On my router TP-Link C7 v5 running on OpenWrt release 19.07.8, I have entered configurations for two DDNS services:
The configs work fine insofar as updating the services (i.e. what afraid.org and dynu.com think C7's public IP address is). This I test by these steps: log into their Web pages for my DDNS subdomains, enter some arbitrary IP address (e.g. 5.5.5.5), wait 10 minutes (OpenWrt DDNS's default internal), and see those Web pages receive/reflect the correct public IP.
The problem with LuCI: When the services have got the correct IP, LuCI's DDNS page continues to show 5.5.5.5. If I wait half an hour,* maybe the dynu.com entry will show the correct IP, but not afraid.org (okay, after an hour and half, the afraid.org on LuCI may also update).
*See section ADDED NEXT DAY
More info on my setup:
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My C7 is sitting behind another router (for safety while being worked on).
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My C7 has wget installed but not curl.
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My afraid.org config looks like this (where cowsubdom.mooo.com is my subdom and the XXXX... is the key you get from afraid.org, both made up for this illustration) (using a Web page for source so that the router may sit behind another).
config service 'mooo_ipv4'
option lookup_host 'cowsubdom.mooo.com'
option password 'XXXXXXXYYYYYYYZZZZZZZ'
option service_name 'afraid.org-keyauth'
option ip_source 'web'
option ip_url 'http://ipecho.net/plain'
option interface 'wan'
option enabled '1'
Questions:
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Would DDNS (by the above config) update LuCI's display (with correct IP) without delay (when DDNS updates afraid.org) if C7 were directly facing the Internet? (I believe
option interface 'wan'may have something to do with this updating. I believe it might work if C7 were facing the Internet.) -
If no to 1, how can I get DDNS to update LuCI without delay?
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If yes to 1, how can I get DDNS to update LuCI without delay even if C7 were sitting behind another router?
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Should I worry about any of this? (It seems given a couple of hours, everything eventually gets the right update. In real life, IP addresses will not change often. Not likely to check LuCI within a couple of hours of the rare change.)
ADDED LATER
LuCI gives me these "hints":
Hints
Below a list of configuration tips for your system to run Dynamic DNS updates without limitations
DNS requests via TCP not supported
BusyBox's nslookup and hostip do not support to specify to use TCP instead of default UDP when requesting DNS server!
- You should install 'bind-host' or 'knot-host' or 'drill' package for DNS requests.
No certificates found
If using secure communication you should verify server certificates!
- Install 'ca-certificates' package or needed certificates by hand into /etc/ssl/certs default directory
ADDED STILL LATER
I also get this interesting phenomenon.
- Log into dynu.com site > go to my subdom page > manually set IP to 9.9.9.9
- Log into LuCI > go to DDNS page > click PID for dynu.com DDNS to stop the process > click same button (now reading "START") to re-start the process
- See LuCI dynu.com item receive 9.9.9.9.
- Go back to the dynu.com site my subdom page > see that it has got the correct IP (presumably from my OpenWrt router).
In sum, it is as though LuCI and the dynu.com subdom page swaped their information. The subdom page gets the correct IP, and LuCI gets the outdated info.
Very strange!
ADDED NEXT DAY
What I called "half an hour" is actually 20 minutes. Because the update takes every 10 minutes (default interval), 9 minutes may elapse (after manual change) before the router updates the DDNS provider site. The site then updates its DNS table (not sure about the right term), and at the next update time (another 10 min later) the router detects it. These 19 minutes became "half an hour" in my mind before more precise measuring. Seems to me a completely acceptable outcome. Duckdns.org also follows this time pattern. This leaves only afraid.org as problematic. On one test it took 50 minutes after site update (i.e. up to 59 minutes counting from manual change) for afraid.org's change to become detectable by the router. I believe the problem is with afraid.org.
What I called a "strange phenomenon" does not seem strange at all. At the "every 10 minute" update time, the router may do two things: (a) See what the ddns subdomain has for IP and display it on LuCI and (b) if that IP is different from the correct one update the ddns subdomain, but not (c) re-check what the ddns subdomain has for IP, expecting that it would take some time for the DNS table (again not sure about the term) to update. This (c) the router does at the next "10 minute" update time. If so, the strange "swapping of right info for wrong info" would not be strange at all. I have no way of knowing this is what happens, but the 19 minute lag time is perfectly acceptable to me. I will just use the two sevices that keep to the 19 minute time frame and not bother my head about this any more. Many thanks to trendy again!