Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
One of the best known solutions is to use a dynamic DNS service. Many Internet
routers will have some kind of dynamic DNS setting available, even the one
provided by your ISP. The dynamic DNS service is a program that automatically
updates DNS records of a public domain name. There are a handful of free dynamic
DNS services.
Business packages
Business packages will almost always include a static IP address or an option to
purchase one. This really removes a lot of work for workarounds that need to be
applied with home packages. You can use the IP address provided to you, but even
on the rarest occasion, it may be changed to another IP; however, you will be warned
about this in advance.
Other benefits are that ISP's will allow you to change the reverse DNS lookup of your
IP, a service that is unavailable with home packages. This service is very important if
you plan on running a small mail server. This is one of the prerequisites that need to
be configured so that other mail domains know who you are. The only way to solve
this problem at home is to use a paid for mail exchange for sending and receiving
e-mails using custom domain names.
Many business packages offer unlimited and unshaped traffic. ISP's might
deliberately throttle certain ports on home broadband to make them slower and less
reliable. Some ISP's go to extreme measures and block these ports on home packages,
for example, ports 25, 80, 110, and 443 that are used for mail and web servers.
If you plan on using the Pi for some home experiments, private use, or educational
purposes, all you need is to spend a little extra time configuring everything correctly.
Be aware though that hosting production services on home
broadband may be against the terms and conditions of your
contract. If you anticipate high usage, it is a much better option
to purchase a business package.
Dynamic DNS
Dynamic DNS is a way of updating name records for the public DNS. Paid solutions
usually offer real-time updates, and free services have a minimum time before the
change is published.
I decided to search for dynamic DNS providers online, and I picked a random result,
http://dnsdynamic.org
. You may use any service you like as the protocol is the
same for everybody.
