STEP ONE: Introduction to Dynamic DNS

Dynamic DNS is a service we use from NameCheap that gives us the option of being able to immediately take action if our host goes down, or we get shut down because some affiliate spammed, or for any number of reasons, all it takes it one quick 30 second adjustment to a new IP address on a new hosting server and we are back up and running.

Without dynamic DNS what would happen is as soon as you switched to a new host, you'd have to wait for the domain to propagate again and that means another 24 to 72 hours.

Now just imagine if you'd just sent a huge promotion to your list and your host goes down! Using dynamic DNS we can get back up and running in minutes. Without it, you're looking at 2 or 3 days until your page comes back online.

So the long and short of it is that it enables you to quickly get back up and running if your host goes down, or to quickly get online if you want to change to a new hosting company.

 

STEP TWO: Logging Into NameCheap

In order to activate the Dynamic DNS on your domain name, you need to login to NameCheap with the username and password you created when you first bought your domain name.

Step 2.1: Login to http://www.namecheap.com

Step 2.2: Go to the MANAGE DOMAINS section and click on your domain name in the list.

Step 2.3: When the page changes you will see this menu on the left hand side of the page:

Step 2.4: When you are able to see the menu you need to click on ALL HOST RECORDS to go to the next page.

Step 2.5: Now you need to contact your hosting company on the phone and ask them for the "IP Address" specific to your account/domain name.

The IP address will look something like this: 68.92.100.12

When they give that to you, write it down then go back to NameCheap and in the first two form fields you need to enter the IP address, like this:

Then click the SAVE CHANGES button on the bottom left side of the page.

STEP THREE: Enabling Dynamic DNS

Step 3.1: Now you need to go back to the left hand of the page where the long menu is and at the very bottom (2nd from the end) you will see a link that says "Dynamic DNS". Go ahead and click on that when you see it.

Step 3.2: When the page loads you will see two radio buttons, one says "enabled" and one says "disabled", like this:

What you need to do is click on the one that says ENABLE, then scroll down the page until you get to the SAVE CHANGES button and click it.

Step 3.3: Next you are going to wait for the page to load, then carefully write down the information that is given to you which includes a domain name, host name and password.

Here is an example of what you will see:

The information presented to you must be written down somewhere, either copied to a text file or printed out. Keep it because in the future you may need it again.

Step 3.4: Now what we need to do is open a new web browser and using THIS link, we are going to CUSTOMIZE it with our DNS information, then we are going to paste it into the address bar of the browser and hit ENTER on the keyboard to activate it.

Copy this line of text:

http://dynamicdns.park-your-domain.com/update?host=@&domain=WHATEVER.COM&password=
YOUR-LONG-PASSWORD&ip=XX.XX.XX.XX

Paste the line of text into a text editor, like Windows Notepad or Word.

Now you are going to need to change three things on the URL.

#1) The domain name (set to WHATEVER.COM)

In place of WHATEVER.COM, enter your domain name.

Example: http://dynamicdns.park-your-domain.com/update?host=@&domain=mywebsite.com&password=
YOUR-LONG-PASSWORD&ip=XX.XX.XX.XX

#2) The password (set to YOUR-LONG-PASSWORD)

In place of YOUR-LONG-PASSWORD, enter the password from the page at NameCheap, like this:

Example: http://dynamicdns.park-your-domain.com/update?host=@&domain=mywebsite.com&password=
986079BB-FCC0-4D37-B4CA-134150CDCC3B&ip=XX.XX.XX.XX

#3) Your IP Address (set to XX.XX.XX)

Finally, in place of XX.XX.XX for the IP, enter your IP address

Example: http://dynamicdns.park-your-domain.com/update?host=@&domain=mywebsite.com&password=
986079BB-FCC0-4D37-B4CA-134150CDCC3B&ip=68.92.100.12

Now your URL is ready to use!

Step 3.5: Open the web browser and in the address field, copy the ENTIRE URL you created and paste it in, then hit the ENTER key on your keyboard.

On the next page you will see text like this:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
- <interface-response>
<DomainRRP>E</DomainRRP>
<RegistrarHold>False</RegistrarHold>
<IP>69.94.8.81</IP>
<Command>SETDNSHOST</Command>
<Language>en</Language>
<ErrCount>0</ErrCount>
<ResponseCount>0</ResponseCount>
<MinPeriod>1</MinPeriod>
<MaxPeriod>10</MaxPeriod>
<Server>Reseller2</Server>
<Site>Namecheap</Site>
<IsLockable>True</IsLockable>
<IsRealTimeTLD>True</IsRealTimeTLD>
<ExecTime>1</ExecTime>
<Done>true</Done>
- <debug>
- <![CDATA[
]]>
</debug>
</interface-response>

As long as you see THIS PART, you're finished: <Done>true</Done>

Now you can open a new browser window and type in your URL, then hit ENTER on your keyboard to bring up your new site -- automatically!

Considering that used to take up to 72 hours, you just saved about 3 days of checking the dns over and over to see if it propagated.

 
What is Dynamic DNS?


Dynamic DNS is a service we use from NameCheap.com (our domain name registrar) that gives us the option of being able to immediately take action if our host goes down.

Your host can go down for a number of reasons. Like if an affiliate spammed one of your products for example... And sometimes a host will just go DOWN for no apparent reason. This can wreak havoc on a product launch!

But if you use Dynamic DNS, all it takes it one quick 30 second adjustment to a new IP address on a new hosting server and you are back up and running.