DrayTek DDNS Service (DrayDDNS)
ExpiredWhat is a 'Dynamic IP Address'
Most commonly, your router has a single public IP address on its WAN (Internet) interface - that is the address which is used for all outgoing packets, and for all remote services (e.g. Web servers) to send data back to you. Unless you are paying your ISP for a fixed IP address - one which is always the same - your public IP address will periodically change, particularly when you disconnect or reboot your Internet connection. That is known as a 'Dynamic' IP address.
Why do I need to know what my public IP address is ?
If you are just using your Internet connection for surfing the web, that's absolutely fine - all data which needs to be sent to your router will be in response to a request, so the web site just sends back to the originating IP address which it can see in the page request.
You may, however want to contact your router or network from the outside world, or allow others to do so. Common reasons for this are:
- Running a web server
- VPN Access from a remote location
- Remote access to Security of CCTV systems
- Remote administratration of your router
- Remote Desktop Connections
- Running an IP PBX or other hosted service
- IP TV redirection (Slingplayer etc.)
In all of those cases, you or the remote device needs to know the router's public IP address in order to contact it. If the address changes, the remote device can no longer communicate.
If you are with the router, you can look at the router's web interface to see its current IP address and give that to your remote user. You can also, from a PC on the LAN use a web site which tells you your current IP address, however both of those methods require you to be local to the router and also are quite cumbersome. It's therefore of no use if you are remote and want to connect to your office/home.
What is a DDNS Service?
On the Internet, we don't normally access remote services (e.g. web pages) by IP address, i.e. 216.58.201.36 instead of www.google.com (though you can!). A DNS server on your LAN or at your ISP converts those names into an IP address.
A DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name Service) is a service which allows you to choose a unique name for your network and update the DNS record with your current IP address every time it changes. This means that if your DDNS hostname is, for example, mycompany1.drayddns.com, anyone trying to connect to that name will be directed to your current public IP address, whatever that is.
Introducing DrayTek's DDNS Service - DrayDDNS
The DrayDDNS service is a free DDNS service for DrayTek owners. With DrayDDNS, your chosen hostname (e.g. myoffice1.drayddns.com) is updated automatically every time your IP address changes so wherever you are in the world, you can reach your home network. For example you could reach your web server by entering http://myoffice1.drayddns.com into your browser.
The DrayTek DrayDDNS service is free of charge and does not you require to to re-confirm your account every month, as required by most other free services.
Built into DrayTek routers
DrayDDNS does not need any software or client installed on your PC or other devices - it's built into DrayTek routers (currently Vigor 2860, 2862 and 2925 series - check for specific model support). You register for the service (free of charge) using your MyVigor account and then enter your DrayDDNS details into the router. When DrayDDNS is initially set up, it will give a expiry date of 1 year but it will automatically renew on expiry. DrayDDNS is currently free of charge (as of February 2018).
If you are an existing registered DrayTek owner in the UK/Ireland, you can read the setup guide here.
(c)2017 DrayTek UK. E&OE. Service features, scope and availability is subject to change. Service is subject to availability and maintenance schedules.