To understand what DNS (Domain Name Server) and DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name Server) are we will have to take a few steps back first to understand the complete picture, then come back to DDNS to explain it properly, our journey begins at briefly understanding how IP addresses work.

What Is an IP?

An IP (Internet Protocol) address allows you to connect to the Internet. Every single device that requests that access is assigned a unique IP address. IP addresses have to be unique since if two or more different devices were to share a single address, it would cause a conflict and prevent either of them from connecting to the internet.

In IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4), there are over four billion different possible addresses, while plentiful, they are still limited. This is why IP addresses are separated into two different categories, static and dynamic.

Static IP addresses are fixed for a specific device. It always only correlates to that device and never to any other. This provides a multitude of benefits that we will get into a bit later. The dynamic type however works a bit differently.

Since the total amount of addresses is slowly coming to a limit, instead of having a static address unique to you, you instead send out a request to temporarily borrow an IP address to use for your session. This is why most devices use the dynamic type instead by default since it is more convenient overall.

This entire process is handled by a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server. So in essence, you send out a request, the DHCP server processes it, and then assigns you an IP address for a limited amount of time. As long as you keep using the Internet, your session will keep being extended, but as soon as you terminate it, your IP will be unassigned from you and put back into the storage of unused IP addresses. The next time you connect to the Internet, you will be assigned a new IP address, and so on.

What Are Domains and How Do They Work?

We won’t be diving too deep into this topic apart from the things you need to understand in order to fully grasp the concept of a DNS. Every website you connect to is essentially an IP address that has a name. For example, if you ping Google, you will receive a response directly from its IP.

The domain of “Google” is just a front so you don’t have to type out that IP address every single time you want to connect to something. If you think about it, every feature is there with reason. Remembering number sequences for every single website would be incredibly impractical.

This is why domains are important, and in order to have a name correlate to an IP, we use DNS. DNS is effectively a phonebook that correlates all of the IP addresses with their respective domains, ensuring that you can connect to them with ease at all times, regardless of where you are.

So What Is DDNS Then?

Before we get into that, let us go back a bit one last time. Remember differentiating static and dynamic IP? There is a significant advantage that static IP addresses have over dynamic ones. If anybody wants to connect to you while you have a static IP address, then they are free to do so with ease, however, if you have a dynamic IP address, it will fluctuate frequently and there will be no means of rediscovering your new address.

The regular DNS system works well with a static IP address, but not with a dynamic IP address. With a dynamic IP address, you would have to manually reconfigure it every single time your IP changes which is an unreasonable thing to do.

This is where DDNS comes in. It automatically reconfigures alongside your IP changes making sure that you are always uniquely identifiable so others can connect to you with no issues. You also won’t need to do any manual reconfiguration either since the entire system is automated.

Should I Just Get a Static IP Then?

That depends, if you have a static IP address you effectively mitigate all of these issues and even gain some benefits. For example, DDNS and dynamic IP addresses aren’t as good for continuous streamlined connections necessary for things such as streaming for example, whereas static IP addresses would handle that without any issue.

The main concern when it comes to having a static IP address is the fact you need to buy it. If you are a business then a static IP is definitely an asset that you might want to look into a bit more, however, if your needs are more personal, a simple DDNS should do just fine. DDNS is relatively simple to set up while also being completely free, it just requires a bit of know-how.

The Best Dynamic DNS Providers

Here’s a look at some top Dynamic DNS providers to consider.

1. No-IP A free DDNS service that offers a vast array of features and support. Out of all of the entries in this article, this one has the most limited free plan but the highest limit for a paid plan. With the free plan, you will have to confirm your hostname every 30 days or it will get deleted. It does not include a SSL certificate and you get to choose from one of the 30 No-IP domains. The Enhanced Dynamic DNS has some more advanced features such as 1 No-IP Vital Encrypt DV SSL Certificate, hostnames never expire, and more. The Pro Dynamic DNS plan offers support for up to 100 hostnames. Using No-IP you can do a vast array of things such as setting up a secure security camera or ensuring remote access for your devices at all times.
2. Duck DNS Your choice of DNS if you are worried about compatibility issues with different operating systems. Furthermore, it is fully free and offers a great deal of privacy. They collect minimal data and everything that is collected is fully private with no intention of being sold to anyone. That data itself is secured with a 256-bit SSL certificate. In other words, to crack that encryption, a single current-day super-computer would take hundreds of thousands of years. The main issue is that since it is hosted on AWS, it doesn’t support IPv6. It does however offer a wide array of support for Linux, Windows, Android, Pi, and many, many more.
3. FreeDNS As the name states, FreeDNS is completely free to use although it does have some paid plans which have premium features. It is extremely simple to use and allows you to control your domain name traffic in real-time anywhere. There are free and premium subdomain and domain hosting, backup DNS, reverse IPv6 DNS hosting, and many more features.
4. Dynu Offers a fully free DDNS which allows you to customize your internet connection name, allows you to host websites using a server at home, remote access your computer from anywhere, hosts websites on any port, and more. One of its main advantages is the fact that it has a very easy-to-use interface and offers a very reliable DNS uptime. There is even a paid version that allows for more features such as DNSSEC, IP update history, backups & restorations, logging, and more.
5. YDNS A free DDNS that offers a vast array of services, again, free of charge. It features unlimited hosts per user, DDNS for hosts that allow you to have a permanent hostname, full DNS hosting for your own domains, DNSSEC support, and a lightweight API that works with most DynDNS implementations. Note that the unlimited hosts’ feature is based on the fair use model and that the DNSSEC is not available for all DNS zones. Since YDNS wants to provide its service for free and thousands of people are using it, the way that they manage their costs instead of having a paid model, they have an option where you can donate any amount that you wish, if any. All of the funds which go into the donations are used to maintain and refine the DDNS service.
6. EuroDynDNS A free service that offers a high degree of functionality. It routes all traffic to the nearest available server on the network, improving performance. The traffic is also shared between name servers balancing the load and reducing any bottlenecks. This ensures that there is no single point of failure at any moment, effectively reducing the likelihood of any downtime happening. They also feature enhanced security in their free DNS which reduces the likelihood of any DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks happening. EuroDynDNS also helps you manage your WordPress, streamlines Web Hosting into a single click, provides you with a free mailbox, offers full domain privacy, removes the risk of identity theft and domain hijacking, and finally offers a free SSL certificate with every domain.

Summary

Hopefully, you’ve gained more insight into how the different IP types function, how DHCP influences domain connections, and how DNS allows you to effectively connect to a URL. There are many different uses for a DDNS, from simply remotely accessing your own devices to hosting websites and many more.

You might not even want to get a DDNS and are going to opt in for a static IP instead. Either way, hopefully, the information here was of help.