#Dynephant
This project is dependent on Internet Explorer, and was abandoned
years ago. It has been moved to archive status.
Dynephant is a simple, open-source Dynamic DNS (DDNS) client for
Windows. It is intended to have as few dependencies as possible. It
was written, because, at the time of it’s creation, very few DDNS
services had support for IPv6. More specifically, dynv6.com, a DDNS
service, had support for IPv6, but no real Windows client.
Currently, Dynephant only supports dynv6.com, but could easily be
adapted to work with other DDNS services as well.
Dynephant should run on most reasonably current versions of Windows
(and even some not so reasonably current). It requires valid IPv4 and
IPv6 TCP/IP stacks. To work correctly, it requires a working Internet
connection with support for IPv4 and IPv6. It contacts the dynv6.com
service via HTTPS (depending on Internet Explorer 3 or greater, which
should be present in all reasonably current versions of Windows).
It can be run either as an AutoIt3 script (requiring AutoIt3 to be
installed), or a pre-compiled executable (requiring no runtime not
already part of Windows). The dependency on IE for HTTPS creates
some intrinsic limitations on reporting of errors (namely, that
errors are known, but the cause is not automatically).
CLI and GUI, 32-bit and 64-bit versions are provided. Use the CLI
version if you want to monitor or redirect the stderr stream into
a log file. Use the GUI version if you want the program to run
without leaving a Command Prompt open.
##Table of Contents
- Prerequisites
- License
- Usage
##Prerequisites
- A relatively current version of Windows
- Internet Explorer 3 or higher installed
##Build requirements (if you want to build .exe from source)
- AutoIt3 (https://www.autoitscript.com)
- AutoIt3Wrapper (part of AutoIt3 by default)
- Au3Check (part of AutoIt3 by default)
- Tidy (part of AutoIt3 by default)
- GnuWin32’s sed utility (http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/sed.htm)
- Optional: Valid Code-signing certificate / key
- Optional: Windows 10 SDK’s signtool (https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/windows-10-sdk)
- Optional: Working internet connection (needed to have signed timestamp on .exe files)
- Optional: NSIS’s makensis (http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Download) (needed to build setup)
##License
Dynephant is licensed using the (extremely permissive) MIT license.
See the LICENSE.txt file.
The included icon is courtesy of http://www.how-to-draw-funny-cartoons.com
(link back required by author if used)
##Usage
First, you need an account with dynv6.com, with at least one host.
Once you have an account with dynv6.com, find your host name and
authentication token.
The command line arguments are:
- -host=<hostname> host name to update on DDNS service
- -token=<authentication_token> authentication token for host name to be updated
- -4 update DNS A record with IPv4 address
- -6 update DNS AAAA record with IPv6 address
- -daemon=<seconds> number of seconds to wait between updates
-host and -token are required. Either or both -4 or -6 are required.
Not setting -daemon results in only one update (or attempt) occurring.
Setting -daemon to less than 300 seconds (5 minutes) results in the default
of 1800 seconds (30 minutes) being used.
-host takes only the host name (leave off the dynv6.net part), not the FQDN.
The following example assumes your Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)
for your host name is foobar.dynv6.net, and your authentication token
is randomtextforfoobarhere:
If you want Dynephant to automatically periodically set the AAAA
(IPv6 Address) record, but not the A (IPv4 Address) record for your host
every 10 minutes (600 seconds), you would run Dynephant with the
following command:
dynephant -host=foobar -token=randomtextforfoobarhere -6 -daemon=600
The update_foobar.dynv6.net.bat file contains the following example
of using the CLI version with logging.
C:\dynephant\dynephant-cli -6 -daemon=600 -host=foobar -token=randomtextforfoobarhere 1>C:\dynephant\dynephant-foobar.log 2>&1
Only use a CLI version if you need monitoring or logging, as it stays
running in a Command Prompt window. It is possible to run the cli
version in a hidden window using a third-party utility to launch it.
Here’s a one-line example using Sysinternal’s psexec utility to run
the batch file update_foobar.dynv6.net.bat as the Windows System
user to effectively hide the Command Prompt window:
psexec /accepteula -s -d c:\dynephant\update_foobar.dynv6.net.bat
Example Windows Shortcuts for launching the GUI version with command
line parameters are included in the installation directory.
A Helpful Guide for Our Windows DUC Users
Our DUC series continues! In a previous blog, we discussed what you need to know about our Mac DUC and some of its unique features. In today’s blog, we will discuss our Windows DUC.
Again, Our DUC continually checks for IP address changes in the background and automatically updates the DNS at No-IP whenever it changes for devices that are not already integrated with No-IP.
Take a look below at the installation process, specialized features, and some helpful tips.
Installation Process
The installation process for the Windows DUC includes a few more steps than the Mac DUC. However, it is straightforward and easy to follow. The first step is to download the Windows version of the DUC.
