As I’m running this site itself on my 4TB WDMyCloud home NAS, refer to my post WebHosting on WDMyCloud V4 Firmwares, I will need my DNS to be always pointing to it when my public IP changes.
Although my public IP seldom changes, I’ve been using a Python based script with its ‘pygodaddy’ module for a while to auto update my GoDaddy DDNS pointing to my WDMyCloud NAS. The script is supposed to update my current public IP by parsing GoDaddys DNS update form. But on few occasions when there’s the need to update, the script failed to work because obviously GoDaddy had changed something in their front-end. I’ve also used a similar PHP based script but that too failed to work. And worst still, for as long that I know of, GoDaddy hasn’t provide any means of updating the records other than manually from their site itself.
Like many others with paid GoDaddy domain account, I’ve been looking for permanent solution not until recently and long awaited for, GoDaddy has finally implemented some APIs for developments which now provides the ability to update the DNS records via a REST call. You can see more details at their developer’s site, https://developer.godaddy.com.
Disclaimer: As I’m frequently updating the original guides and installers here on TeaNazaR.com, I will not be responsible for any brick issues if you were to follow my obsolete guides copied elsewhere. Thus subscribe to this post to get latest updates. Modifying any part of a device may void its warranty.
With this API, I’ve written another simple shell script to perform the DDNS update which can be scheduled with a 5mins repeating Cron job. It should work on any Linux based systems. Why shell script? It’s simple, low-resource and does the update faster than any similar Python, PHP, Perl, Java JIT compiler I’ve tested on the NAS. On each run, the script will check for public IP changes against the local cache and GoDaddy records itself using cURL and only attempt to update if necessary. Even though GoDaddy did not specify the minimum update interval, updating too frequently could affect DNS propagation which could cause delay of the DNS being updated across the internet.
First you will need is of course your paid domain name, then a GoDaddy “Production” API key/secret to use with this script. Go to this specific link, log in with your GoDaddy account then generate the API key/secret. Note that the very first time you do this, it will be created as “Test” environment (seen at the time of writing). Go back to the same page again or click on the “Keys” top menu then generate a new “Production” API key/secret instead.
You can place this script anywhere on your server. I’ll explain more for users who’s not familiar with Linux.
Launch the editor i.e. nano /root/scripts/GoDaddy.sh; . Copy & paste the script source from the bottom of this post into the terminal, update the API key/secret , Domain and other desired options, then CTRL+X to save. Test the script if it’s working:
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/bin/bash /root/scripts/GoDaddy.sh; |
Once the script is in place, schedule a Cron job every 5mins, crontab -e; , examples below on a single line:
a. No logging (recommended):
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*/5 * * * * /bin/bash /root/scripts/GoDaddy.sh>/dev/null 2>&1 |
b. With logging for debugging purposes (you will need to do your own log housekeeping, try logrorate?):
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*/5 * * * * /bin/bash /root/scripts/GoDaddy.sh>>/var/log/GoDaddy.sh.log |
To update a subdomain (second-level domain i.e. subdomain.domain.com) instead of primary domain (top-level domain i.e. domain.com), set
Type=A
Type=CNAME (Updated: CNAME by default can’t point to an IP) and
Name=subdomain where subdomain is your subdomain.domain.com as seen in the GoDaddy DNS setup page.
