How To Install and Configure ddclient in FreeBSD and Linux to work with OpenDNS

ddclient is an open-source dynamic IP update client written in Perl. ddclient is available here.

This article shows how to install and configure ddclient in FreeBSD and Linux so it will update your OpenDNS account with your dynamic IP from your ISP.

1. Installation

For CentOS / Fedora, install ddclient via yum:

yum install ddclient

For Debian and Ubuntu, install ddclient via apt-get:

apt-get install ddclient

For FreeBSD, install ddclient from the FreeBSD ports collection:

cd /usr/ports/dns/ddclient
make install clean

2. Configuration

After installing ddclient, you have to create / edit ddclient.conf ( for FreeBSD the configuration should be located in /usr/local/etc, for CentOS should be located in /etc/ddclient and for Debian or Ubuntu in /etc ) as follows:

##
## OpenDNS.com account-configuration
##
use=web, web=whatismyip.org

server=updates.opendns.com
protocol=dyndns2
login=opendns_username
password=opendns_password
opendns_network_label

Make sure SSL is enabled at the top of the configuration (ssl=yes # use ssl-support.)

For advanced configuration, run:

ddclient --help

3. Starting the service

CentOS / Fedora

chkconfig --add ddclient --level 345
service ddclient start

Debian / Ubuntu

update-rc.d ddclient defaults
service ddclient start

FreeBSD

Edit /etc/rc.conf and add the following line:

ddclient_enable=YES

Start ddclient by typing:

/usr/local/etc/rc.d/ddclient start