Basement Blog

ddclient is a linux client to update DNS entries for dynamic DNS services like DynDNS. It’s already available in the Ubuntu repository and very easy to install:

apt-get install ddclient
nano /etc/ddclient.conf

daemon=600                  # check every 600 seconds
syslog=yes                  # log update to syslog
mail=gerrit                 # mail all messages to gerrit
mail-failure=gerrit         # mail failed update messages to gerrit
pid=/var/run/ddclient.pid   # record PID in file
cache=/tmp/ddclient.cache   # cache file

# use DynDNS' checkip-service to determine IP
use=web, web=checkip.dyndns.com/, web-skip='IP Address'

protocol=dyndns2            # default protocol
server=members.dyndns.org   # default server
login=my-username           # DynDNS username
password='my-password'      # DynDNS password
my-dyndns-domain.dyndns.org
wildcard=YES

See also DynDNS’ knowledge base artcicle.

Just a summary of a few Ubuntu and Linux related bookmarks I found useful or interesting:

• HowtoForge explains how to setup The Perfect Server on Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon (7.10). Nice article which I based a large part of my server setup on. It also pointed me to a few topics I didn’t think of before.
• Tutorial explaining how to install Windows XP on Ubuntu with VMware Server.
• How to install Flash on Ubuntu AMD64 with nspluginwrapper. When I experimented with the 64bit Ubuntu release I had some problems getting Flash to work with Mozilla. This tutorial solved the problem.
• How to configure a wireless card on Ubuntu server. It was actually easier than I thought it would be.
• Some demonstrations of 64-bit Ubuntu with the 3D-windows manager Compiz can be found on YouTube here and here. There is much more on YouTube. For more on Compiz and Beryl see also Xgl.
• Flickrfs is a virtual file-system that mounts like a partition and allows you to access your flickr account like any other folder on the file-system. Fantastic idea, I have to try this soon.
• Interesting article about what you can do with a second ethernet port.
• VirtualBox is an open-source virtualization solution. At this time I use VMware Server and I’m quite happy with it, but I’m wondering if VirtualBox could be faster and more stable.
• Wireless security is an important topic I have to learn more about sometime. The following are a few links I ran into a while ago: Top 100 Network Security Tools, Aircrack-ng Newbie Guide, Spy and Sniff WiFi in Ubuntu Gutsy and the WPA cracking story may be worth a closer look.
• I tried to learn more about DNS from an administrator’s point of view:
  Some infos on DNS can be found in the BIND9 Administrator Reference Manual, the DynDNS knowledge base, OpenDNS and Mike Cappella’s coursework files.
  Zaphu.com has good tutorials how to setup a BIND master server and Caching Name Server.
  This Two-in-One DNS server tutorial explains how to setup BIND9 to serve the internal and external network at the same time.
• Wikipedia article on Beowulf parallel computing clusters.