Setting up IP Camera - need DNS - ideas?
Hey all! I'm setting up an IP camera to monitor the sticks and bricks while on the road, etc. To allow for remote access, instructions say I need to establish a DNS, since my ISP uses a dynamic IP a...
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Here's an explanation of DNS and why you (might) need it:
Everything on the Internet has an IP (internet protocol) address. For the most used version (version 4), the addresses are in dotted quad notation: aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd. So, for example, 173.66.22.134 is a valid IP address. This web server has an IP address, as does your home computer.
Obviously, it's much easier to get to this site by typing "www.rv.net" into your browser than "198.1.26.246" (www.rv.net's IP address), and so we need a directory of sorts to cross reference human-friendly "host names" into their corresponding IP addresses - which is what your computer actually uses to connect to the site. Enter the Domain Name System, or DNS.
DNS is essentially just one large directory of hostnames and IP addresses. When you type "www.rv.net" into your browser, your computer's operating system generates a DNS query, and asks for the IP address of www.rv.net. It gets the answer back (198.1.26.246, in this case) and opens a connection to that IP address.
So, if you have been following allong, to connect to your camera back home, you need to connect (ultimately) to your IP address. The problem, of course, is that first, you likely don't know it, and second, you probably won't remember it. You could, of course, write it down if you desired to, but many people opt to use DNS to maintain it. Since a home internet connection can change IP addresses periodically, a "dynamic DNS" service (one that updates the IP address frequently, as opposed to the non-changing "static" IP addresses that most web sites use) is convenient. You generally get to pick your own hostname (appended with the provider's domain name), so it can be easy to remember.
The most popular is probably http://dyn.com/dns/. It costs $25/year for the basic service.
Everything on the Internet has an IP (internet protocol) address. For the most used version (version 4), the addresses are in dotted quad notation: aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd. So, for example, 173.66.22.134 is a valid IP address. This web server has an IP address, as does your home computer.
Obviously, it's much easier to get to this site by typing "www.rv.net" into your browser than "198.1.26.246" (www.rv.net's IP address), and so we need a directory of sorts to cross reference human-friendly "host names" into their corresponding IP addresses - which is what your computer actually uses to connect to the site. Enter the Domain Name System, or DNS.
DNS is essentially just one large directory of hostnames and IP addresses. When you type "www.rv.net" into your browser, your computer's operating system generates a DNS query, and asks for the IP address of www.rv.net. It gets the answer back (198.1.26.246, in this case) and opens a connection to that IP address.
So, if you have been following allong, to connect to your camera back home, you need to connect (ultimately) to your IP address. The problem, of course, is that first, you likely don't know it, and second, you probably won't remember it. You could, of course, write it down if you desired to, but many people opt to use DNS to maintain it. Since a home internet connection can change IP addresses periodically, a "dynamic DNS" service (one that updates the IP address frequently, as opposed to the non-changing "static" IP addresses that most web sites use) is convenient. You generally get to pick your own hostname (appended with the provider's domain name), so it can be easy to remember.
The most popular is probably http://dyn.com/dns/. It costs $25/year for the basic service.
