Need a good DNS service provider

brk-lnt · 05-23-2011, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MAXUM

Now as for your power, have you considered an IP based PDU? Basically it's a power strip you can control over wire, and power on any outlet remotely. Super handy to have. Unless you blow a breaker you'll always be able to bring your system up.

That won't work for his case. The problem is that the PC requires a physical button push, it doesn't power on automatically after a power failure. The other problem is that after a power failure his cable modem reboots and he gets a new IP address. Without a device that can register to DynDNS for him, he wouldn't know what IP to access the PDU on, and even if he did, it wouldn't re-power his PC anyway.

The easiest solution for this case might be to setup a simple circuit that would click a relay upon powering up. Tie the relay into the power switch of the PC so that it gets the button push it needs after a power failure.

patman · 05-23-2011, 09:31 AM

OP's need is to be able to contact the server(s) at the house one way or another. Having a fixed IP is one way, using dynDNS would eliminate needing to have a fixed IP. If you can get to it by the name registered via dynDNS, then you don't really even care what the IP underneath that name is. (That also depends a little on the specific remote access software, some of it is old enough to only allow putting in an IP address, but most of it is bright enough to accept an IP or a name.)

The dynDNS registration could be done by some other system in the house, it doesn't have to be that server. Unless the server is plugged directly into the cable modem (which is unwise these days) it's really the router that is doing the DHCP negotiation anyway. Newer routers have built-in support for registering with the dynDNS (or similar) service after the IP lease is established.

Getting the server to power on when the power comes back becomes the biggest problem. The BIOS isn't set to allow auto-power-on, and without spending some money on a KVM interface (as I posted above) you're down to hacking a relay into the power button, or making some sort of solenoid that physically presses the existing button. Essentially you'll end up needing some sort of home automation controller to control the thing that will power on your home automation controller.

Another thing to consider is that you may not *want* the server to come back online immediately after power is restored. If it's partway through coming up and the power goes out again, it's unlikely that the UPS would have had enough time to charge to allow a graceful shutdown, so you'd end up with an ungraceful one. There's a lot of disk activity on bootup, so you end up playing Russian roulette that any given set of disk writes are going to make it out as a group. Eventually you'll lose that bet, which could cause filesystem problems that might kill the entire server. (Or at best, require some filesystem repair that you aren't going to be able to initiate remotely.) Ideally it would wait to boot up until the UPS could guarantee enough coast time to shut down.

In the end...it might be time to find a smarter server.

Lakepilot · 05-23-2011, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brk-lnt

That won't work for his case. The problem is that the PC requires a physical button push, it doesn't power on automatically after a power failure. The other problem is that after a power failure his cable modem reboots and he gets a new IP address. Without a device that can register to DynDNS for him, he wouldn't know what IP to access the PDU on, and even if he did, it wouldn't re-power his PC anyway.

The easiest solution for this case might be to setup a simple circuit that would click a relay upon powering up. Tie the relay into the power switch of the PC so that it gets the button push it needs after a power failure.

Now that's an interesting idea! I'll have to think about it.

Lakepilot · 05-23-2011, 01:50 PM

What I've done in the short term is that I have ordered a router that has a client update function. It will notify dyndns that our IP has changed and provide it with a new one. We'll see how that works after I get it and install it.

Lakepilot · 05-26-2011, 05:23 PM

I got the DLink DIR655 router from B&H photo.

I tried and tried to get it running with dyndns and couldn't. I noticed that DLink had a free ddns update client for that router. I tried that and within 5 minutes had it all running. DLink uses dyndns for their service, but DLinks instructions were spot on. Dyndns doesn't really want anyone to use the free service so they make it a bear to use.

05-26-2011, 05:23 PM	#5
Lakepilot Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 446 Thanks: 70 Thanked 57 Times in 40 Posts	Now works I got the DLink DIR655 router from B&H photo. I tried and tried to get it running with dyndns and couldn't. I noticed that DLink had a free ddns update client for that router. I tried that and within 5 minutes had it all running. DLink uses dyndns for their service, but DLinks instructions were spot on. Dyndns doesn't really want anyone to use the free service so they make it a bear to use.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

05-23-2011, 09:31 AM	#2
patman Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: NH Posts: 387 Thanks: 56 Thanked 156 Times in 78 Posts	OP's need is to be able to contact the server(s) at the house one way or another. Having a fixed IP is one way, using dynDNS would eliminate needing to have a fixed IP. If you can get to it by the name registered via dynDNS, then you don't really even care what the IP underneath that name is. (That also depends a little on the specific remote access software, some of it is old enough to only allow putting in an IP address, but most of it is bright enough to accept an IP or a name.) The dynDNS registration could be done by some other system in the house, it doesn't have to be that server. Unless the server is plugged directly into the cable modem (which is unwise these days) it's really the router that is doing the DHCP negotiation anyway. Newer routers have built-in support for registering with the dynDNS (or similar) service after the IP lease is established. Getting the server to power on when the power comes back becomes the biggest problem. The BIOS isn't set to allow auto-power-on, and without spending some money on a KVM interface (as I posted above) you're down to hacking a relay into the power button, or making some sort of solenoid that physically presses the existing button. Essentially you'll end up needing some sort of home automation controller to control the thing that will power on your home automation controller. Another thing to consider is that you may not want the server to come back online immediately after power is restored. If it's partway through coming up and the power goes out again, it's unlikely that the UPS would have had enough time to charge to allow a graceful shutdown, so you'd end up with an ungraceful one. There's a lot of disk activity on bootup, so you end up playing Russian roulette that any given set of disk writes are going to make it out as a group. Eventually you'll lose that bet, which could cause filesystem problems that might kill the entire server. (Or at best, require some filesystem repair that you aren't going to be able to initiate remotely.) Ideally it would wait to boot up until the UPS could guarantee enough coast time to shut down. In the end...it might be time to find a smarter server.

05-23-2011, 01:50 PM	#4
Lakepilot Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 446 Thanks: 70 Thanked 57 Times in 40 Posts	What I've done in the short term is that I have ordered a router that has a client update function. It will notify dyndns that our IP has changed and provide it with a new one. We'll see how that works after I get it and install it.