ddclient - program to update IP address at DynDNS.org

ddclient [options] files...

This manual page documents briefly the ddclient command. This manual page was written for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution because the original program does not have a manual page. Note that this has not been updated for the 3.x release, and is grossly out of date. You're much better off reading the output of ddclient --help

ddclient updates your IP address at the dynamics DNS service DynDNS.org. It may be run interactively, or automatically by whatever program obtains and maintains your IP address (e.g. dhcpcd, pump) if that program supports running another when the IP address is changed.

-proxy host

use host as the HTTP proxy.

-server host

update DNS information on host (default: members.dyndns.org).

-file path

load configuration information from path (default: /etc/ddclient.conf).

-cache path

record address used in path (default: /var/cache/ddclient/ddclient.cache).

-login user

login as user.

-password secret

use password secret.

-host host

update DNS information for host.

-ip address

set the IP address to address.

-mx address

set the mail exchanger to address.

-[no]backupmx

enable backup mail exchanger.

-[no]wildcard

enable wildcard DNS matches.

-[no]static

update a static DNS entry, not a dynamic one.

-persist days

avoid unnecessary updates unless days days have elapsed (default: 15).

-[no]retry

record failed updates so they may be retried with -refresh (default: noretry).

-[no]force

force an update even if the update may be unnecessary (default: noforce).

-timeout max

wait at most max seconds for the host to respond (default: 120).

-[no]refresh

update hosts and addresses listed in the cache file. (default: norefresh).

-[no]debug

print (no) debugging information (default: nodebug).

-[no]exec

do (not) execute; just show what would be done (default: exec).

-[no]verbose

print (no) verbose information (default: noverbose).

-[no]quiet

print (no) messages for unnecessary updates (default: noquiet).

-help

this message.

ddclient -ip 192.168.1.1 -retry

•

set the ip address of all dyndns hosts listed in the /etc/ddclient.conf to 192.168.1.1

•

mark failures so they may be retried with -refresh

ddclient -ip 192.168.1.1 -host somehost.dyndns.org

•

set the address of somehost.dyndns.org to 192.168.1.1

•

use the login and password specified for this host in the configuration file

ddclient -ip 192.168.1.1 -host statichost.dyndns.org -static

•

set the address of statichost.dyndns.org to 192.168.1.1 in the static DNS database

•

use the login and password specified for this host in the configuration file

ddclient -refresh -host somehost.dyndns.org

•

refresh only the address of somehost.dyndns.org

•

use the login and password specified for this host in the configuration file

ddclient -refresh -force -retry

•

refresh all dyndns hosts listed in the /etc/ddclient.conf

•

force an update even if it may be unneccessary

•

mark failed updates for retrying later (failed updates are those that fail due to connectivity errors)

•

use the login and password specified for this host in the configuration file

This command could be used twice a month to make sure the host does not become stale.

ddclient -refresh -retry

•

refresh all dyndns hosts listed in the /etc/ddclient.conf that could not be updated (hosts that do not require update will be skipped)

•

mark failed updates for retrying later (failed updates are those that fail due to connectivity errors)

•

use the login and password specified for this host in the configuration file

This command could be used twice a month to make sure the host does not become stale.

The configuration file /etc/ddclient.conf is used to specify the default behaviour of ddclient. The default Debian install create the bare-minimum working configuration; see /usr/share/doc/ddclient/examples/sample-etc_ddclient.conf for the full range of what is possible.

The username and password for your DynDNS accounts may stored in the configuration file, and therefore should not be readable except by the owner. To help remind you, ddclient will refuse to run if the configuration file is readable by group or other. If you are using the program interactively, you can specify the user and password on the command line and need not put anything in the configuration file. Obviously, the password should be unique to DynDNS and not used for any other purpose.

/etc/ddclient.conf

/var/cache/ddclient/ddclient.cache

The example scripts for common DHCP daemons are available in /usr/share/doc/ddclient/examples.

ddclient was written by Paul Burry <paul@burry.net>. This manual page was written by Steve Greenland <stevegr@debian.org>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used, modified, and distributed by others).