+++
date = "2018-07-26T21:37:32+00:00"
publishdate = "2023-12-29T07:08:55+00:00"
title = "Now-DNS and pfSense"
slug = "now-dns-pfsense"
author = "Thedro"
tags = ["ddns","pfsense"]
type = "posts"
summary =  "The alternative to a static IP address is a server that keeps track of your dynamic IP address."
draft =  ""
syntax =  "1"
toc =  ""
updated =  ""
+++

{{< image source="/images/now-dns-pfsense.png" >}} {{< /image >}}

The alternative to a static `IP` address is a server that keeps track of your
dynamic `IP` address. When the `IP` address changes, the client will immediately
notify the server of the new `IP` address. This is known as
[Dynamic DNS.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_DNS) One of the free `DDNS`
services that I use is [Now-DNS.](https://now-dns.com)

I've noticed on [pfSense](https://www.pfsense.org) version `2.3.5-RELEASE-p2`
that custom client update entries will not work when the update url for `curl`
looks something like this;

```shell
curl -u <email>:<password> "https://now-dns.com/update?hostname=<hostname>"
```

It appears that the authentication fails when executing the client update. To
fix this issue, remove the curl `HTTP` authentication option by commenting out
the line below in the file `/etc/inc/dyndns.class`

```php
<?php
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_ANY);
```

```php
<?php
if ($this->_curlSslVerifypeer) {
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, TRUE);
  } else {
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, FALSE);
  }
    #curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_ANY);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "{$this->_dnsUser}:{$this->_dnsPass}");
}
```

This does not have an adverse affect on custom client entries that use a token
style update url which do not require a username or password. These urls tend to
look like this;

```text
https://www.duckdns.org/update?domains=exampledomain&token=a7c4d0ad-114e-40ef-ba1d-d217904a50f2&ip=%IP%
```