openwrt / openwrt/packages

ddns-scripts: DNSExit provider is obsolete and no longer works

Open Beginner friendly
#29,166 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

bug
Dominant language
Makefile
Stars
4.6k
Forks
4k
Avg merge
3d 12h
Merged PRs (30d)
134

Description

Package Name

ddns-scripts

Maintainer

(@chris5560)

OpenWrt Version

25.12.2

OpenWrt Target/Subtarget

ath79/generic

Steps to Reproduce

The dnsexit.com is obsolete since quite some time now (it requires password access to the DNS API, which isn't recommended by the provider), and now appears to have stopped working.

On their site they suggest simply to use a custom provider with an update URL, which works quite well (api key and host replaced with placeholders in the text below)

Enter These Settings in Your Router
OpenWrt is an excellent match. Install ddns-scripts and use the custom update URL below.
Paste this URL into your router's Custom DDNS / Update URL field:

https://api.dnsexit.com/dns/ud/?apikey=APIKEY&host=HOST
Where to find it: Services > Dynamic DNS

Quick setup:
Install: opkg install ddns-scripts luci-app-ddns
Go to Services > Dynamic DNS > Add new
Set DDNS Service Provider to custom
Paste the update URL below
Set check interval to 12 minutes

Actual Behaviour

With the default HTTP client it just gives a cryptic error number. With cURL, we get something more descriptive:

 094148       : #> /usr/bin/curl -RsS -o /var/run/ddns/myddns_ipv4.dat --stderr /var/run/ddns/myddns_ipv4.err --interface eth0.2 --noproxy '*' 'https://update.dnsexit.com/RemoteUpdate.sv?login=dhdaines&password=***PW***&host=***HOST***&myip=***IP***'
 094149       : DDNS Provider answered:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
<html><head>
<title>503 Service Unavailable</title>
</head><body>
<h1>Service Unavailable</h1>
<p>The server is temporarily unable to service your
request due to maintenance downtime or capacity
problems. Please try again later.</p>
</body></html>

This could be fixed by updating /usr/share/ddns/default/dnsexit.com.json to use the new format with API key and hostname...

Confirmation Checklist

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with /usr/share/ddns/default/dnsexit.com.json and compare its current update URL with DNSExit's documented custom URL. Verify that the provider definition supports the API key and hostname placeholders and that the resulting configuration works with ddns-scripts.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
networking
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
76/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.