Dynamic DNS & Namecheap

[Zoltrix]

Thanks Jangert

[jamesg246]

@gertjan Also experiencing this. If you use the namecheap http update method, then you do get a green tick in the gui. As its been said above, the ip address still updates.

[Zoltrix]

we should enter a bug report I guess

[Gertjan]

@zoltrix said in Dynamic DNS & Namecheap:

we should enter a bug report I guess

Some one - here on this forum, or on reddit, wrote that the namecheap support has confirmed the issue, as 'something' on their side was changed (not pfSense, we use all the same version / scripts ) and that they, namecheap, will correct it.

For the record, as the brand of the company implies, they do not have a huge budget, so this will take some time.
In the future, they will correct he issue on their side, and everything will be fine again.
For the time being, a work around exists.

If pfSense get patched now, and namecheap correct the issue afterwards, the problem will re start all over again, and the patch has to be removed by updating pfSense again.

edit : Btw : if a bug report has to be opened : go head : good idea. But use the namecheap bug reporter @namecheap - if they have one ....

[Zoltrix]

@gertjan said in Dynamic DNS & Namecheap:

For the record, as the brand of the company implies, they do not have a huge budget, so this will take some time.

Maybe done some homework first.

Namecheap had over $200 million in revenue in 2020, which was up 35%, or $51.6 million, over the $149 million it posted in 2019.

It has 11 million registered users and 10 million domains.

[johnpoz]

@zoltrix I think that was meant as joke ;)

But they could have 1 Billion in revenue, doesn't mean they spend any of that on development ;)

The issue comes down to, if pfsense didn't change anything, and it stopped working because namecheap did change something. Do you also change pfsense to accommodate whatever changed (can you even?), or is namecheap going to change/fix what they did or forget to add or whatever.

[Gertjan]

@johnpoz said in Dynamic DNS & Namecheap:

I think that was meant as joke

Yeah, hope so.

@zoltrix said in Dynamic DNS & Namecheap:

Namecheap had over $200 million in revenue in 2020, which was up 35%, or $51.6 million, over the $149 million it posted in 2019.

I didn't fact-check that, but I tend to believe the numbers. I 'know' who namecheap is.
They have probably also an 'owner' or share holders, or whatever. And now we reached the point : Who comes first :
The 'clients' ?
The the share holders ?

I'm pretty sure, if some one at namecheap sits down for one hour or so, the issue will be solved. One hour !
But noooop - xx thousand of clients will have to wait for weeks - now months.

Btw : I say up front : I have nothing against namecheap - neither against the concept as companies and how they work and their goals. I'm working for a company - and the idea is mainly : making € (no $ here).
And making fun, of course.

And also : again :
They have confirmed : they introduce the issue.
They fix it.
Or they shall feel the power of Free DynDNS service.
Although that won't touch them financially, as the service is free - and is this might be the actual reason why all this takes so long ;)

[SteveITS]

@zoltrix said in Dynamic DNS & Namecheap:

logs show the "/services_dyndns_edit.php: phpDynDNS (XXX): (Unknown Response)" error.

https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/12816

There is a patch in the new System Patches 2.0 package. (recommended patches are now listed in it)

I do not get the unknown response error when clicking Save and Force Update. I get "(Success) IP Address Updated Successfully!" but 2-3 minutes later the page times out and it logs a " *406 upstream timed out (60: Operation timed out) while reading response header from upstream" error.

[thearamadon]

This post is deleted!

[thearamadon]

@steveits said in Dynamic DNS & Namecheap:

@zoltrix said in Dynamic DNS & Namecheap:

logs show the "/services_dyndns_edit.php: phpDynDNS (XXX): (Unknown Response)" error.

https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/12816

There is a patch in the new System Patches 2.0 package. (recommended patches are now listed in it)

I do not get the unknown response error when clicking Save and Force Update. I get "(Success) IP Address Updated Successfully!" but 2-3 minutes later the page times out and it logs a " *406 upstream timed out (60: Operation timed out) while reading response header from upstream" error.

