Posted: 24 Aug 2005

With SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server, your home computer can easily be converted into a LINUX server which can be used to host your own websites, email service, FTP service, etc...

how to do it

1. Obtain a DDNS Service
   
   Open an account with a Dynamic DNS provider such as DynDNS. Their dynamic DNS service is free, reliable and very easy to establish.
   
   Make a note of your username and password. In this example we’ll use “johndoe” as the username and “passing” as the password.
   
   All you need to provide is your “Hostname” and choose one of their domains. In my case the LINUX server name is “tbird34048” and I chose “kicks-hiney.net” as the domain.
   
   If you tick the “Enable Wildcard” option, DNS will believe your server can do anything i.e. Web, Mail, ftp etc.
   
   You can tick the “Mail Exchanger (optional)” and use one of their chargeable services for mail relay and forwarding.
   
2. Install a Dynamic DNS Client
   
   ddclient ships with SUSE, so from YaST-Software-Install and Remove Software, enter ddclient in the search field and follow the instructions to install it.
   
3. Configure /etc/ddclient.conf
   
   I’ve stripped the file down to the bare minimum:
   
   

   daemon=300                   # Number of seconds before IP address is checked again
   syslog=yes                   # Log update messages to syslog
   mail-failure=root             # Mail only failed updates to root
   pid=/var/run/ddclient.pid       # Records the Process ID of ddclient
   use=web, web=checkip.dyndns.org/, web-skip=’IP Address’ # Checks with DynDNS what your externally facing IP address is, that’s the one on your router plugged into your cable modem.
   protocol=dyndns2             # The protocol DynDNS use for Dynamic DNS
   server=members.dyndns.org       # The DynDNS server that manages your IP address and DNS resolution
   login=johndoe             # Your DynDNS login name
   password=passing             # Your DynDNS password
   wildcard=yes                   # Use wildcard DNS CNAME 
   

   
   
4. Check it is Working
   
   There are a number of simple command lines you can use to get it up and running:
   
   

   /etc/init.d/ddclient stop 
   /etc/init.d/ddclient start 
   /etc/init.d/ddclient restart
   

   If you use the DynDNS check IP service (http://checkip.dyndns.org/) from a web browser, you should see the IP address of your router which is attached to the internet.
   
   and that should be it!