<![CDATA[OpenVPN client with DDNS is going down]]>Hello expert!
I have a site-2-site VPN with OpenVPN. The OpenVPN service running on the client side just stops time by time. I have the Service_Watchdog feature linked to this service, so everytime that it is down, it would automatically be forced to be brought up again and work normally.
The problem is that even Service_Watchdog isn't bringing it up. I'm using a DDNS (free NoIP account) on the pfsense for the ASDL Internet link used to establish the VPN connection on the client side.
On the OpenVPN client logs I have the following information repeated a lot of times:
Oct 5 09:19:51 openvpn 85210 RESOLVE: Cannot resolve host address: myhostname.ddns.net. hostname non servname provided, or not known

There is no information on the server side logs.
For sure there is a name resolution problem but the registered DDNS name seems to be working fine through other ways like my machine with Google DNS set up.

Question: Do you know if there is any kind of limitation on this case considering that it's a FREE NoIP account?
Have you had any problem like this or any other regarding DDNS and NoIP free account?

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/topic/106221/openvpn-client-with-ddns-is-going-downRSS for NodeTue, 09 Jun 2026 05:14:45 GMTWed, 05 Oct 2016 13:14:45 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to OpenVPN client with DDNS is going down on Wed, 05 Oct 2016 14:39:12 GMT]]>I run a number (30+) of DDNS based OpenVPN links continuously with none of the described issues.
At least two of the links use free No-IP names without any difficulties.

For me, I've never needed to setup a "watchdog" service to ensure the link is up.
OpenVPN does a good job all on its own.

I'd look at removing the watchdog and then trying to analyze the real reasons for any OpenVPN failures.

If you're looking tp try a different free DDNS provider, FreeDNS has worked well for me over the years.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/653341https://forum.netgate.com/post/653341Wed, 05 Oct 2016 14:39:12 GMT