How to Host Dynamic DNS Domains with cPanel

DNS is the system used on the internet to name computers, with one of its major uses being to translate domain names, like verpex.com to IP Addresses(104.26.1.125). This system makes it a lot easier to access services online like Google, Quora, and Verpex Hosting without needing to remember long strings of numbers. But for DNS to work, these IP addresses need to remain consistent; if the IP addresses of any of these services changed, they would be inaccessible until the DNS records were updated. However, that’s usually not a problem, as service providers like DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, and AWS give servers running on their platforms Static IP addresses which don’t change.

Although cPanel is great for managing data-hosted websites, apps, and email accounts hosted on data centre servers, many people prefer to host online services at their homes or business. Many of these ISPs do not provide dedicated IP addresses, what this means is that a domain name cannot be used to connect to services hosted on their networks. Dynamic DNS, which automatically updates domain records when IP addresses change so that the domain remains connected to the corresponding server is the solution.

What is Dynamic DNS?

Dynamic DNS is a system for updating DNS (Domain Name System) records automatically. A DNS server is needed to convert the domain name into an IP address(which is a unique number that identifies devices on the internet) when entering a URL into a web browser. The server examines DNS records stored in zone files to determine the IP address associated with a domain,

When an IP address changes Dynamic DNS allows devices such as network routers to inform servers, the device connects to a unique web address, verifies, and transmits the new IP address. The record of an IP address that changes become quickly outdated which leads to connection loss because the server sends the incorrect address. When the zone records of an IP address change ,cPanel updates it so that the next time someone attempts to connect, they are given the correct IP address.

It is incredibly easy to set up dynamic domains in cPanel with the Dynamic DNS tool. We’ll show you how to set up a domain.

• Log in to your cPanel account
• Find the Domain section and navigate to Dynamic DNS
• Click the Create button.
• Fill in the information
• Enter a new subdomain for a domain that is managed through your cPanel account. You can choose a subdomain name according to your requirements. If you want you can enter the IP address too, here you have to enter the IP address where you want to point your domain. The IP address will be updated automatically once the dynamic DNS is working.
• After the subdomain has been created in DDNS cPanel generates a unique URL which is called webcall. A webcall is the address through which a router tells cPanel that its IP address has changed.
• Upon receiving this message, cPanel updates the domain’s zone records. The DDNS entry will be created and a URL that ends with a unique string will be generated. This URL should be treated like a password, visiting the URL will update the DDNS entry with the IP address you are visiting from.

Configure Dynamic DNS Router

DDNS client has its own process for configuring custom DDNS domains, you will be required to:

• Go to your device’s DDNS configuration interface.
• Select your Custom DDNS provider.
• Enter the required information( username, password, domain name, and webcall URL).
• Click the View SSL Certificate ( We strongly recommend that you use SSL to avoid sending an unencrypted username and password). You need to provide an SSL certificate to connect the device through an encrypted channel

After this has been set up, your device will use the webcall URL to communicate with cPanel whenever its dynamic IP address changes, ensuring that the service hosted on your network is always accessible at the specified domain name.

Please note the Dynamic DNS feature is available only for the domains pointed to our Verpex nameservers.

Automatically Updating Your DDNS Record

While the DDNS record should not change unless you visit your DDNS URL from another IP address, it may be a good idea to set something up to automatically visit your DDNS URL from your IP, so when/if your dynamic IP changes, your DDNS record automatically changes with it. While some routers have DDNS support, the way cPanel handles DDNS is often different from the way other providers handle it; this means the DDNS settings in your router may not be the way to go here.

I’ve found that setting up a cronjob to periodically visit the DDNS URL is a quick way to ensure the DDNS record is kept updated. Depending on what type of router you have and what firmware it’s running, you may be able to set this cronjob up right on your router, otherwise, having it run on a home server (that is running Linux, macOS, or some other UNIX-like OS) would be sufficient. You can get to the cronjob editor on a home server by running: crontab -e. This cron entry below would visit your DDNS URL every hour on the 0th minute; you can use the Crontab Guru to translate crontab schedules