36.1. Dynamic DNS (DDNS) resource

DYNAMIC DNS allows to find Abilis with its dynamic address, using a fixed name.

36.1.1. Activating the DDNS resource

Enter into the Abilis control-program or open the configuration file with the Console configurator and type the following commands.

[10:34:45] ABILIS_CPX:a res:ddns

COMMAND EXECUTED

[10:34:50] ABILIS_CPX:save conf

VALIDATION IN PROGRESS ...
WARNING: RES:Tcp Changed "SESNUM" from 103 to 104
VALIDATION SUCCESSFULLY EXECUTED

SAVE EXECUTED

On a working Abilis, a system restart (warm start) is required to make the DDNS resource running.

Then activate the resource:

[10:45:08] ABILIS_CPX:s p ddns act:yes

COMMAND EXECUTED

[10:45:32] ABILIS_CPX:d p ddns

RES:DDns - Not Saved (SAVE CONF), Not Refreshed (INIT) ------------------------
       ------------------------------------------------------------------------
       DESCR:Dynamic_DNS_Protocol_Client
       LOG:DS        ACT:YES            sesnum:1       TOS:0-N
       SERVICE:dyndns.org
       SERVER:AUTO (members.dyndns.org)
       PORT:80       RETRY-DELAY:60     CHECK-IP:YES   CHECK-IP-PERIOD:600
       UPDATE-PERIOD:AUTO
       USER:                                           PWD:

[10:45:41] ABILIS_CPX:init res:ddns

COMMAND EXECUTED

[10:46:48] ABILIS_CPX:save conf

VALIDATION IN PROGRESS ...
VALIDATION SUCCESSFULLY EXECUTED

SAVE EXECUTED

36.1.2. DDNS resource parameters

Use the following command to view the resource parameters, the command d p ddns ? displays the meaning of all parameters.

[15:03:23] ABILIS_CPX:d p ddns

RES:DDns ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Run    DESCR:Dynamic_DNS_Protocol_Client
       LOG:DS        ACT:YES            sesnum:1       TOS:0-N
       SERVICE:dyndns.org
       SERVER:AUTO (members.dyndns.org)
       PORT:80       RETRY-DELAY:60     CHECK-IP:YES   CHECK-IP-PERIOD:600
       UPDATE-PERIOD:AUTO
       USER:                                           PWD:

Meaning of the most important parameters:

LOG

State changes log and alarm generation [NO, D, S, A, L, T, ALL] [+E] (D: Debug Log; S: System Log; A: Alarm view; L: Local audible alarm; T: SNMP traps; +E: Extended Log of state changes, see ref. manual).

ACT

Operation activation [NO, YES].

sesnum

Maximum number of client sessions [1..255].

TOS

TOS or DS field:

  • p-t: PRECEDENCE-TOS, 'p' [0..7], 't' [N, D, T, R, C].

  • bbbbbb: DS value bit by bit, 'b' [0, 1].

SERVICE

DDNS service name [dyndns.com, dyndns.org, dyndns.it, no-ip.com, zoneedit.com, dtdns.com, minidns.net].

SERVER

DDNS server FQDN. AUTO or max 64 characters in the range ['0'..'9', 'a'..'z', '-', '.']. FQDN name is forced to lower case. When AUTO, the service's server is used.

PORT

Remote TCP port of the server [0..65535].

RETRY-DELAY

Delay between subsequent TCP reconnections [30..3600 s]. NOTE: There is no limit to the reconnection attempt.

CHECK-IP

Activate/deactivate IP address checks [NO, YES].

CHECK-IP-PERIO

Time interval between subsequent successful IP address checks [60..86400 s].

UPDATE-PERIOD

Update period of dynamic DNS records on the server [AUTO, 1..60 days]. When AUTO the provider's default rules are obeyed.

USER

User identification on the server. Max 32 ASCII characters. Spaces require double quotes (E.g. "/aaa bbb/").

PWD

User password on the server. Max 32 ASCII characters. Spaces require double quotes (E.g. "/aaa bbb/").

The following command allows the administrator to change the configuration of the resource:

s p ddns parameter:value...

