to do so.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to asks. You can leave a comment a comment below.
