README

SYNOPSIS

    This utility implements a client for the afraid.org dynamic DNS service.
    A cron job is set up to check whether the external IP address has
    changed, and when it does, connects to afraid.org and updates the
    DNS entries of all the domains of the given account.

SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEMS

   * Fedora
   * CentOS
   * RHEL
   * OSX

INSTALL

    1. log in as root (needed to access config, cron and cache directories):
        # su -
    2. Download the tarball:
	    # cd /tmp
	    # wget ftp://arix.com/afraid-dyndns-x.x.tar.gz

	    on OSX, you can use:
        # curl -O ftp://anon@arix.com/afraid-dyndns-x.x.tar.gz
    3. Untar:
	    # tar xzvf afraid-dyndns-x.x.tgz
    4. Install:
	    # cd afraid-dyndns-x.x
	    # ./install

CONFIGURATION

   To configure, edit the /etc/afraid-dyndns.conf file. The AccountHash field
   is a string value that is unique to your account with afraid.org. Currently,
   (03/17/2012) this value can be obtained by SHA-1 hashing the string
   "username|password" (without quotes). Your username and password can be found
   at:

       http://freedns.afraid.org/profile/

   This may change in the future; up-to-date information can be found at:

	   http://freedns.afraid.org/api/

   CacheFile is the file name where the external IP address will be cached.
   Each time your IP address changes, the administrator (as specified by the
   "Notify" field in the configuration file) will be emailed with an update.

   In order for this utility to properly cache your external IP address, it must
   be run as root. The cron job that is installed with this utility should cause
   the utility to be run as root. If this utility is run as a non-root user, the
   cache will not be written to; consequesntly, the administrator may be emailed
   with unnecessary updates (assuming that a "Notify" email address has been
   specified in the configuration file). Otherwise, the utility should work.

   The cron job provided will cause the external IP address to be checked every
   15 minutes. To edit the rate of updates, edit /etc/cron.d/afraid-dyndns. On
   OSX, you should instead edit /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.afraid.dyndns.plist
   (and reboot).

   Unlink on Linux systems where all names on the account are refreshed with
   the IP of the host, on OSX the default configuration only names matching
   the host's name will be refreshed. The assumption here is that Linux
   hosts are likely to be used as servers (which may require multiple names
   as in the case of a webserver hosting multiple domains), whereas OSX
   hosts are likely to be used as clients e.g. laptops which we want
   accessible via a domain name but which roam.

	To change this behaviour on OSX, edit the plist, take out the
    hostname parameter (after the --quiet) and reboot.

SYNTAX

   Call the script with --help to see all options.

LIMITATIONS

   At present, only one account is supported.

AUTHOR/SUPPORT

   Erick Calder <e@arix.com> - For bugs, suggestions, etc. please
   feel free to contact me.