Windows XP Hacks

Make Servers Always Available by Mapping a Hostname to a Dynamic IP Address

Make sure that the web site or other kind of Internet server you run at home is always available to the world.

If you run your own web server, mail server, or other kind of server at home and are connected to the Internet via a cable modem or DSL modem, people frequently may not be able to connect to your server. That’s because, typically, broadband ISPs assign you a dynamic IP address that changes regularly, even if you don’t turn off your PC. Because your IP address constantly changes, there is no way for people to connect to you. One day its IP address might be 66.31.42.96, the next it might be 66.41.42.136, and if people don’t know your server’s current IP address they won’t be able to find it. You won’t be able to solve the problem by getting your own domain (such as http://www.gralla.com) and publishing that, because DNS servers won’t be able to keep track of your changing IP address either. If people type in your domain name, the servers won’t be able to report on your IP address—and again, your server won’t be able to be reached.

There is a way to solve the problem, however: you can map your server’s hostname to a dynamic IP address. When you do this, it doesn’t matter that your IP address changes; when people type in your web site’s URL, they will be forwarded to your new IP address automatically.

You can do this for free by signing up with a service that provides automatic mapping. A number of ...