I’ve also added optional advanced variables to include any custom scripts, programs or commands to execute when the IP update occurs or failed. This is so that you can place this script on top of your other applications i.e. those which requires public IP update cached in /tmp/current_ip or those which triggers upon IP changes. Read the script’s comments for more details. For instance, you can use Postfix‘s sendmail to trigger an email notification upon IP update or failures by setting the SuccessExec or FailedExec values. Those who’s using my WebHosting on WDMyCloud V4 Firmwares mods, you can configure its ESMTP to get similar results. For an example to get notified upon successful IP update, set the SuccessExec value to:
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SuccessExec='echo -e "To:myself@mail.teanazar.com\nFrom:alert@mail.teanazar.com\nSubject:GoDaddy.sh IP Updated\n\nGoDaddy.sh IP Updated ${Domain} ${PublicIP} $(date)\n"|sendmail "myself@mail.teanazar.com"' |
This should be the permanent solution for now until GoDaddy decides to make other changes. Need a Windows based DDNS client updater? Not sure why would anyone leave their PC always awaked, unless it’s a Windows based NAS/server. Perhaps I can help to write a simple Windows executable. But you can always run Cygwin to deploy shell scripts also Ubuntu is already runnable in Windows 10 Insider Preview (at the time of writing). For now, only my NAS running 24/7 needs this. Any questions you can post it here, enjoy (-:
GoDaddy.sh
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#!/bin/bash # GoDaddy.sh v1.3 by Nazar78 @ TeaNazaR.com ########################################### # Simple DDNS script to update GoDaddy's DNS. Just schedule every 5mins in crontab. # With options to run scripts/programs/commands on update failure/success. # # Requirements: # - curl CLI - On Debian, apt-get install curl # # History: # v1.0 - 20160513 - 1st release. # v1.1 - 20170130 - Improved compatibility. # v1.2 - 20180416 - GoDaddy API changes - thanks Timson from Russia for notifying. # v1.3 - 20180419 - GoDaddy API changes - thanks Rene from Mexico for notifying. # # PS: Feel free to distribute but kindly retain the credits (-: ########################################### # Begin settings # Get the Production API key/secret from https://developer.godaddy.com/keys/. # Ensure it's for "Production" as first time it's created for "Test". Key=fsvVddxVsfe_frhN1SAgfdgCdAfyVdWDdv Secret=FwkUfafh8dgrsdydrdfC1e # Domain to update. Domain=teanazar.com # Advanced settings - change only if you know what you're doing :-) # Record type, as seen in the DNS setup page, default A. Type=A # Record name, as seen in the DNS setup page, default @. Name=@ # Time To Live in seconds, minimum default 600 (10mins). # If your public IP seldom changes, set it to 3600 (1hr) or more for DNS servers cache performance. TTL=600 # Writable path to last known Public IP record cached. Best to place in tmpfs. CachedIP=/tmp/current_ip # External URL to check for current Public IP, must contain only a single plain text IP. # Default http://api.ipify.org. CheckURL=http://api.ipify.org # Optional scripts/programs/commands to execute on successful update. Leave blank to disable. # This variable will be evaluated at runtime but will not be parsed for errors nor execution guaranteed. # Take note of the single quotes. If it's a script, ensure it's executable i.e. chmod 755 ./script. # Example: SuccessExec='/bin/echo "$(date): My public IP changed to ${PublicIP}!">>/var/log/GoDaddy.sh.log' SuccessExec='' # Optional scripts/programs/commands to execute on update failure. Leave blank to disable. # This variable will be evaluated at runtime but will not be parsed for errors nor execution guaranteed. # Take note of the single quotes. If it's a script, ensure it's executable i.e. chmod 755 ./script. # Example: FailedExec='/some/path/something-went-wrong.sh ${Update} && /some/path/email-script.sh ${PublicIP}' FailedExec='' # End settings Curl=$(which curl 2>/dev/null) [ "${Curl}" = "" ] && echo "Error: Unable to find 'curl CLI'." && exit 1 [ -z "${Key}" ] || [ -z "${Secret}" ] && echo "Error: Requires API 'Key/Secret' value." && exit 1 [ -z "${Domain}" ] && echo "Error: Requires 'Domain' value." && exit 1 [ -z "${Type}" ] && Type=A [ -z "${Name}" ] && Name=@ [ -z "${TTL}" ] && TTL=600 [ "${TTL}" -lt 600 ] && TTL=600 echo -n>>${CachedIP} 2>/dev/null [ $? -ne 0 ] && echo "Error: Can't write to ${CachedIP}." && exit 1 [ -z "${CheckURL}" ] && CheckURL=http://api.ipify.org echo -n "Checking current 'Public IP' from '${CheckURL}'..." PublicIP=$(${Curl} -kLs ${CheckURL}) if [ $? -eq 0 ] && [[ "${PublicIP}" =~ [0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3} ]];then echo "${PublicIP}!" else echo "Fail! ${PublicIP}" eval ${FailedExec} exit 1 fi if [ "$(cat ${CachedIP} 2>/dev/null)" != "${PublicIP}" ];then echo -n "Checking '${Domain}' IP records from 'GoDaddy'..." Check=$(${Curl} -kLsH"Authorization: sso-key ${Key}:${Secret}" \ -H"Content-type: application/json" \ https://api.godaddy.com/v1/domains/${Domain}/records/${Type}/${Name} \ 2>/dev/null|grep -Eo '\b([0-9]{1,3}\.){3}[0-9]{1,3}\b' 2>/dev/null) if [ $? -eq 0 ] && [ "${Check}" = "${PublicIP}" ];then echo -n ${Check}>${CachedIP} echo -e "unchanged!\nCurrent 'Public IP' matches 'GoDaddy' records. No update required!" else echo -en "changed!\nUpdating '${Domain}'..." Update=$(${Curl} -kLsXPUT -H"Authorization: sso-key ${Key}:${Secret}" \ -H"Content-type: application/json" -w"%{http_code}" -o/dev/null \ https://api.godaddy.com/v1/domains/${Domain}/records/${Type}/${Name} \ -d"[{\"data\":\"${PublicIP}\",\"ttl\":${TTL}}]" 2>/dev/null) if [ $? -eq 0 ] && [ "${Update}" -eq 200 ];then echo -n ${PublicIP}>${CachedIP} echo "Success!" eval ${SuccessExec} else echo "Fail! HTTP_ERROR:${Update}" eval ${FailedExec} exit 1 fi fi else echo "Current 'Public IP' matches 'Cached IP' recorded. No update required!" fi exit $? |
Fantastic. Works perfectly on my Ubuntu 14.04 setup, much appreciated.
