Static WAN IP for Sky/BT

I have 5 personal websites hosted on my own server. I had been a Virgin Media customer previously which didn't require a static IP address as it changed so very rarely that I could update the DNS settings when it did (at one point it didn't change for 10 months).

I'm now with Sky Fibre (BT) and I understand the WAN IP address will change much more frequently. What I require is a service which provides me with a static IP address and then points this to my current WAN IP address. When the WAN changes, this is detected by software on my server and then the static IP address is updated.

I have looked at No-ip but I can't find the product I need to do this with. Can anyone advise me on what I need or if there is another (better or cheaper) service?

Thanks.

Your description of a static IP address is a little odd, but I get the gist.

Sky do not do static Ip addresses, though are said to be going to be offering it to ex-Be customers in the near future, but don't hold your breath.

BT Residential (Infinity) do not do static IP address.

if you want a static IP then maybe PlusNet (paid option I believe) or more business like providers like IDNet, Zen etc

PlusNet charge a one off fee of £5 for a static IP address.

Thanks. I realise that they don't offer a static IP address for a WAN IP. I can't change to PLusnet as I've only just joined Sky.

Is there a service which you can "rent" and IP address and forward it to your own?

The IP address doesn't change easily on Sky 'Fibre' so it's not much work managing DNS records. I think the DHCP lease expires after 1800 seconds (30 minutes), i.e., you would need to leave your router disconnected from the modem for 30 minutes from when you received an IP address to receive a different IP address. The only other way is to change the MAC address of the WAN interface to make it lease you a new IP address.

Edited by deleted (Wed 04-Sep-13 11:49:03)

In reply to a post by Splash1:

The IP address doesn't change easily on Sky 'Fibre' so it's not much work managing DNS records. I think the DHCP lease expires after 1800 seconds (30 minutes), i.e., you would need to leave your router disconnected from the modem for 30 minutes to receive a different IP address. The only other way is to change the MAC address of the WAN interface to make it lease you a new IP address.

That's good to know. In that case I give it a chance with the assigned IP address and see how I get on.

In reply to a post by jacobsdad:

Thanks. I realise that they don't offer a static IP address for a WAN IP. I can't change to PLusnet as I've only just joined Sky.

Is there a service which you can "rent" and IP address and forward it to your own?

Have you ever tried dyndns?

Look it up. You can keep your dynamic addresses as it relies on a name rather than an IP.

In short no.

There are dynamic dns type services that work so that your dynamic IP address should always be findable via a domain name.

An IP tunnel (VPN) service could possibly achieve what you want, but to be reliable would require a business grade VPN router at your end.

The lease time is 60 mins although the way DHCP works it starts requesting lease renewal after 30 mins.

My Sky IP address hasn't changed for about 5 or 6 months now although I still use DynDNS just in case.

I'm fully aware of how DHCP works, I told him what I thought was actually useful to him.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

An IP tunnel (VPN) service could possibly achieve what you want, but to be reliable would require a business grade VPN router at your end.

Problem there when Sky currently require you to use their router. Maybe a Billion or Draytek with the Sky supporting firmware *might* do it, unlikely though.

One of the many dynamic DNS providers is much more likely, run the client on the server.

The Billion 7800N has built in support for Dyn (which is what Dynamic DNS is now called) as well as other services, it also supports MAC Encapsulated Routing (MER) which Sky use for authentication (though you need to get the MAC of the Sky router they send you) and also has a 100 Meg EWAN port so can be used with FTTC.

The vpn router need not terminate the adsl or fibre line, but being behind a nat router can complicate things.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

but being behind a nat router can complicate things.

Very much so, unless you're a networking guru

No-IP is a dynamic DNS service. My ADSL router can automatically registers with this service each time my external IP address changes.

However instead of using the router to perform this registration function, I can use Linux software. The Linux software does not know when the external IP address changes, it just re-registers on a regular basis so that if the IP address does change the DNS entry is changed to point to the new address.

No-IP is one of the supported DDNS services on the 7800N IIRC.