Sonic.net

Reading this: https://public-api.sonic.net/dyndns
it seems that Sonic does provide a dynamic DNS service.

I was going to request an API key, but what hostname should I use? I own dsw.users.sonic.net for example, but can I use that?

That host is current serving a website (on port 80, I presume), so I am wondering if my website would be affected at all by setting up dynamic DNS?

Thinking about it now, I realize that using a domain name hosting a web server would redirect traffic, as that is the purpose for which people many people use dynamic DNS: to host a website. It does not sound like it would work very well, but I can imagine this.

I just want to be able to ssh into my server. So do people reserve a new domain name just so they can have a machine they can ssh into, but has no other public presence, that is, does not run a web server?

dsw wrote:
I just want to be able to ssh into my server.

I have moved to solving this problem with https://www.zerotier.com/
It provides a private virtual network device on whatever systems/devices you chose, and transparently takes care of the connectivity. You can then ssh on top of that. I found this to be much easier than poking a hole in my firewall and keeping track of my dynamic IP address. An added benefit is not having to leave a public ssh port open to the endless stream of break-in attempts that they attract these days.

There is a very detailed rather bad review of zeroteir.com here: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/zerotier.com

Direct link to the specific review: https://www.trustpilot.com/reviews/5baf ... 0b58dd8c80

Are you not having these problems?

dsw wrote:
There is a very detailed rather bad review of zeroteir.com here: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/zerotier.com

Direct link to the specific review: https://www.trustpilot.com/reviews/5baf ... 0b58dd8c80

Are you not having these problems?

''

I can't speak to the customer support. I am using the free version and had no problems setting up a small network consisting of one of my home machines on Sonic, an AWS image, and a laptop. They were all able to automatically see each other after being approved once on my user console at zerotier. I do have experience with administering Linux networking.

My initial tests were at home, and then I was across the country with the laptop, both ssh'ing directly into the home machine for working interactively, and also using ssh tunnels for accessing proxied resources that were only available on the home machine.

I did not notice any issues with connectivity, and latencies were reasonable for interactive usage. That being said, I did not do any QOS style instrumentation, and this is just one person's anecdotal report for about a week's worth of intermittent usage of zerotier.

dsw wrote:
I just want to be able to ssh into my server. So do people reserve a new domain name just so they can have a machine they can ssh into, but has no other public presence, that is, does not run a web server?

I’ve used no-IP ddns for quite some time without issue for various locations that have dynamic IPs. Each location has a VPN and/or WG server for remote access. That way I can ssh, rdp, etc. into any device on the network.

Basic steps:

1) Choose a ddns provider and custom hostname (many are free)
2) Run the ddns provider app or script on your server or another device on that server’s network, router, etc.
3) Point your ssh client to the target port and hostname you created.

Assuming you have the appropriate port(s) open on your remote firewall to allow traffic to your server there's not much more to it.