Note: Make sure you are downloading the DUC according to the version of Windows that you are using. For example, if you are using our newest DUC on an older version of Windows, you may face a “Time Out” error when logging in or a failure to retrieve your hostnames. If you are using an older version, there is the previous release of the DUC that may work, it can be found here.
Then, hit Save File:
After you save the file, double-click the downloaded file and follow the on-screen instructions.
Once the installation is complete, the application will ask for your account information. After your username and password have been authenticated, you will be shown a list of hostnames. Select the hostnames that you would like updated to the IP address of your network.
After the installation has finished, the application should launch and ask you to enter your No-IP account credentials.
Note: If you created a DDNS Key or signed up with a Google Single Sign On (SSO), you can use that Username and Password to log in instead of your No-IP account credentials.
First Time Log in
When you first log in, you will need to select the hostnames or group you want to associate with this client. The hostname(s) you select will be updated with the public IP address of the network where the DUC is currently installed.
Note: You can edit this any time after you save the settings by clicking Edit Hosts on the DUC v4.x.
After you have selected your hostname(s) and saved your settings, you should see three green check marks. Three green check marks mean everything is working correctly and that you’ve successfully installed and configured the DUC. Succes! Your hostname will now be updated if your IP address changes.
Enhanced Preferences
Here are a few enhanced preferences that may help elevate your Windows DUC experience:
- You need to be sure your computer and DUC are running at all times if you want your hostname to always be updated. If you are not running the DUC and your IP address changes, No-IP will be unable to detect a change. To ensure that your DUC always starts, go to “File” in the DUC and click “Preferences” then check “Start this application automatically when this user logs on.”
- Checking “Use Alternative IP detection method” can help if your IP is not being detected correctly or if it is detecting the wrong IP address. Along with “Use alternative IP detection method” is “Network Adapter”, it is best to leave this setting set to “Windows Default”, changing it can cause detection failing.
- As shown here, the update interval for the DUC can be configured to your liking, but it can not be set faster than 5 minutes. Additionally, Plus Managed DNS and Enhanced Dynamic DNS users can choose to create hostnames from the No-IP DUC interface by navigating to Edit Groups/Hosts.
Take a look at the Installation Guide to read up on the rest of the Enhanced Preference.
Special Features
There are a number of key features of the Windows DUC:
- Secure Key Based Updates
Our secure DUC does not resend your No-IP credentials each time it sends an IP address update, instead it sends a unique key for username and password for your specific Dynamic Update Client. - Client Tracking
This feature allows you to see a list of each location where you have a DUC installed. You can also set each update Client ID to a custom name for example, home, work, client name, etc to help keep track of each. - Host Creation (Plus & Enhanced Users)
If you are an Enhanced Dynamic DNS or Plus Managed DNS customer, you are able to easily add hostnames directly from the Dynamic Update Client. - Runs When Logged Out
If your computer is running, your hostname will still be updated when your IP address changes. - Notifications
Receive notifications when a service is about to expire, or if we send out an important network update. - DUC v4.1.1 Runs On Windows 10 & Up
Please contact us or take a look at our Knowledge Base article if you need support for an earlier os version. The article also includes a direct link to the older DUC download as an option.
Windows DUC Logs
One of the most popular inquiries regarding DUC is how to find logs. Take a look at the steps below to find out how to find the Windows DUC logs.
First, open the Windows DUC: Open the Start menu with the Windows key and type “DUC”.
If you are not already logged in, use your No-IP account credentials to do so. However, if you created a DDNS Key for your host, use those credentials instead.
Click Tools on the menu bar at the top.
Highlight Logs, then select one of the options:
- Graphical Client Log should include your DDNS update logs for your host.
- Background Service Log should include the actual actions being performed.
To learn more about Windows DUC logs, such as exporting logs to a text file, take a look at our Knowledge Base article.
Endless Possibilities at your Fingertips
Want to learn more? Reach out to our Customer Support team for more information.
Client Downloads
Most of our products can be downloaded, installed and used for free without any time limit, license key or registration.
For instructions on how to install/setup our products, please refer to the guides.
Using an IP update client with your hostnames ensures that you can always reach your devices,
because it keeps your hostnames mapped to the latest IP address.
Windows
Dynu IP Update Client
(Older version)
Linux
DDClient Perl based Client
(GNU General Public License)
DDClient Configuration File
(Sample config file)
GnuDIP Perl based Client
(GnuDIP protocol)
Mac OS X
GnuDIP Perl based Client
(GnuDIP protocol)
iOS
Android
Chrome
API
Advanced API
(Restful API)
IP Update Protocol
(Manage dynamic DNS state)
Dynamic DNS Client for Windows provides a way to manage local or network-wide DNS settings.
It is designed with a wizard-like setup that makes configuring your preferred settings easy. But it is required that you set the external server parameters, including client hostname, servers name, connection type, and login information. Dynamic DNS Client supports ChangeIP, Cloudflare, Dyndns2, Dyndns1, EasyDNS, and FreeDNS, among numerous other choices listed in a dropdown menu.
