AWS Dynamic DNS (No-IP) Service

Deploy this project to your AWS account to get a free Dynamic DNS (No-IP like) service using Route 53, API Gateway, and Lambda. The project uses ⚡AWS SAM (Serverless Application Model) to simplify development and continuous deployment, so adding and removing this service from your AWS account is as simple as running one single command.

To update your dynamic IP address in a Route 53 record, a simple HTTP call is needed to execute the following process:

Requirements

• AWS account with a configured domain and hosted zone in AWS Route 53
• AWS CLI configured with credentials (https://aws.amazon.com/cli)
• AWS SAM CLI (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/serverless-application-model/latest/developerguide/install-sam-cli.html)
• Git (https://git-scm.com/downloads)
• Node.js and npm (https://www.npmjs.com/get-npm)

Installation

Using a terminal, move to a new directory and clone this Git project:

git clone https://github.com/panchosoft/AWS-DDNS.git
cd AWS-DDNS

Install the dependencies:

npm install

Usage

1) Deploy service to AWS

Run the following command in a terminal to deploy the service to your AWS account:

# First time deployment (interactive setup)
sam deploy --guided

Follow the prompts:

• Stack Name: aws-ddns (or your preferred name)
• AWS Region: us-east-2 (or your preferred region)
• Confirm changes before deploy: Y
• Allow SAM CLI IAM role creation: Y
• Save arguments to samconfig.toml: Y

After the first deployment, you can simply run:

sam deploy

The output will show the API Gateway endpoint URL that allows updating the DNS record value.

2) Create/Update hosted zone record

Use a web browser or cURL to call the endpoint URL and include the following two URL parameters:

• hosted_zone_id = XXXXXXXXXXXX (Get your Hosted Zone ID here: https://console.aws.amazon.com/route53/v2/hostedzones)
• record_name = mydns.mydomain.com

Command Example

# Call the endpoint URL (replace with your actual endpoint from sam deploy output)
curl "https://xxxxxxxxxx.execute-api.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/Prod/ddns?hosted_zone_id=XXXXXXXXXXXX&record_name=mydns.mydomain.com"

A new record entry will be created in Route 53 including the specified record name and the IP address of the device that sent the request. If the record name already exists, only its value will be updated.

3) Schedule an automated job/task

The endpoint URL can be called everytime you need to update your public IP address in the hosted zone record. However, you might want to automate this task on your personal computer or using an always-on device like a Rasperry PI in your home network.

Here's an example of a crontab entry to schedule a call to the endpoint in a Linux-based system:

# Execute the curl command every 12 hours (crontab entry)
0 */12 * * * /usr/bin/curl -q "https://xxxxxxxxxx.execute-api.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/Prod/ddns?hosted_zone_id=XXXXXXXXXXXX&record_name=mydns.mydomain.com" 2>&1 > /dev/null