Fated to End Sometime...but not this June

I just renewed fatedtoend.com today, even though it doesn't expire for a couple more months.  I'm typically a procrastinator, but seeing as how there are currently 4 different websites that operate under the *.fatedtoend.com domain, I decided it would be wise to be proactive instead.

Simultaneously, I finally disabled the following addresses that were still pointing to this server:

fatedtoend.servehttp.com, meatmud.servegame.com, and dakini.servehttp.com

These were the original free domain names I used from no-ip.com when I was first getting started.

So what makes no-ip.com so special?

Well, it helps that they have showed no indication of behaving like certain other domain name registrars who have pulled some shady moves with their customers in the past.  So far no-ip.com has contacted me twice by e-mail, once to alert me that their software utility had been updated with a more secure version, and a second time to let me know that fatedtoend.com would be expiring soon.

What really makes them shine, however, is their free Dynamic DNS updating utility for all server platforms (including LINUX).

Dynamic DNS is a great way to avoid having to pay extra for a static IP address.  IP addresses are the number addresses assigned to every computer and server that connects to the internet.  Most computers are given IPv4 addresses, which consist of number groups that look like this:  192.168.1.100 - the downside to this type, however, is that the number of available IP addresses worldwide is finite.  And they are rapidly running out of these addresses.  Consequently, static IP addresses cost extra money on a monthly basis.  Most internet service providers do not assign static IP addresses to their customers, but rather randomly assign them a new IP address every time their high-speed modem makes a connection.  As long as the modem stays on and connected, the IP address remains the same.

But if the power should go out, or something else disrupt the service, that would cause the number to be different once everything reconnected.  For normal internet users this is not a problem.  But for people who are hosting servers to the internet, this could be a regular pain in the neck.

Without no-ip.com's free software utility, I would have to sign into no-ip.com every time my IP address changed to update the web address of fatedtoend.com with our new number.  However, their noip2 utility does this automatically.  Every 30 minutes or so it checks the server's IP address, and if it has changed since the last time it checked, it signs into no-ip.com for me and updates everything.  It does this for every domain name I have registered at no-ip.com (currently there are 3).

On top of that, I was able to renew fatedtoend.com for $10 instead of the usual $15 today because I found a coupon for no-ip.com on one of those various coupon websites out there.  Not a bad deal, all things considered.

So if you want to have your own server, or even if you want to simply give yourself easy access to your computer while you are away from home, no-ip.com makes this really easy to do, and will potentially save you a lot of money in the process.