ip address changed - big problems

[bustthis]

i'm in need of desperate help... i really don't know too much about dns, but here it goes...

i am running 10.3.3 server for mail, ftp, web, dhcp, nat and afp. i use dyndns.org for dns and mail mx records. i have 3 domain names,
which i have web sites and mail going to. well, today my ip address changed after 2 years of having the same one... this caused major problems.
i first noticed when i went to one of my domains charles-x.com and i saw someone elses apache server directory (my server cname is mail.charles.com), i then noticed the ip address change. this is bad because my mail server stop working and so did charles-x.com, but the other 2 domains web sites worked.

it seems after a couple of hours charles-x.com pointed to my new ip address and i thought all was fine. now i can only receive me locally and not from the outside. i contacted dyndns and cannot receive email, so there for i am screwed. is this worse than i am making it out to be? :)
do i just need to wait to dyndns updates there records of the change? when i check my mx records using dig, i get this:

; <<>> DiG 9.2.2 <<>> mail.charles-x.com mx
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 26719
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 5, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;mail.charles-x.com. IN MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
mail.charles-x.com. 19017 IN CNAME charles-x.com.
charles-x.com. 32088 IN MX 10 mx1.mailhop.org.
charles-x.com. 32088 IN MX 20 mx2.mailhop.org.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
charles-x.com. 85606 IN NS ns4.mydyndns.org.
charles-x.com. 85606 IN NS ns5.mydyndns.org.
charles-x.com. 85606 IN NS ns1.mydyndns.org.
charles-x.com. 85606 IN NS ns2.mydyndns.org.
charles-x.com. 85606 IN NS ns3.mydyndns.org.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns1.mydyndns.org. 84518 IN A 63.208.196.92

;; Query time: 36 msec
;; SERVER: 24.29.99.17#53(24.29.99.17)
;; WHEN: Sun Apr 25 00:14:35 2004
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 216


i am very confused!!! please help! please post back to the list because i doubt i will receive any emails at this point.

thanks,


charles

[nkuvu]

I've had occasional problems with the DynDNS update client that I have -- it doesn't always update the IP. The easiest solution that I've found is to log in to the DynDNS service from my home machine -- then update the dynamic IP from what it detects.

But it sounds like you said you've lost and/or forgotten your DynDNS password (based on the "i contacted dyndns and cannot receive email, so there for i am screwed" bit).

In general, though, the updates to the DynDNS take effect very quickly. At least in my experience.

I should note that this is the limit of my meager knowledge on the subject, so perhaps someone else will have some insights.

[bustthis]

it's all working now... i had the setting in customdns to static and it should've been dynamic. i had the same ip address for over 2 years and it changed twice this weekend and since it was set to static it took 6 hours to update the TTL... dynamic takes 60 secs to update.

my mail server wasn't accepting connection's from the outside and that's what i meant about not being able to receive email from dydns support.

this should be another post....

i'm still confused about dns and mx records... i guess that's why i let dyndns do it for me! all of these problems started when i turned on dhcp in server admin... my server was hacked into last month and someone from the 10.3 server list recommended that i purchase a firewall/nat router, so i purchased a lynksys rv082 vpn router and tried to hook it up to my ethernet switch and airport extreme base station. only after calling tech support i learned that i could only use the vpn router as another switch if the airport base station was connected - is this correct? anyway, i turned off dhcp and i need to see how much a static ip address will run me.

any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!! thanks for your help.

-charles

[MustafaNation]

... my server was hacked into last month and someone from the 10.3 server list recommended that i purchase a firewall/nat router, so i purchased a lynksys rv082 vpn router and tried to hook it up to my ethernet switch and airport extreme base station. only after calling tech support i learned that i could only use the vpn router as another switch if the airport base station was connected - is this correct? anyway, i turned off dhcp and i need to see how much a static ip address will run me.


I'm not sure if there is a piece you're not describing here, or if I understand correctly but here I go. I recommend you have your internet connection plug into your vpn router. Connect your server, switch (if you still need it), and AirPort Base Station to the router. Let the router do the DHCP stuff. Disable the DHCP in the AirPort Admin Utility. Assign a static IP for your server based on your LAN address and have the router assign addresses beginning several numbers higher. Then you need to setup your router to forward to the IP of your server any port that you want available. That said, having a static IP that your router is always on does make DNS stuff easier for web type services. Hope this helps.

[bustthis]

how do you turn of dhcp in airport? do you mean under the internet tab and set it to manual, instead of using dhcp?

i have now successfully configured dns in 10.3.4 server and other than the abs needed to restarted every now and then, i haven't had any of the same problems. i am not using the vpn router and would love to (it was over $300 and has been in the box for months now sitting in my closet :()

my server is configured to have a static ip:
server - 10.0.1.201
laptop(only client using airport) - 10.0.1.3
another client - 10.0.1.2

i have the cable modem plugged into the wan port in the abs and the lan port goes to the switch... i would love to get rid of the abs in order to use the vpn router, but my girlfriend loves to use the laptop wireless :(

i am also faced with another problem, the lynksys vpn router is set to 192.168.1.1 by default, i would rather use 10.0.1 addressing, but things can get screwy from what i hear, when changing ip addresses in 10.3 server. the tech support guys at lynksys told me in order to configure the router for 10.0.1 addressing, i would need to change all the ip addresses to 192.168.1.x, then back again to 10.0.x. and the vpn router would serve as just a switch as long as i continued to use the abs.

thanks for your help!

[MustafaNation]

DHCP can be turned off using AirPort Admin Utility. Once logged into the base station, click on the Show All Settings, then click on Network. There is a check box to enable or disable DHCP. If you decide to change the IP of your server, you can have on port from the switch run to the abs WAN port and disable DHCP as I described. The abs works in what is known as bridging mode.

However, you bring up an interesting problem in that Linksys routers often limit the address scheme to 192. series numbers. Which means, you may have to go to some lengths before everything with the server is worked out.

My only other thought would be to use the settup you have now. Set the abs to forward all neccessary ports to the WAN IP of the router (connected to the switch), and dissable DCHP on the router. Then forward the ports on the router to the LAN IP of the server. I know on my old Linksys router (entry type model), you could only fill in the last 3 digits of the IP addresses you are forwarding, making the senario I described useless. You'll have to see what the limations of your router model allow.

Ultimately if you do decide to change IP address, I recommend backing up everything and install fresh. If that is way to difficult, Apple has a script I found somewhere (don't ask) that is designed to do the IP change. If you just change the number in the Network preferences you'll be dead meat. SO AVOID DOING THAT!!

You may also want to read more tips in the Network forum channel and see what they think. Good luck!

[bustthis]

i never really understood the role dhcp plays with my setup anyway? the way i have everything set up "just works!" , but i never took the time out to completely understand why it does... lol! i mean, the airport has dhcp and nat turned on using 10.0.1.1 addressing, ports are mapped to 10.0.1.201, but this is where i get confused... i have nat turned on in the 10.3.4 server admin app and dhcpturned off, firewall on in server admin... since, i am configuring the server and the 2 clients to use a manual address of 10.0.1.x
- is there really a reason to use dhcp? or even nat on the server? i suppose the nat configuration in server admin is needed to be on, but i don't really understand the server's firewall ports and the relationship they have to the airport's ports. i understand that the abs is the gateway and allows connections in on those open ports, but the abs settings seems to be limiting and the lynksys vpn router would be more customizable, but it would be worthless to me with the abs in the mix. :)

clean install of 10.3.4 server was done last week and i can't see myself doing that again for a long, long time :)
anyway, thanks for all your help!