Dynamic DNS is a method / protocol / network service that provides the capability for a networked device, such as a router or computer system using the Internet Protocol Suite, to notify a Domain Name System (DNS) name server to change, in real time, the active DNS configuration of its configured hostnames, addresses or other information.

 

A popular application of dynamic DNS is to provide a residential user's Internet gateway that has a variable, often changing, IP address with a well known hostname resolvable through standard DNS queries.

 

Dynamic DNS providers offer a software client program that automates the discovery and registration of client's public IP addresses. The client program is executed on a computer or device in the private network. It connects to the service provider's systems and causes those systems to link the discovered public IP address of the home network with a hostname in the domain name system. Depending on the provider, the hostname is registered within a domain owned by the provider or the customer's own domain name. These services can function by a number of mechanisms. Often they use an HTTP service request since even restrictive environments usually allow HTTP service. This group of services is commonly also referred to by the term Dynamic DNS, although it is not the standards-based DNS Update method. However, the latter might be involved in the providers systems.