Naming Dynamic IP - FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions Page.
Contents:
How can I start the service automatically when I connect to the Internet?
Will using these services have any affect on my connection to the Internet?
What are the security implications of these services?
In general terms your computer will be no more and no less secure than it was before you started using the service. Unfortunately most personal computers aren't very secure at all.
To access the service you usually run a client which is set up to connect outwards. Unless the client is badly written, or contains a virus, there is no reason why it should lower the security of your computer.
The big difference these services make is that your computer can now be found (That's why you're using them remember), against that you can also be found if you use IRC, ICQ, or connect to a web site, this just provides a more robust way of finding you.
If you're a home user, it's unlikely that you will be targetted by the clever crackers who can get through almost any security measure. Unless you have a computer savvy personal enemy, you need to ask yourself why anyone would wish to target you.
This faq is about the services & is not a security primer, nor does it constitute professional advice, however, before you connect to the internet you should take reasonable steps to ensure that your PC is secure. This means you should:
- change all passwords from the default,
- install any security related updates posted by your software supplier,
- start taking regular back-ups (you should do this anyway), and
- only install those services you want to display for the outside world to access.
Why would I need one of these services?
You would use these services if you wanted to contact your computer over the internet using a simple name which doesn't change, or if you wanted to have a name you could give others this name.
Why would I want to contact my computer?
If you run servers (e.g. ftp, www) on your computer you can retrieve files from the computer when you aren't at home. Imagine you have written an important report at home & when you get to work or school you find that the disk you put it on is unreadable. By being able to find your computer, you can retrieve files you have placed in the private part of the computer.
Why would I want others to contact my computer?
You might want to make resources available to friends that you can't easily place on a public web site. For example you might have an updateable database which you allow them access to.
These services are also useful if you play multi player games on the internet. When you play against someone else they need to be able to find you. Unless they know your IP address they need help to find you. For some games you connect to a server at a well known address, and for others you can directly connect, the dynamic naming helps you make that connection.
What are the different services?
These pages cover 3 different services: WWW redirection, dynamic subdomains, and dynamic domain name hosting.
WWW redirection
This is the simplest of the three services. It uses a property of the WWW protocol (http) to forward page requests to your site. It only works for web page lookup.
Your computer may appear to the world to be a directory on the services server (e.g. user xxx on service xyz.com might be www.xyz.com/dynamic/xxx) or it might appear to be a seperate computer in their network (e.g. user xxx of service xyz.com, will appear to be at xxx.xyz.com). However it appears, you have to remember that this service only works for http://www.xyz.com/dynamic/xxx http://xxx.xyz.com type access. ftp, mail, ping, games, etc usually won't work.
WWW based redirection comes in two forms: Frames Based and Browser Redirection. These are explained below.
There is no difference between the methods for your site (Although for frames based services you might want to target the off page links to "_top"). Neither method supports bookmarking of internal pages, but the frames based method does allow bookmarking of your front page.
Services providing WWW redirection are listed here.
Frames Based Redirection
The service provider returns a <Frameset> page to the browser. The main frame (often the only visible frame) in the returned page is on your machine, and is but the surfer doesn't usually see the dotted quad address.
Browser Redirection
The service provider returns an instruction to the surfer's browser telling it to change from the requested page on the provider's site to your dotted quad address.
Dynamic subdomains
With a dynamic subdomain your computer's address will appear to the world to be a part of the service's network. For example if you are user XXX of service XYZ.com, your computer will appear to be at xxx.xyz.com.
In general terms any and all services you want to run on your computer are fully compatible with this kind of service.
Services providing dynamic subdomains are listed here.
Dynamic domain name hosting
Dynamic domain name hosting works with the same mechanism as Dynamic subdomains, but instead of appearing to be part of the server's domain, your computer seems to be it's own seperate entity. Everything you can run on a dynamic subdomain will work on your dynamic domain name.
With a dynamic domain your computer will appear to the world as your registered domain. For example I have registered the domain alfheim.gen.nz, when I stop writing these pages & connect to a dynamic domain name host alfheim will suddenly appear on the internet.
There are only two issues with having your own domain: You must register the name with the appropriate registry, and you will probably need to make a provision for receiving email addressed to the domain.
