DynDNS offers a free Dynamic Domain Name System (DDNS) service but there are occasions when one may opt for a paid option. I wanted a short domain name, easy to remember and one that would look a bit professional.Due to these reasons, I opted for a paid premium service.
Steps for signing for a free account and a premium one are somehow similar. A good tutorial for signing up for a free account exists here and therefore, on this post I will concentrate on signing for a premium account.
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Point browser to DynDNS.com.
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Select DynDNS Pro which appears at the bottom of the page
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Click on Sign In
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Enter User Name and Password
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Click on log in
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Under My Services, select Add Host Services
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Pick a hostname to use and select the suffix for your hostname from the list of available suffixes. In my case i felt selfip.net would be short enough to remember.
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DynDNS is already displaying your current IP address so clicking on it is easier than typing.
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Default TTL is set to 60 seconds and you may change this value if you wish.
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Click on Add to Cart
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Click on Proceed to checkout
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Click on Activate Services
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Logout of DynDNS
Enable DDNS on the router by logging in to your router. I am using a Linksys WRT160NL so under setup I select DDNS. It is disabled by default and therefore I enable it. After that I enter the DynDNS user name, password and hostname.
The final step is to forward ports on the router for the applications you would like to access from outside.