ddupdate 0.7.1

Update dns data for dynamic ip addresses

General

ddupdate is a tool for automatically updating dns data for a system using for example DHCP. It makes it possible to access such a system with a fixed dns name like myhost.somewhere.net even if the IP address is changed. It is a linux-centric, user-friendly and secure alternative to the ubiquitous ddclient.

Compared to ddclient, ddupdate is much easier to configure for users. It’s also more flexible and provides support for some hosts which are known to be problematic using ddclient.

Status

Beta. The plugin API will be kept stable up to 1.0.0, and there should be no incompatible CLI changes.

At the time of writing 20 free services are supported. There is also 7 address plugins. Together this should cover most usecases based on freely available services.

Still, this is beta and there is most likely bugs out there.

Dependencies

• python3 (tested on 3.6 and 3.4)

• The /usr/sbin/ip command is used in some plugins.

• python3-setuptools (build)

• pkg-config (build)

• The systemd package i. e., the systemd.pc file (build).

Installation

ddupdate can be run as a regular user straight off the cloned git directory. To make it possible to run from anywhere make a symlink:

$ ln -s $PWD/ddupdate $HOME/bin/ddupdate

It is also possible to install as a pypi package using:

$ sudo pip3 install ddupdate --prefix=/usr/local

See CONTRIBUTE.md for more info on using the pypi package.

ddupdate is packaged in some distros:

• Fedora 27 and later.

• EPEL7 addons for RHEL/CentOS

• Debian Buster and later

• Ubuntu Bionic and later

CONTRIBUTE.md describes how to create packages for other Debian distributions

Ubuntu users can install native .deb packages using the PPA at https://launchpad.net/~leamas-alec/+archive/ubuntu/ddupdate

Mageia users can install native rpm packages from https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/leamas/ddupdate/. This site also contains pre-release updates for Fedora and EPEL.

Overall, using native packages is the preferred installation method on platforms supporting this.

Configuration

This is the fast track assuming that you are using a native package and mainstream address options. If running into troubles, see the manual steps described in CONFIGURATION.md.

Start with running `ddupdate --list-services`. Pick a supported service and check it using `ddupdate --help <service>`.

At this point you need to register with the relevant website. The usual steps are to first create an account and then, using the account, create a host. The process should end up with a hostname, a user and a secret password (some sites just uses an API key).

Then start the configuration script `ddupdate-config`. The script guides you through the configuration and updates several files, notably ~/.config/ddupdate.conf and ~/.netrc.

After running the script it should be possible to run a plain `ddupdate -l debug` without error messages.

When this works, systemd should be configured as described below.

Configuring systemd

systemd is setup to run as a user service. Start by testing it:

$ systemctl --user daemon-reload
$ systemctl --user start ddupdate.service
$ journalctl --user -u ddupdate.service

If all is fine make sure ddupdate is run hourly using:

$ systemctl --user start ddupdate.timer
$ systemctl --user enable ddupdate.timer

If you want the service to start as soon as the machine boots, and to continue even when you log out do:

$ sudo loginctl enable-linger $USER

If there is trouble or if you for example want to run ddupdate more often, use systemctl –user edit ddupdate.service`or `systemctl –user edit ddupdate.timer

Configuring NetworkManager

NetworkManager can be configured to start/stop ddupdate when interfaces goes up or down. An example script to drop in /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d is distributed in the package.