No problem glad it helps (-:
Nazar, thanks for the script and for pointing out GoDaddy’s API. Works like a charm!
No problem glad it helps (-:
Hi, very good script, I don’t know if no one is changing the godaddy DNS, actually the external IP can be recorded on the server rather than get it from godaddy. If IP is not changed then no further action is needed. This can avoid 5 min check with godaddy but less secure, what do you think
really embarrassing just noticed the IP is cached, I should read through the script before writing down my ideas here, get too excited as this script is so good =) Please ignore my last comment
No problem, I was about to reply about the IP caching. Glad it helps (-:
Thanks for this I have applied it to my Pfsense firewall had to make a few tweaks but does the jobs 😉
No problem glad it helps (-:
Hi Rich…I’m trying to do the same with my PFsense with no success…any pointers on what tweaks you did to get it working?
Error I get when I run the script – Checking current ‘Public IP’ from ‘http://api.ipify.org’…/etc/GoDaddy.sh: [[: not found
Fail! 101.xxx.xxx.xxx
Hello JR,
The script needs bash, doesn't work with sh due to the RegExp. What is your bash version?
bash --versionTry running below, you should see “foobar” as result:
bash -c "[[ foobar =~ bar ]] && echo foobar"You could try running with:
bash /root/scripts/GoDaddy.shWorst case you could ignore the IP detection as long as it's not empty, try replacing line 73:
if [ $? -eq 0 ] && [ "${PublicIP}" != "" ];thenI am trying to implement this but when i run the script i get errors pertaining to line 208, 209, 226 and 227.
line 208 & 226 – applicaiton / json: no such file or directory
line 209 & 227 – URL: no such file or directory
it also gives a message stating no url specified.
Strange the script is only 108 lines. Check the correct CRLF? Which OS/interpreter did you tried to run it on?
Will this script work for multiple domains if I have 3 domains…
so if on line
24 | domain1.com
25| domain2.com
26| domain3.com
will it update all three or do I need to run 3 different cron jobs ?
You will need 3 different cron or just link them up using the SuccessExec variable. Meaning when the first script succeed updating, it will run the next 2nd and 3rd script. Note each script needs a unique CachedIP path value.
Thanks a lot! I was struggling to make my own script for my website since a few weeks. Yours was so easy. Thank you for your contribution.
No problem glad it helps (-:
Just wanted to add my big “Thank You” also. I don’t know enough about shell scripts, but want to know if its possible to add a port number before it updates the IP.
Hello Pat,
I’m not sure why the need to add a port number? DDNS doesn’t need any port changes. Any port you open in the NAT will work with your DDNS. Perhaps you could explain your situation further.
Pretty sure I’m just tired and not thinking straight. I have a few raspberry pis that run different programs for me. Each with their own front ends so they have ports assigned to them. I was just wondering about using the script to update different domains to point to specific ports. Am I overthinking this?
You could schedule multiple instances of this script for each of your domain either separately or all on one device (need unique cache variable). Need not worry about the ports.
Lol thank you. Sleep makes a big difference. Forgot that DNS doesn’t interact with TCP so I couldn’t add a port anyway. Thank you for the help. Works great.
Hello Pat,
No problem glad it helps 🙂
Worked perfectly on my Raspberry Pi. Thanks for making the GoDaddy update script i’ve wanted for years.
Hello Greg,
No problem glad it helps (-:
Hello,
Thank you for the script.
I have an issue though: UNKNOWN_DOMAIN
I tried to update my sub-domain, so I put Domain=subdomain(.a.TLD) and Type=CNAME but it doesn’t work. Same when I try on the goDaddy API documentation.
Can you help me please?
Thanks
Hello Mims,
The Domain variable is still your primary domain. Then set your subdomain to the Name variable and Type=CNAME. Take it example foo.bar.com is your subdomain, the correct settings are as below:
Domain=bar.comType=CNAME
Name=foo