= Ddclient =

'''`ddclient(8)`''' is a script that automatically updates Dynamic DNS records. It is written in Perl with only a few library dependencies.

<<TableOfContents>>

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== Installation ==

Install the `ddclient` package. It is widely available, but some package manager may not detect the `perl` dependencies.

Note: some distributors (i.e. FreeBSD) fail to package the manual page.

For `systemd`-capable systems, [[Linux/Systemd|start and enable]] `ddclient.service`. 

For FreeBSD-style `init` systems, set the following lines into `/etc/rc.conf`:

{{{
ddclient_enable="YES"
ddclient_flags="-daemon 900"
}}}

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== Configuration ==

The minimum configuration of `ddclient(8)` specifies...

 1. A method for obtaining the public IP address
 2. The Dynamic DNS protocol

The simplest configurations use a public website to discover the public IP address.

{{{
ssl=yes
use=web, web=checkip.dyndns.com
}}}

When testing a configuration, consider running `ddclient -daemon=0 -debug -verbose -noquiet`.



=== Routers ===

As an alternative to using a public website, `ddclient(8)` can obtain the IP address directly from a router.

See [[https://ddclient.net/routers.html|here]] for a list of supported routers and the router-specific configurations.



=== Protocols ===

`ddclient(8)` supports a wide variety of Dynamic DNS protocols, including the in-house protocols of various domain providers.

For a Cloudflare registration, try:

{{{
protocol=cloudflare, \
zone=domain.name, \
ttl=1, \
login=username, \
password=global_api_key \
fully.qualified.domain.name
}}}

For a Google Domains registration, try:

{{{
protocol=googledomains
login=username
password='password_in_quotes'
fully.qualified.domain.name
}}}

See [[https://ddclient.net/protocols.html|here]] for a list of supported protocols and the protocol-specific configurations.



=== /etc/default/ddclient ===

Some `systemd`-capable distributions break the daemon configuration into a separate file, at `/etc/default/ddclient`. The basic setup for this file is:

{{{
run_dhclient="false"
run_ipup="false"
run_daemon="true"
daemon_interval="300"
}}}



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