ddns - Dynamic DNS

Original forked from pboehm/ddns

A self-hosted Dynamic DNS solution similar to DynDNS or NO-IP based on the PowerDNS Remote Backend.

Hosted Dynamic DNS service at noip.at

The hosted ddns service available at noip.at is powered by this repository. You are welcome to try it out and use it in production.

noip.at — proudly operated by adminForge.de

How can I update my IP if it changes?

ddns is built around a small webservice, so that you can update your IP address simply by calling an URL periodically through curl. Hosts that haven't been updated for 90 days will be automatically removed. This can be configured in your own instance.

An API similar to DynDNS/NO-IP has not been implemented yet.

Self-Hosting

Requirements

• A custom domain where the registrar allows setting NS records for subdomains. This is important because not all DNS providers support this.
• A server with docker and docker-compose installed
• The following ports should be opened in the firewall:
  • 53/udp
  • 80/tcp
  • 443/tcp

DNS-Setup

For the domain you want to use with ddns (example.net in the following sections, please adjust this to your domain) you have to create the following two DNS records:

• ddns.example.net as a CNAME or A/AAAA record pointing to the server ddns will be running on. This record will be used for accessing the ddns frontend in your browser or via curl. It is also the target for the corresponding NS record.
• d.example.net as an NS record pointing to the previously created ddns.example.net record. This will delegate all subdomains under d.example.net to the PowerDNS server running on ddns.example.net.

ddns-Setup

The setup is now automated using docker-compose and only some customization has to be made in a docker-compose.override.yml file (a sample is available here).

Configuring the Setup

The setup included in this repository contains all the components described above and uses caddy as a web server, because it provides automatic HTTPS using Lets Encrypt.

git clone https://github.com/adminforge/ddns.git
cd ddns
cp docker-compose.override.yml.sample docker-compose.override.yml

Please adjust the settings in docker-compose.override.yml marked with the #<<< .... comments as follows:

• adjust the domain part in lines marked with # <<< ADJUST DOMAIN according to your DNS-Setup
• insert your email address in lines marked with # <<< INSERT EMAIL which is required for getting certificates from Lets Encrypt

Finally execute the following docker-compose command, which creates 4 containers in detached mode which are also started automatically after reboot. For updating an existing installation use the same command because it automatically rebuilds the containers.

docker compose up -d --build

Available Environment Variables

... for further customization

Service	Variable	Default	Required	Description
ddns	DDNS_DOMAIN	d.example.net	yes	DDNS Domain and Zone-Root-Domain
ddns	DDNS_SOA_DOMAIN	ddns.example.net	yes	NS Server and Domain for Frontend
ddns	DDNS_EXPIRATION_DAYS	90	no	Days how long the dynamic DNS Record is valid
ddns	DDNS_TTL	300	no	TTL of the DNS Records
powerdns	PDNS_CARBON_SERVER	empty	no	Endpoint for collecting PDNS Metrics
powerdns	PDNS_CARBON_OURNAME	empty	no	Name of this Server for Metric collection
powerdns	PDNS_ZONE_CACHE	true	no	Zone-Cache Feature in PDNS refuses any requests whihc do not belong to configured Zone. Recommended to leave this on to increase security and the integrity of the DNS responses.

Theming

There are serveral areas of the frontend that can be customized. The Customization is split into three parts:

• Favicon and Logo in the header
• Colors in the frontend through CSS Variables
• Title, Slogan and Footer through custom templates

Thening is done in the folder /theme and can be customized by editing resp. adding the files in this folder.

• For logo and favicon use logo.png and favicon.ico. Simply place these files in the /theme folder.
• For Coluring change the eg. primary variable in theme.scss. You might want to add additional boostrap features, but don't remove the existing ones. Otherwise the frontend will break.
• For Title, Slogan and Footer use the sample.custom.tmpl file and rename it to custom.tmpl. With changing the content of the templates, you can customize the frontend as you like.