This patch doesn't work anymore, but there's an updated one that works here:

https://github.com/pfsense/pfsense/commit/70db168b7f7eb4d4e702f965aa4956e93340575f?diff=unified

[Cloudless Smart Home]

@thearamadon thanks, worked perfect!

[mooky1977]

@steveits Can confirm, this fix works for me on pfSense Plus 22.05 to fix my namecheap dynDNS problem.

System Patches ID: 70db168b7f7eb4d4e702f965aa4956e93340575f

Thanks!

[Zoltrix]

@mooky1977 cool, let's hope it gets rolled into the next pfsense release.

[Cloudless Smart Home]

@zoltrix I can guarantee it... https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/releases/23-01.html

[Zoltrix]

@appleguy awesome!

I guess the original comments by @Gertjan and @johnpoz were off the mark.

[Gertjan]

@zoltrix said in Dynamic DNS & Namecheap:

off the mark

My point of view :
2020 : namecheap changed the text value when an IP was updated.
Like "IP was accepted" to "IP was changed".
On the pfSense side, the "IP was changed" didn't match as an "Ok" result, so, to be safe, it was treated as an no-ok resulat, the GUI showed a red IP message.
But : surprise : the IP was updated on the namecheap side.
Then, several month later, the returned text values changed again.
To make dyndns namedcheap work again, code had to change again on the pfSense side.
This is just what I could call "development", not really a bug. The results is always : it doesn't work anymore for the end user.
This year, the same thing happened.
A pfSense bug ? Noop, namecheap changed the returned text value again.
Like (example) "From "Ok" to "OK".

Now I have my ideas why they do this.

What I don't get is : no messages on whatever media to explain that something has changed.
And because we are all curious, and some of us even want to learn and understand why things have changed.
But nothing.
Just a confirmation on the namecheap forums, months later : "yep, something changed".

[renarde3]

Hi @jimp, @johnpoz, @gertjan, thanks for all of your hard work on pfSense! I shudder to think what my world would be like without it.

Question for those of you who use Namecheap for DDNS. Is it possible to use Namecheap Web hosting DNS (aka cPanel) with pfSense DDNS? Or will I need to move my DNS records to Namecheap's BasicDNS to set things up using the instructions @jimp has given above (I suspect the answer is "yes")?

Having created DDNS records in the Namecheap Web hosting DNS's cPanel UI, the records created provide a URL to use for DDNS, not a password. Without passwords it seems I'm at an impasse.

@jamesg246 refers to a "namecheap http update method" in this thread. I suspect I could use this with the cPanel DDNS. Could someone point me at directions for how to set this up?

Or feel free to tell me I'm trying to do the impossible (or silly) and would be wise to take the time and move my DNS records from cPanel to their Basic DNS.

Thanks!

[Cloudless Smart Home]

@renarde3 I just have regular namecheap domain hosting. click on manage, then the advanced dns tab.

https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/36/11/how-do-i-start-using-dynamic-dns/

using pfsense+ 22.05, I used the patch refrenced above, but installed 23.01-RC yesterday and removed that and one other patch. all working great!

[renarde3]

Hi @cloudless-smart-home, thanks for your quick response.

I've successfully set up the DDNS records in the Namecheap Webhosting (aka cPanel) UI, but have not been able to figure out how to use the URLs it generates to communicate with the DDNS clients I have set up in pfSense. That's where I'm getting stuck.

From this image in the Namecheap Domain List, I suspect I need to switch to their BasicDNS (Webhosting DNS) to make this work. I was hoping to get confirmation before I have to recreate my DNS entries.
login-to-view

[Cloudless Smart Home]

@renarde3
https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/36/11/how-do-i-start-using-dynamic-dns/

will walk you through the process. look at the other links on that page too if it's not clear.

https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/595/11/how-do-i-enable-dynamic-dns-for-a-domain/