[Caution]Caution

To activate the changes made on the upper case parameters, execute the initialization command init res:ddns; while to set act the changes made on the lowercase parameters a save conf and an Abilis restart are required (i.e. With warm start command).

36.1.2.1. Example

Add the DDNS resource and configure it choosing the service name and inserting name and password of an active dyndns account.

[Tip]Tip

Please refer to chapter Section 81.18.1, “How to setup DDNS service using dyndns.org” to learn how to create an account on dyndns.org.

[18:32:46] ABILIS_CPX:s p ddns service:dyndns.org user:abilistest pwd:abilistest

COMMAND EXECUTED

[18:32:54] ABILIS_CPX:d p ddns

RES:DDns - Not Saved (SAVE CONF), Not Refreshed (INIT) ------------------------
       ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Run    DESCR:Dynamic_DNS_Protocol_Client
       LOG:DS        ACT:YES            sesnum:1       TOS:0-N
       SERVICE:dyndns.org
       SERVER:AUTO (members.dyndns.org)
       PORT:80       RETRY-DELAY:60     CHECK-IP:YES   CHECK-IP-PERIOD:600
       UPDATE-PERIOD:AUTO
       USER:abilistest                                 PWD:********

Configure the IP resource, so type the following commands:

[17:38:10] ABILIS_CPX:s p ip-24 ddns:yes ddns-fqdn:abilistest.dyndns.org

COMMAND EXECUTED

[17:38:42] ABILIS_CPX:d p ip-24

RES:Ip-24 - Not Saved (SAVE CONF), Not Refreshed (INIT) -----------------------
       - IP over PPP (PPP) ----------------------------------------------------
New    DESCR:
       OPSTATE:UP             LOG:NO               STATE-DETECT:NORMAL
       LOWRES:Dsl-1
       IPADD:RETRIEVE                                NEIGH:RETRIEVE
       REDIS:EXT     HIDE:NO         RP:NONE            IPSEC:NO       VRRP:NO
       NAT:NO                        DIFFSERV:NO        DDNS:YES
       OUTBUF:100    OUTQUEUE:FAIR   MTU:1500
       OUTSPL:NO
       INBUF:0                      mru:1500           SRCV:NO
       - DDNS section ---------------------------------------------------------
       DDNS-FQDN:abilistest.dyndns.org
       - TRFA section ---------------------------------------------------------
       TRFA:NO
       - Ppp ------------------------------------------------------------------
       LOG:DS           NRTY3:3         PPP-ENC:RFC2364-VCMUX     RADIUS:NO
       VPI:8            VCI:35
       - Tcp-MSS/Lcp/IpCp -----------------------------------------------------
       TCP-MSS-CLAMP:NO
       maxmru:1500        DNS:NO
       - Authentication -------------------------------------------------------
       USERNAME:provider_user
       PASSWORD:********                          LOCAL:CHAP,PAP
       SERVNAME:                                  REMOTE:NONE
       REPEAT:0
RES:Dsl-1 --------------------------------------------------------------------
Run    DESCR:adsl-operatorA
       LOG:DST                     MODE:ADSL                  payload-rxbuf:30
       - Specific for Abilis-VDSL2 modem --------------------------------------
       MORE-ADSL-ANNEX:L,M
       - Specific for Abilis-5800UB modem -------------------------------------
       5800UB-MODULATION:AUTO
       - Adsl-ATM -------------------------------------------------------------
       max-vc:1
       adsl-usb-rxbuf:3            adsl-usb-txbuf:1
       - Vdsl-PTM -------------------------------------------------------------
       vdsl-usb-rxbuf:15           vdsl-usb-txbuf:15

On a working Abilis, an initialization of DDNS and IP-24 resources are required (init res:ddns and init res:ip-24). Remember to save the configurations (save conf)

36.1.3. DDNS diagnostics, statistics and debug

36.1.3.1. DDNS diagnostics

This command reports the current situation of the DNS resource:

[15:25:58] ABILIS_CPX:d d ddns

RES:DDns ----------------------------------------------------------------------
       Dynamic_DNS_Protocol_Client
       STATE:ACTIVE       SESNUM:1           CLIENTS:3
       SERVER:members.dyndns.org
       PORT:80            CUR-QUERIES:0      PEAK-QUERIES:1
       ------------------------------------------------------------------------
       RES     STATE         IP               UPDATE-TIME
               FQDN
               SERVER-RESPONSE
       ------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Ip-2    REGISTERED    192.168.001.100  28/09/2017 15:25:58
               abilistest.dyndns.org
               good 192.168.1.100
       ------------------------------------------------------------------------

The meaning:

STATE

The DDNS driver state:

  • INACTIVE - State set when the configuration parameter ACT:NO or SERVER field is empty.

