No-IP is excited to welcome our new hire Web Developer/Designer, Casey Kennedy. Casey comes to us from the travel/hospitality industry.
“No-IP is unlike any company I’ve ever worked for. The environment is comfortable, the team exceptional. I am excited to get started on a ton of new projects,” stated Casey.
Welcome Casey!
We get this question a lot from users, so I think it is fair to touch on it quite often.
First, let’s explain what an IP address is. An Internet Protocal Address or IP address for short, is like your computers phone number. Without it, your computer wouldn’t be able to connect to the Internet. Every computer, tablet, smart phone, and internet enabled device has it’s own IP address (even some light bulbs have an IP address these days). An IP address consists of numbers and periods (192.168.1.1).
So, what is a dynamic IP address? Well, a dynamic IP address is one that changes from time to time and isn’t always the same. If you have a residential cable or DSL service, you most likely have a dynamic IP address. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide customers with a dynamic IP addresses because they are more cost effective. Instead of one IP address always being yours (static IP address), your IP address is pulled from a pool of addresses and then assigned to you. After a few days, weeks or sometimes even months, that number gets put back into the pool of numbers and you are assigned a new number.
This is why a dynamic IP address can make it tricky to remotely access your PC, DVR or webcam, because even if you know your IP address at this moment, 5 minutes from now it could be different. So if you are away and want to access your computer remotely, but you have the wrong IP address, you will not be able to connect to your computer.
Dynamic DNS makes a dynamic IP address act as though it’s static (does not change) even though it is not. With No-IP you create an easy to remember hostname. This hostname is the URL that you type into your browser to connect to your remote device. Our Dynamic Update Client takes your hostname that you created (yourname.no-ip.org) and points it to your IP address. When your IP address changes, our Dynamic Update Client updates your IP address on our servers, therefore your hostname stays active with your active IP address and your connection stays available all the time.
Sometimes, routers have dynamic DNS or DDNS built into the router. With this feature, you do not need to download our Dynamic Update Client. You will just need to log in to the admin settings on your router and configure it with your No-IP username, password and hostname. This will keep your connection active for you automatically.
Dynamic IP addresses are a bit annoying, but with the right software you can get around them easily and for free. Most ISPs will not provide a static IP address to residential customers and if they do, they are often very expensive.
Additional questions or comments? Leave them below!
No-IP is in the latest version of firmware as an integrated Dynamic DNS solution for this Cisco router, hopefully more to come soon! Cheers!
Yesterday was a big day for the Internet. CISPA (H.R. 3523) the bill that we spoke about a few weeks ago, was approved in the House by a vote of 248-168. It wasn’t even supposed to be discussed until today, which is why it’s even more shocking. The bill went through a rush vote and was quickly passed with a few minor amendments.
What does this mean? This means that the bill will now move onto the Senate for approval. If the Senate approves it, then it could still be vetoed by the President, since his advisors have already threatened to veto it.
An excerpt from that statement:
“The bill also lacks sufficient limitations on the sharing of personally identifiable information between private entities and does not contain adequate oversight or accountability measures necessary to ensure that the data is used only for appropriate purposes. Citizens have a right to know that corporations will be held legally accountable for failing to safeguard personal information adequately.”
The bill passed yesterday with some amendments, but were those amendments enough to protect us and remove the severe vagueness of the bill? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but no, they actually do the exact opposite. The bill is even vaguer and invading. The bill basically says that the 4th Amendment doesn’t apply online anymore. Ridiculous to say the least.
An excerpt from a CNET article:
“CISPA would “waive every single privacy law ever enacted in the name of cybersecurity,” Rep. Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat and onetime Web entrepreneur, said during the debate. “Allowing the military and NSA to spy on Americans on American soil goes against every principle this country was founded on.”
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and author of CISPA, responded by telling his colleagues to ignore “all the things they’re saying about the bill that are not true.” He pleaded: “Stand for America! Support this bill!”
The amendments to the bill can be viewed here.
So, what can you do? Follow this link to quickly and easily send a message to your Senators.
I think this government needs a tune up.
Back in November 2011, 6 Estonians were arrested and charged with creating and distributing a virus to millions of computers worldwide. The virus affects the way your computer looks up the IP addresses of websites or DNS. When you type: www.no-ip.com into your browser, your computer queries your ISPs server to ask “what is the IP address for no-ip.com” in response, your ISP tells your computer what the IP address is, and your computer successfully loads that website. Well, what the “DNS Changer” Trojan does is, instead of querying your ISPs servers, your computer queries one of the malicious servers. This whole scheme was setup in order to make a ton of money on online advertising, and it worked, until the FBI caught on.
