Private Web & Email hosting through DDNS & domain

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A-Duck

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Hi

I have set up a spare laptop at home as a web & E-Mail server. I have the required ports port forwarded to the server and i am able to access it from my DDNS address.
However i did not want an E-mail account with the DDNS address as the domain so i bought a .co.za domain from Lusion Technologies
My question is would my DNS records allow me to access the server through the domain
I was told that i would not be able to create a CNAME record to the DDNS address and it would need to be an A record, The problem is when my router resets so would the external IP. Would it be possible to set the following records and have it work correctly
- CNAME: www. to the DDNS address
- MX: mail. to the DDNS address

Additional Info:
- ISP: Iburst
- DDNS Provider: Dlinkddns.com

Any help is appreciated
 
A-Duck said:
Hi

I have set up a spare laptop at home as a web & E-Mail server. I have the required ports port forwarded to the server and i am able to access it from my DDNS address.
However i did not want an E-mail account with the DDNS address as the domain so i bought a .co.za domain from Lusion Technologies
My question is would my DNS records allow me to access the server through the domain
I was told that i would not be able to create a CNAME record to the DDNS address and it would need to be an A record, The problem is when my router resets so would the external IP. Would it be possible to set the following records and have it work correctly
- CNAME: www. to the DDNS address
- MX: mail. to the DDNS address

Additional Info:
- ISP: Iburst
- DDNS Provider: Dlinkddns.com

Any help is appreciated
Click to expand...

Wait... the main purpose of DynDNS is to use it as CNAMES and then create records around it.... Which are also CNAMES... the person who told you that **** didnt do DNS in school...

Record type is irrelevant when resolution is name-based hence the name DNS.


tumblr_inline_n3qmp5OGja1raprkq.gif


E.g:

DDNS.DOMAIN --> Router IP

DDNSCNAME --> DDNS.DOMAIN
MX --> DDNS.DOMAIN
WWW --> DDNS.DOMAIN

Maybe they mean you cant set the static record for $DOMAIN to DDNS.DOMAIN but that can be fixed with forwarders O.o
 
Last edited:
Drop me a PM if you still need help with this, I have done the same thing for one of my clients. branch1.domain.co.za is for example a CNAME of ddns.provider.com and it works great.

Just remember as well though, if the laptop/net is off for whatever reason any mails sent during that time will likely be lost, so if you are receiving any important mails: http://dyn.com/email/dyn-email-backup-mx/
 
CNAME to the dyndns address
MX Record to the CNAME
 
I have done this aswell only using no - ip with my dynamic ip address. Then setup virtual domains and virtual email hosts for the domains. Works awesome
 
Sorry I haven't been back in a while.

I would like to say firstly that I already have a DDNS service provided by D-Link (dlinkddns.com), This address is automatically updated by my router whenever the router is booted or connection is redialed.

Also I know that I am able to access the Mail server and web server via the DDNS but not from the Domain which seems to me that the records are not correctly set up - however logically having the CNAME and MX records of the domain forwarding to the DDNS should work - and if i'm not mistaken that is also the general consensus.
 
Maybe I can simplify things a bit...

You already have a Dynamic address (via D-Link), let's say that this address is a-duck.dlinkddns.com - for argument sake. That is essentially an A record for your current public IP address.

On the new domain which you have purchased, is it parked with Lusion? Do you pay monthly fees to host with them?

If you are able to change any of the domain records with them then you can achieve your goal.

Generally speaking the first domain record would be an A record - as an example:
mydomain.com A 41.23.23.23

Any other records would then be CNAME records of the domain - E.g:
www CNAME mydomain.com
mail CNAME mydomain.com

So to do execute your plan, change that first record to:
mydomain.com CNAME a-duck.dlinkddns.com

Your MX record would then awesome become a-duck.dlinkddns.com.
 
The domain is parked with Lusion but I was able to get them to change the DNS records on my behalf (unfortunately I can't Change the records myself) but Lusion is not hosting anything.

As for the CNAME of the domain to the DDNS - I was told that it is not possible and I would have to use an A record.

"We are unable to set the following CNAME: MyDomain.co.za to A-Duck.DlinkDDNS.com. This will need to be an IP address"
This is the quote from the email that was sent to me (I only changed the domain names), it does seem strange that it is 'not possible' to do so especially when looking at the screenshot that was sent with the records that should be in place at the moment.
 
Last edited:
A-Duck said:
The domain is parked with Lusion but I was able to get them to change the DNS records on my behalf (unfortunately I can't Change the records myself) but Lusion is not hosting anything.

As for the CNAME of the domain to the DDNS - I was told that it is not possible and I would have to use an A record.

"We are unable to set the following CNAME: MyDomain.co.za to A-Duck.DlinkDDNS.com. This will need to be an IP address"
This is the quote from the email that was sent to me (I only changed the domain names), it does seem strange that it is 'not possible' to do so especially when looking at the screenshot that was sent with the records that should be in place at the moment.
Click to expand...

They're talking crap. You cannot set a CNAME to an IP address, that's what A records are for.
 
From what I can understand what they're saying is that I can not set a CNAME record from mydomain.co.za to A-Duck.dlinkddns.com that would have to be an A record but I can set CNAME and MX records to my domain.co.za or to A-Duck.dlinkddns.com
 
A-Duck said:
From what I can understand what they're saying is that I can not set a CNAME record from mydomain.co.za to A-Duck.dlinkddns.com that would have to be an A record but I can set CNAME and MX records to my domain.co.za or to A-Duck.dlinkddns.com
Click to expand...

This thread is making it sound a lot more complicated than it should be.

Both CNAMES and MX records do not use IP addresses. There is nothing stopping you from having a domain name with no A records.

You can simply have this setup:

Code: 
mydomain.co.za       CNAME   a-duck.dlinkdns.com
mydomain.co.za       MX      a-duck.dlinkdns.com

www.mydomain.co.za   CNAME   a-duck.dlinkdns.com
 
With the setup you mentioned - to get a mail.mydomain.co.za would I set
mail.mydomain.co.za MX A-Duck.dlinkddns.com
or just
mail.mydomain.co.za CNAME A-Duck.dlinkddns.com?
 
A-Duck said:
With the setup you mentioned - to get a mail.mydomain.co.za would I set
mail.mydomain.co.za MX A-Duck.dlinkddns.com
or just
mail.mydomain.co.za CNAME A-Duck.dlinkddns.com?
Click to expand...

You could create another CNAME record:

mail.mydomain.co.za CNAME a-duck.dlinkdns.com

and then point your MX record here:

mydomain.co.za MX mail.mydomain.co.za

Although this is kind of redundant.
 
What i'm referring to is the server address during the setup of the mail account on outlook.

Eg: when setting up an mweb account the server adddress would be pop3.mweb.co.za and smtp.mweb.co.za
 
Flidiot said:
Just remember as well though, if the laptop/net is off for whatever reason any mails sent during that time will likely be lost, so if you are receiving any important mails: http://dyn.com/email/dyn-email-backup-mx/
Click to expand...

Very very good point, what you are trying to do is a nice lab and you will learn a lot from it but hosting actual email like that is simply not a good idea as people sending you mail will get bounce backs every time your net/power is down.

Why not look a cheap Afrihost hosting or even international?
 
A-Duck said:
What i'm referring to is the server address during the setup of the mail account on outlook.

Eg: when setting up an mweb account the server adddress would be pop3.mweb.co.za and smtp.mweb.co.za
Click to expand...

Well, yes it would just be the server address (mydomain.co.za or mail.mydomain.co.za, doesn't matter because they're pointing to the same IP).

What mail server are you using? Linux with Postfix?
 
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