Similar:
Screenshot for Dynamic DNS Client for Windows
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Hello.
Here’s a link to ddclient.exe, a dynamic DNS client for Windows, to go with the dynamic DNS server that I’ve posted about as part of a 3-part series of posts (Part 1, Part 2).
Download installer
ddclient-1.10.0.exe
Click on the big green button with an arrow on it, download the installer, save it on a machine somewhere that you wish to refer to by a DNS name, run it, click the Next button a few times, enter the configuration values in the text fields shown below, click Next a few more times, and you should be right as rain.
It’s essentially a PAR‘ed up version of a slightly modified ddclient, packaged as a Windows service with an NSIS wrapper around it so that you can install/uninstall it a bit easier.
The only modifications I’ve made to ddclient itself is to Windows™-ify it a bit more (when running as a service, it stores the ddclient.cache and logfiles in the local application data folder)
This should hopefully save you the trouble of installing and configuring perl / ddclient on each Windows machine that you wish to perform DNS updates for.
It should all be relatively simple to use, but here are some screenshots:
Since the original ddclient looks like it might be GPL’ed, I’ll pop the sourcecode up here at some stage. In the meantime, if you want the sourcecode, let me know and I’ll email it to you. Here it is on github.
ddclient service Windows account
When you install using the NSIS installer, you will be prompted which Windows user you wish to run the ddclient service as (see the second screenshot above). The options are:
- Local System: Completely trusted account, moreso than the administrator account. There is nothing on a single box that this account can not do and it has the right to access the network as the machine.
- Network Service (recommended): Limited service account that is meant to run standard least-privileged services. This account is far more limited than Local System (or even Administrator) but still has the right to access the network as the machine.
- Custom account: If you like, you can choose an existing account, which can be a standard user account or one you have created if specifically to run the ddclient application.
You probably just want to use the Network Service account.
Log file location
If the ddclient application doesn’t appear to be working, then you probably want to check the contents of the log file first. The location of the logs should be in the service account’s local Application Data folder, and is called ddclient.log
On Windows 10, the logs can be found at:
- C:\windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Local\ddclient.log
- C:\windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\ddclient.log
- C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\ddclient.log
Silent installation
The installer (as of 1.1.0) now supports silent installation; that is, you can specify on the command line the details that are requested during install, and the client (and service) will be installed without displaying the graphical user interface.
You can get the list of parameters by typing ddclient-1.10.0 /? at the C:\ prompt, which will display something similar to the following:
An example command-line would look something like:
C:\installer>ddclient-1.10.0 /S /HOSTNAME=movingtarget.example.com /DDSERVER=dyndns.namingwords.com /DDCONNECTION=HTTP /DDPROTOCOL=dyndns2 /DDUSERNAME=scott /DDPASSWORD=tiger /SERVICEASNETWORKUSER
which would allow you to refer to the current machine as movingtarget.example.com, and access any publicly accessible ports on that machine from The Cloud, i.e. wherever you happen to be on the internet.
Some things on my TODO list include
- scriptable (silent) installations, and
- fixing a bug I’m seeing on Windows 7 when using a custom Windows account to run the service (as a workaround, install it using the Network Service account and then change the account yourself in Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services )
Update 21/8/2013: Updated to version 1.0.1 of the installer(logs in application data, kills process during service removal), added screenshots.
Update 25/8/2013: Updated to version 1.1.0 of the installer(silent install; software is now licensed under the ‘BSD Simplified’ license), updated screenshots/text.
Update 29/6/2014: Updated to version 1.2.0 of the installer(SSL support, protocol selection support, added Digest::SHA1 to the list of included perl packages as requested, removed ddclient.conf permission checks as requested)
Update 20/5/2015: Updated to version 1.4.0 of the installer(ddclient 3.8.2 changes including changeip protocol, GNU licence, now hosted on github)
Update 26/6/2016: Updated to version 1.5.0 of the installer(ddclient 3.8.3 changes including nsupdate protocol, cloudflare protocol, googledomains protocol and the duckdns protocol).
Update 25/7/2021: Updated to version 1.6.0 of the installer(ddclient 3.9.1 changes including dinahosting, dnsmadeeasy, dondominio, freemyip, gandi, nfsn, ovh, woima, yandex, dnsexit). Now compiles on 64-bit Windows 10 using strawberry perl.
Update 7/11/2021: Updated to version 1.7.0 of the installerto fix a missing DLL issue – see https://github.com/randomnoun/ddclient-nsis/issues/6
Update 27/4/2022: Updated to version 1.8.0 of the installerto include ‘JSON:PP’ package ( for cloudflare / gandi ) – see https://github.com/randomnoun/ddclient-nsis/issues/6
Update 19/4/2025: Updated to version 1.9.0 of the installer (ddclient 4.0.0 changes including many more protocols)
Update 27/4/2025: Updated to version 1.10.0 of the installer (fixed temp folder )
It’s also now on github:
ddclient-nsis
git@github.com:randomnoun/ddclient-nsis.git