So, back in November, the FBI successfully arrested the 6 people behind the Trojan, and replaced the malicious servers with good, happy servers. The servers were only meant to stay on for 4 months, but because of the large quantity of computers suspected to be infected with the trojan and the high level of traffic they were receiving, they were left on a bit longer. Until July 9th that is, when they will be shutdown forever. Which will cause a MAJOR headache if you are in fact, one of the unlucky ones that was infected.
So, what can you do? Well, for starters head to this site to test your DNS. If you get the green light, you are good to go, but if you get the dreaded red light, you are infected and will have to follow the additional instructions for disinfecting your computer (yeah spring cleaning bonus round!)
I wouldn’t suggest waiting either… If you are one of the unlucky ones that has been infected, it will be much easier to fix your computer now, when you actually have a working internet connection. As opposed to on July 9th when your internet is no longer working and you now have no way to get connected to the internet to download the necessary software to fix the issue.
So, take 5 seconds right now to see if you computer is infected, okay GO!
So, How many authoritative DNS queries did No-IP resolve a day (on average) in March on our Free DNS service?
1,353,200,000
You heard us correctly! That is a whole lot of queries! The winners are:
Stefan: 1,256,000,000
Jesse Shawl: 1,472,111,289
Congrats! Email ngoguen-giveaway(at)no-ip(dot)com
Thanks and have a great weekend everyone!
The question for the weekly giveaway is:
How many authoritative DNS queries did we resolve a day (on average) in March on our Free DNS service? (3 Winners closest to the number will win. Hint: it’s a BIG number.)
Leave all answers below as a comment and see if you can win the weekly giveaway. Winner announced on Friday April 20th. Winners will receive a sweet No-IP T-Shirt! Be sure to share this on Facebook and Twitter!
Still a free user of No-IP? 10 Reasons why you should upgrade today:
5 Reasons to Upgrade to Enhanced DNS
1. No more worries about hostnames expiring or confirming your account every
30 days.
2. More hosts! Enjoy up to 25 hosts
3. More domain choices
4. Awesome Phone Support
5. No advertising on URL redirects/port 80 redirects
5 Reasons to Upgrade to Plus Managed DNS
1. DNS management for your very own domain (www.yourname.com)
2. Up to 50 hosts / subdomains
3. Complete control over your domain (who doesn’t love having control?)
4. Ultra-fast DNS propagation: No more waiting 24-72 hours for simple DNS updates and changes, with No-IP Plus, updates are propagated worldwide in under 1 minute!
5. Trusted Anycast Network: We have multiple nameservers anycasted across the globe, which means your website will enjoy 100% uptime.
Are you already an upgraded user? Why did you upgrade?
Yes! You heard us correctly! We have 11 points of presence across the globe. Not only does this make our network ultra reliable, but it also makes it fast! Anycast DNS, which is available when you upgrade to a Plus Managed DNS account, ensures that your website visitors visit your site at the fastest speed possible. They will connect to to the server that is closest to them. So, if you located in Los Angeles, but your user is located in Japan, they will connect to the server in Toyko, not the server in Los Angeles. Our 11 points of presence make connections a lot faster and it also helps for redundancy! If the power gets knocked out where you are, your website will still be available. (If you have multiple NS records enabled)
The winners of our giveaway are:
Gavin Fregona
Andrey Z
Carey McLauchlin
Barry Belford
Ian Thompson
If you are one of the above people, please email ngoguen-giveaway(at)no-ip(dot)com
CONGRATS!!
Stay tuned for more giveaways!
It feels like just a few weeks ago that the Internet rallied together against the SOPA and PIPA bills that were being debated in Congress. Those bills pale in comparison to the new bill that is making its way through the rounds, H.R. 3523 or CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act). The new bill has failed to gain mainstream attention, but I don’t see that lasting very much longer.
What makes CISPA so much worse than SOPA and PIPA? Well, for starters, the vagueness of the bill is the scary part. The words in the bill are so very broad that it could make a 78-year-old grandma that isn’t even a user of the Internet shiver with fear.
The bill would encourage private companies to monitor cyber threat information that goes across their networks and then share that information with the government. The requirements for the government to request the information are very broad and that is the main issue with the bill.
The opening line of the bill, which can be read here, displays the vagueness and broad reach:
“To provide for the sharing of certain cyber threat intelligence and cyber threat information between the intelligence community and cybersecurity entities, and for other purposes.”
The “and for other purposes” really raises concerns. What are the other purposes?
This bill could mean that everything you type into your web browser would be monitored and sent off to the government. We are not against going after cyber threats, but the scope of this bill is so broad that it oversteps the freedom of the innocent.
What will the consequences of this bill? Companies acting as “big brother” may over monitor our online activity, making criminals out of all of us. What effect would this bill have on the Internet experience? Leave your comments below.