DNS Service

Dynamic DNS Registration

Dynamic DNS refers to the process of dynamically updating a DNS zone (such as yourdomain.com) with different information. While occasionally useful in a closed network, we believe this is a security risk on the Internet.

Why doesn't Sargasso support Dynamics DNS Registration?

If we were to enable dynamic DNS updates, there would be the possibility that someone could fraudulently point your website at a different address - or that through a simple misconfiguration of your operating system, you could achieve the same effect.

We do not allow dynamic update to any DNS records due to the security concerns involved. Therefore, attempting to update DNS records wastes our bandwidth and processing power and may cause false alarms on intrusion detection systems.

We understand that some products ship with this option on by default. This is why we give you plenty of warning that you need to disable the feature before we take any action.

What happens if I try to use Dynamic DNS?

If we find any clients who have inadvertently set their computer to perform Dynamic DNS updates, we will inform them by e-mail. We understand that certain software may have this option on by default, so we will give you plenty of warning.

The most common culprits on the desktop side are Windows 2000, ME, XP and 2003 Server, and on the server side, ISC's DHCP client. Users of these programs need to make absolutely certain that they aren't attempting to update our DNS servers.

How do I keep Windows 2000/Me from attempting to update your DNS servers?

To do so in Windows 2000/ME, enter the Networking and Dial-Up Connections control panel, right-click on your external Internet connection, and choose properties. Go to the Networking tab and choose "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" from the components list and hit the properties button. Then hit Advanced and go to the DNS tab. Uncheck the "Register this connection's address in DNS." box. Click OK through all the dialogs, reboot if necessary.

See the Microsoft article linked from the bottom of this page for further information.

How do I keep ISC's DHCP client from updating your DNS servers?

To prevent the updates if you are using a recent version of the ISC's DHCP client, add the line dns-update off; to your configuration file, and reload/restart the DHCP daemon(s). This will prevent your system from sending spurious updates to our DNS servers which we will have to hunt down and notify you about, and which waste our bandwidth and other resources.

What if I want a Dynamic DNS hostname?

We recommend you investigate DynDNS.org. They provide a free service which you can update from your desktop client. You will get a DNS name such as yourname.dyndns.org. If you like, you can alias something from your own domain using our DNS control panel - for example you might set 'home.yourdomain.com' as an alias to 'yourname.dyndns.org'.

This minimizes the security threat by ensuring nothing can update your domain name directly.

However, please note that we do not and cannot support DynDNS services.

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