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Show HN: zzzz.io, a free DynDNS replacement I created on the weekend

zzzz.io

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Re: Show HN: zzzz.io, a free DynDNS replacement I created on the weekend

#21

Post by larrybolt »

rgbrgb wrote: post #13

A bit confused. Is this for tunneling localhost like ngrok ( https://ngrok.com/ )?

No, localtunnel or ngrok will tunnel a local port (such as for instance 127.0.0.1:80) to a public domain name (alias.ngrok.com). This only redirects an alias to your ip address (alias.zzzz.io -> wan-ip-address).

The big difference is when you are inside your local network behind the router, or at work behind a firewall simple accessing the wan-ip won't reach your machine, unless you do port-forwarding (which isn't always straightforward or even possible.)

Ngrok solves this problem by being in the middle, both your machine and a person visiting alias.ngrok.com are connecting to ngrok, ngrok just passes the data along.

What this service however is good for is to have a dns address that always points to your local machine or your home network if your ISP doesn't provide you with a static ip (thus your ip changes every so often).

Re: Show HN: zzzz.io, a free DynDNS replacement I created on the weekend

#22

Post by kopf »

Udo wrote: post #8
kopf wrote: post #2

I don't think it's anything incredibly special (especially with the ugly bootstrap theme), and you guys probably all have your own domain names anyhow, but I'm just posting it on the off-chance that it might be useful to someone here. Plus, I quite like 'zzzz' in comparison to the domain names offered by other free dyndns alternatives out there.

It's very neat, I like the simplicity of the API. If you promise to keep it up for a while, I'll definitely use it!

I use it myself, so it'll be up for the foreseeable future. Enjoy.

Re: Show HN: zzzz.io, a free DynDNS replacement I created on the weekend

#23

Post by larrybolt »

Btw, if you are trying to give your home-network with a dynamic ip address a hostname to access it from the internet, it may be worth looking up if your ISP provider doesn't provide that already for you out of the box:

dig -x `curl -s http://icanhazip.com`

Here in Belgium Telenet does that, which means for my home network I could just setup a CNAME record to that hostname.

Re: Show HN: zzzz.io, a free DynDNS replacement I created on the weekend

#26

Post by tejasm »

kopf wrote: post #19
mokkol wrote: post #17

Very neat! How much does it cost you to keep this service up? In case I need it and want to donate.

Not a whole lot. The domain itself costs ~50 euro per year. I'm hoping the AWS costs won't run too high - I figure a few euro per month. It's not really about the money but about the rush of endorphins you get when an email arrives in your inbox to the effect that a total stranger found something you made so useful that they decided to give you a few euro out of the good of their own heart.

I can send across a few amazon credit codes which will help you with aws. How do I get in touch?

Re: Show HN: zzzz.io, a free DynDNS replacement I created on the weekend

#27

Post by dshankar »

Cool hack! How did you implement this? Care to share the details? You mention Route 53, but I'm curious to learn more. What does the stack look like? How do your update zonefiles, assign subdomains etc.?

It would be fun to hack on this + a cryptocurrency component - let's say, zzzzcoin - people can pay an incredibly small sum of zzzzcoin per request. This could be used to deter spam, remain free/affordable, reward early adopters, and turn into meaningful revenue.

Re: Show HN: zzzz.io, a free DynDNS replacement I created on the weekend

#29

Post by LeonidasXIV »

kopf wrote: post #20
nmc wrote: post #14

> DynDNS replacement I would disagree. This may look like a replacement from the end-user's point of view, but it does not address the real issues of DNS management: space to store all zone data, bandwidth to support requests flow, resources to handle the load. Either you are just proxying someone else's service, or you are running your own on (supposedly) limited resources. Am I wrong? Moreover, I heard from DynDNS…

> it does not address the real issues of DNS management: space to store all zone data, bandwidth to support requests flow, resources to handle the load. You're absolutely right! However, as you said, it solves the user's problem from their point of view. The main reason I started this project was that other dyndns alternatives (whether they be proxies or "fully-fledged" operations) have rather ugly domain names, in m…

You could've used FreeDNS (freedns.afraid.org) with your own domain. They do this for years.

Re: Show HN: zzzz.io, a free DynDNS replacement I created on the weekend

#30

Post by nmc »

kopf wrote: post #20
nmc wrote: post #14

> DynDNS replacement I would disagree. This may look like a replacement from the end-user's point of view, but it does not address the real issues of DNS management: space to store all zone data, bandwidth to support requests flow, resources to handle the load. Either you are just proxying someone else's service, or you are running your own on (supposedly) limited resources. Am I wrong? Moreover, I heard from DynDNS…

> it does not address the real issues of DNS management: space to store all zone data, bandwidth to support requests flow, resources to handle the load. You're absolutely right! However, as you said, it solves the user's problem from their point of view. The main reason I started this project was that other dyndns alternatives (whether they be proxies or "fully-fledged" operations) have rather ugly domain names, in m…

I entirely agree, and I am glad you got my point.

Not sure about the beauty of 'zzzz', but it certainly is a good thing to learn by doing. Nice job.

You did not answer my question about spam. Are you taking measures to prevent your domain to being flagged as a spammer?

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