Remote access is the ability to access a computer or device remotely. It sounds simple enough, right?
Continue ReadingWhat is Remote Access and How Can I Use It?
Customer Profile : Black Rock Concepts
We would like to highlight one of our awesome customers, Black Rock Concepts.
No-IP Free Dynamic DNS [VIDEO]
Did this video answer all your questions about No-IP Free Dynamic DNS? If not contact our support team for additional assistance now!
No-IP Remote Support Success Story
A few weeks ago, we had a user contact our No-IP Remote Support team. The user, Martin, was trying to configure his network so he could monitor his businesses web cameras from home. Martin isn’t a technician, our service was recommended to him by a friend. He admitted that he wasn’t that computer savvy and that after spending hours trying to figure it out, he was ready to throw his computer out the window.
We quickly verified that the No-IP service we set up correctly and determined that Martin was having the same problem a majority of our user’s experience, Port Forwarding their Router. Port Forwarding is the final and in many cases the most puzzling piece of setting up your remote access. It is a stumbling block for many users because documentation is limited and because there are so many different router manufacturers as well as changes between firmware versions.
Even though we are not a router manufacturer, we always like to go the extra mile and do our best to help users when they get stuck. Recently we’ve launched a pilot service that allows our Technical Support Team to remotely log into a users computer and help get our clients online.
Martin agreed to participate in the program and our Support Technician, Alex, emailed him a link to get the remote view support session initiated.
Once logged in, Alex was able to diagnose the problem almost immediately and explained that by default, IP cameras are set to “Listen” on port 80. However, port 80 connections are typically blocked by ISP’s (Internet Service Providers). Alex set Martin’s router to forward port 8080 instead, and he also changed the default HTTP port of the camera to 8080.
After both steps were complete, Alex checked to make sure Martin’s port 8080 was open using a telnet command inside the terminal. Success! The port was open and his network was configured successfully without Martin having to do much more than relaxing and observe.
Martin’s patience and willingness to let our Technical Support Technician remote into his computer allowed him the freedom to monitor his business from a remote location over the Internet. The entire process was completed within 20 minutes.
Martin was ecstatic. And now he can surreptitiously watch his business and all the shenanigans his employees get into when he is not around.
We were ecstatic too.
Just another example of the No-IP Remote Support team going the extra mile to provide bad ass customer service.
Are you having trouble with Port Forwarding? Give our awesome Technical Support Technicians a call today for help!
Confused about Configuring Your No-IP Hostname?
If you are confused about the different configurations of your No-IP hostname, read along and see what each setting is used for.
DNS Host (A): An A Record is the basic setting for DNS. If you are setting up a new hostname with us, this option will most likely be what you will use. A Records are used to map your IP address (usually a dynamic IP address, or one that changes from time to time and is not always the same) to a hostname.
Example: If your IP address is 168.55.43.11, instead of typing that into your browser, you simply type your hostname (yourname.no-ip.org) into the browser. Every website uses A Records. Google, Facebook etc. If not for A Records, you would have to remember the IP address of every site that you want to visit. A Records make things easy.
DNS Host (Round Robin): Round robin is a bit more complex. It is similar to an A Record, but instead of pointing one IP address to a hostname, it points multiple IP addresses to one hostname. Round robin is used to achieve DNS load balancing on a server.
CNAME: This type of record is used to point one hostname (or multiple) to another. This setup makes updating multiple hosts that you want to have the same DNS settings easier. When the first is updated, the rest are as well.
Example: If myname.no-ip.com is a CNAME to yourname.no-ip.com, myname.no-ip.com inherits the DNS settings of yourname.no-ip.com
Port 80 Redirect: This option needs to be used if your ISP blocks port 80 like most commonly do. It enables you to reach your server without having to type the port after the hostname.
Example: Without Port 80 redirect you would have to type in the following into your browser: yourhost.no-ip.org:8080
With Port 80 redirect you can simply type the hostname: yourhost.no-ip.org
Web Redirect: This maps your hostname to a web URL. Web Redirects only work for HTTP and cannot be used to remotely access your computer.
Example: yourname.no-ip.com would redirect to www.yourname,.com. Traffic that types yourname.no-ip.com into the browser would be automatically redirected to www.yourname.com, effortlessly.
Assign to Groups: Groups simplify updating hosts. If you have lots of hosts and want to update them in an effective way create a group! By grouping your hosts you can use this page to update all hosts in your group to a given IP address. If you are an Enhanced or Plus DNS user, you can even create sub-accounts and password protect them.
Enable Wildcards?
A wildcard makes all subdomains resolve to the same record as the parent. So if you enable wildcard for yourname.no-ip.org, anything.yourname.no-ip.org would resolve to the same address as yourname.no-ip.org without explicitly creating that host. This is useful if you want to set up many virtual hosts for your personal web server.
Additional questions or comments on the basic setup of your No-IP free DNS host? Leave them below! As always, be sure to share this post on Facebook and Twitter and Click “Like” below!
WordPress.com Hit By Major DDoS Attack!
Early this morning, three of WordPress.com’s data centers were successfully taken down by a major DDoS attack. WordPress is describing it as the largest one in it’s history. The following is an excerpt from their blog
“WordPress.com is currently being targeted by a extremely large Distributed Denial of Service attack which is affecting connectivity in some cases. The size of the attack is multiple Gigabits per second and tens of millions of packets per second. We are working to mitigate the attack, but because of the extreme size, it is proving rather difficult. At this time, everything should be back to normal as the attack has subsided, but we are actively working with our upstream providers on measures to prevent such attacks from affecting connectivity going forward. We will be making our VIP sites a priority in this endeavor, and as always, you can contact us via xxxxx@wordpress.com for the latest update. We will also update this post with more information as it becomes available.”
DDoS attacks happen. Is your business protected? What can help your business survive a DDoS attack? Anycast. Anycast is a routing and networking method. In this method, the same IP address is allocated to multiple name servers or hosts that all behave the same way, carry the same content and are capable of answering the same queries. These name servers are located in various locations across the globe. Anycast automatically directs your customers to the name server that is located closest to them.
So, why is Anycast DNS so important?
Anycast makes DNS more reliable. Instead of traffic being sent to one name server, traffic is diverted to many different name servers. If one server is congested, another server can take some of the load.
Anycast improves performance. We are a generation of instant gratification and one of my biggest pet peeves is waiting for a website to load. With Anycast, your customers can connect to a name server that is located closest to them, therefore reducing the amount of time it takes to receive the query. If the name server is located in California all queries from the west coast will be fast, but if the query is from New York, the queries will be slow, and queries from London will be even slower. Anycast solves this problem and assures that all of your traffic is fast, no matter where the query is coming from.
Increase resilience to Internet Based Attacks. With multiple name servers available, attacks are mitigated and often concentrated to one server, rather than taking down the entire network. Queries can be diverted to another name server in this instance, therefore causing no interruption of service.
Maintenance can be performed without any interruptions in service. During regular maintenance, DNS traffic is simply routed to the next available name server, therefore your customers are never without service.
Anycast DNS is great way to improve performance and resiliency of your network.
Since 2007, No-IP has been using IP anycast on some of our name server (NS) records. In the coming months all Managed and Backup DNS NS records will use anycast. Contact us today to learn more about what No-IP.com has to offer and how we can help implement Anycast DNS for your business!