Registration is usually just a mattter of sending dollars, pounds, guilders, etc to someone, email is a little more tricky. To receive email you must either run a smtp server, or arrange for a third party to handle mail for you.
Smtp servers are beyond the scope of these pages. If you are running linux you probably have one already, if you are running Windows or other operating systems check out an on-line library like Tucows or Server Watch.
What do I need to do to setup a server on my computer?
That depends on the server. These days most come with reasonably straightforward installation instructions. Check out librarys like Tucows or Server Watch to find what you need.
If you are using a web server any of the dynamic services will do. If you are using any other kind of service you probably need either a dynamic subdomain, or dynamic domain name hosting.
How can I start the service automatically when I connect to the Internet?
Some clients can be left running all the time, monitoring your Internet connection. When they detect that you have connected, they automatically advise the service provider. These can be set to start automatically when you start, or log on to, your computer
If the client for your service doesn't do this, you may be able to use another piece of software to automatically start the client. ICQ's netdetect program can do this through it's launch list, or (Windows users only) there is a product called Dunce available.
There are almost certainly similar products for other operating systems, consult your usual download sites.
What happens when I disconnect from the Internet?
All services will continue to hand out your last known address for a while. Because of the way that DNS works, even if your service stops handing out the address it may take a while for news of your disconnection to propagate throughout the internet. People who attempt to access you during this time will be directed to whoever has taken over your previous address. This may, or may not, connect to a computer, and if it does that computer may or may not have a compatible service.
What happens after that depends of the service you use.
Some services will continue to hand out your last known address until the next time you connect.
Some services require reasonably regular refreshing of your address (That's part of what what the client program is for), and after a period the server will mark you as not connected.
Some services provide a mechanism to tell them that you are leaving the internet. When you are shutting down your internet connection this is well worth using.
If the service knows you are disconnected it may tell computers trying to connect to you that you don't currently have a valid address, or (usually only useful for WWW) it may redirect them to another site you specify. For example, my postmodem account redirects to one of my Geocities pages when I am off-line.
Will reverse IP lookups work?
It would take a lot of effort for the ISP to make reverse lookups work. ISPs are unlikely to do that work.
What is a domain name?
A Domain Name is a series of words which identify a computer, or series of computers, on the internet.
Geocities.com is a domain name, so is www.geocities.com.
How do domain names work?
The internet permits computers to communicate based on knowing a numeric address for another computer. At its simplest, domain names are human friendly aliases for these numbers. Software called a Domain Name Service (DNS) translates the names into numbers. More information on the methods used can be obtained here.
What is dynamic IP?
Dynamic IP means that your numeric IP address is allocated for you by an external provider, and it changes from time to time.
What are these different record types in a DNS?
What is an A Record?
An Address (A) record translates a human readable address like www.geocities.com into a numeric form like 209.1.224.11. Under the hood, these numbers are what the internet really uses to find computers.
Every computer which can be located on the internet through a name is ultimately located by using an A Record to translate its name into an address (Possibly after first translating its name with a CNAME Record).
What is a CNAME Record?
A CNAME (Cannonical name) allows one name to be an alias of another name. For example, if I want my ftp and web sites to share a single computer, and only want to maintain one A Record, then I can make one of these the Cannonical Name for the other.
What is an MX Record?
Put simply, an MX record tells a mail system which machine handles mail for a given domain.
Imagine you run MassiveCorp with several hundred machines in the massivecorp.co.nz domain. The chances are good that you will have a single machine which handles all mail for your domain. In this case you place an MX record in your DNS which says "Forward all mail for massivecorp.co.nz to the machine mail.masivecorp.co.nz". Other computers which wish to deliver mail to user@massivecorp.co.nz retrieve this record from you DNS & deliver the mail to mail.masivecorp.co.nz.
What Other Record Types Exist?
Click here for a listing of the various record types.
Will using these services have any affect on my connection to the Internet?
Generally it won't, as the service providers are only supplying a name which is used by the remote machine to find your PC.
Some providers may do something called ip tunneling which can slow down accesses through their server.
Obviously the remote machine which connects to you is going to transfer some information (That's why you have this service, remember) & this will take some of your available bandwidth while the transfer is happening.
| Back to naming dynamic IP resources | Last Modified: 2000-02-15 |