  • ACTIVE - The driver is fully ready to work.

SESNUM

The number of TCP session.

CLIENTS

The number of IP port DDNS clients.

SERVER

The FQDN of configured DDNS server.

PORT

The TCP port of DDNS server.

CUR-QUERIES

Current DDNS queries to the DDNS server.

PEAK-QUERIES

The peak of DDNS queries to the DDNS server.

DDNS diagnostic of IP port:

RES

The IP resource.

STATE

The IP port state:

  • IDLE - Idle state.

  • PENDING - Request to DNS server is queued

  • REQUEST - Request is active. Interconnection with DNS and DDNS server.

  • REGISTERED - IP address is registered.

  • REGISTER-ERROR - DDNS server registration error occurred.

  • RETRY-DELAY - Request is delayed for retransmission.

FQDN

The FQDN of DDNS client.

IP

Registered IP address of DDNS client.

UPDATE-TIME

Time stamp of last IP registration on DDNS server.

SERVER-RESPONSE

Last DDNS server response string.

36.1.3.2. DDNS statistics

This command can help to understand what is happening, in case of troubles:

[15:30:30] ABILIS_CPX:d s ddns

RES:DDns ----------------------------------------------------------------------
       Dynamic_DNS_Protocol_Client                                             
       --- Cleared 3 days 20:08:18 ago, on 29/09/2017 at 15:12:07 -------------
       -----------|---INPUT---|--OUTPUT---|-----------|---INPUT---|--OUTPUT---|
       CHAR       |        284|        560|REQUESTS   |           |          2|
       DNS-ERRS   |          0|           |SUCCESS    |          1|           |
       TCP-ERRS   |          0|           |ERRORS     |          1|           |
       DDNS-ERRS  |          1|           |
       ------------------------------------------------------------------------

With reference to the shown interval of time («Cleared 3 days 20:08:18 ago») these counters show the number of:

CHARIncoming/outgoing characters from/to TCP.
REQUESTSDDNS requests.
DNS-ERRSDNS errors.
TCP-ERRSTCP errors.
DDNS-ERRSDDNS errors.
SUCCESSDDNS successful requests.
ERRORSAll errors.

36.1.3.3. DDNS debug

Type the following command to view the commands allowed:

[15:20:28] ABILIS_CPX:debug res:ddns

RES:DDns ----------------------------------------------------------------------
       Dynamic_DNS_Protocol_Client                                             
       BufferLength:64512  Date/Time:02/08/2016 15:20:35 TraceTime:4201741

DEBUG RES:<Ddns>
  LSN:0                    - This help
  LSN:1                    - Complete debug
  LSN:2                    - Statistics
  LSN:3                    - DDNS client log
  LSN:3 CMD:CLR            - Clear DDNS client log
  LSN:3 CMD:SET:[DFT,FULL] - Set log event level
            DFT  - Log default events (reduced)
            FULL - Log all events (dump of messages)
  LSN:5 CMD:N,FQDN,IP      - Execute DDNS update on IP port N
  LSN:6 CMD:N              - Stop DDNS update on IP port N
[Note]Note

To use these commands you need to have administrator or super user rights.

Type the following command to view the DDNS client log:

[14:20:53] ABILIS_CPX:debug res:ddns lsn:3

RES:DDns ----------------------------------------------------------------------
       Dynamic_DNS_Protocol_Client                                             
       BufferLength:64512  Date/Time:02/08/2016 15:24:15 TraceTime:4421984

02/08 14:10:26 PORT  Selected DDNS service:   dyndns.org
02/08 14:10:26 PORT  Selected DDNS server:    members.dyndns.org
02/08 14:10:26 PORT  Selected update period:  20 days