Configuring dynamic DNS updates for CloudFlare

One of my favorite dynamic DNS services is DNS-O-Matic. DNS-O-Matic is a free service that will announce your dynamic IP changes to multiple dynamic DNS providers with a single update. DNS-O-Matic supports a large number of dynamic dns clients, this page shows a few tested clients.

For my specific use case I configured ddclient running on my Ubuntu AWS instance to update DNS-O-Matic which in return updates my websites A record at my DNS host.

In order to do this you will need to have your websites DNS service hosted at a site that supports IP updates from DNS-O-Matic. I happen to use CloudFlare which supports DNS-O-Matic dynamic IP updates. You can find a list of DNS-O-Matic supported services in their documentation.

Here is a quick rundown of how I configured these services…

1. Register for an account at DNS-O-Matic

2. Configure your DNS Hosting service at the DNS-O-Matic website. Here is an example for CloudFlare:

   Username: CLOUDFLARE ACCOUNT EMAIL
   API Token: CLOUDFLARE API KEY
   Hostname: DNS HOSTNAME
   Domain: YOUR DOMAIN NAME
   

3. Install ddclient on your server:

   sudo apt-get install ddclient
   

4. Edit /etc/ddclient.conf to update your DNS-O-Matic account:

   use=web, web=myip.dnsomatic.com
   server=updates.dnsomatic.com
   protocol=dyndns2
   login=dnsomatic_username
   password='dnsomatic_password'
   all.dnsomatic.com
   

5. Start the ddclient service and configure to run on boot:

   sudo update-rc.d ddclient defaults
   sudo update-rc.d ddclient enable
   sudo /usr/sbin/service/ddclient start
   

6. Confirm the WAN IP of your instance has been pushed to DNS-O-Matic and CloudFlare