Is anyone using inadyn?

[bkm]

If you are using inadyn, would you mind sharing your config file?

There is no documentation on the TCL implementation of this and most of the command line switches I have tried come back as unknown option. I cannot even be sure this implementation is even reading the inadyn.config file I placed in the /etc directory.

The --check-conf switch does not work and I cannot be sure of the syntax for calling out the config file name. Does it need the full path or will that cause it to choke. Without a way to check if it is working properly it is really hard to tell.

There is also no way to know if the checkip-server option is working. I am guessing that inadyn defaults to running in background since the -b switch returns an error.

At first I tried creating the command line with all the necessary options that I could place in a crontab to run every 5 min, most of the command line switches return errors. When that didn't work, I thought I would try setting up the config file, and that is where I am asking for advice. The man pages for inadyn and inadyn.conf are both very packed with information, but is just doesn't seem to match up with the TCL implementation.

So, if anyone is using it and would be willing to share their config file (as well as where you placed it) the information might shed some light on things I am missing. Apparently the version of TCL doesn't matter. It hasn't changed in a long time.
Thanks in advance if you can shed some light in my corner.

BKM

[Juanito]

I would guess that the config file needs to be in /usr/local/etc or /usr/local/etc/inadyn

[curaga]

Several of those are perl scripts, so you could install one like ddclient easily?

[coreplayer2]

DYN website https://help.dyn.com/inadyn/ suggests the location of inadyn config as

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/etc/inadyn.conf

[bkm]

DYN website https://help.dyn.com/inadyn/ suggests the location of inadyn config as

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/etc/inadyn.conf

Yup, I read that also, and that is where I currently have my inadyn.conf file, but due to the large number of irregularities in the support for command line switches, I cannot tell what will or will not work even in the config file.

An then there is...

I would guess that the config file needs to be in /usr/local/etc or /usr/local/etc/inadyn

I had not really considered that as a possibility, but it would seem to follow more with the TCL sort of standards.
And, interestingly enough sir, your name (Juanito) shows up on the inadyn.tcz info page as being the author, so I guess I will put a config file in each of those locations as well just to cover all bases.

The problem is still, that I cannot find any information on what switches are supported in this implementation, or the expected short hand syntax for them. In some cases the -F returns an error but the --config switch appears to work. Some others it seems reversed. No apparent pattern I can find, with about 9 hours of trial and error testing already done, and not much to show for it.

Thanks folks, and maybe someone else will happen along that can share a config file or some insight on the switches supported.

BKM

[coreplayer2]

Why not use the basic config template as provided ?

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# Basic configuration file for inadyn
#
# /etc/inadyn.conf
update_period_sec 600 # Check for a new IP every 600 seconds
username test
password test
dyndns_system dyndns@dyndns.org
alias test.homeip.net

An account is needed with DYNDNS to use their DNS update


I'm assuming you've read the notes on the web page provided?  which indicates using some config options will cause inadyn to fail

[Misalf]

man page could be extracted from
http://tinycorelinux.net/7.x/x86/tcz/src/inadyn/inadyn-2.0.tar.xz
to create a  inadyn-doc.tcz .

[bkm]

Thanks Misalf,

I did take your suggestion and do just that. The man page in the tar file proved usefuil in some respects and at the same time created even more confusion. It cleared up some of the switch issues simply by stating the number of switches supported had been reduced and 'simplified' so I went about checking my switches against the new list. I was able to correct several of them to match the newer standard.

Then after reading this:

Why not use the basic config template as provided ?

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# Basic configuration file for inadyn
#
# /etc/inadyn.conf
update_period_sec 600 # Check for a new IP every 600 seconds
username test
password test
dyndns_system dyndns@dyndns.org
alias test.homeip.net


I went back to all the different sources to figure out the proper syntax for defining the period of time inadyn waits before checking the IP address. I have found across many sources the following possibilities:

update_period_sec 600

update-period = 600

period=600

So, I think I have the most of what I need to fix the many portions of the config file. However, I am now left to guess which syntax to use for defining the period. A search through the man page in the tar file produced no mention of how to set this variable and with so many possible combinations, I am not quite sure how to proceed. Afterall, setting the time to perform the check would seem to be one of the most important aspects of this utility.

Currently I have figured out that TCL implementation differs from others in the following ways:
- In TCL inadyn defaults to background and there is a switch to make it foreground. Opposite from other implementations.
- The config file switch is -f as opposed to -F in other implementations
- Also the -config and --config switches give a false impression of working. They appear to do nothing in TCL version
- The -t switch seems to work but not the -startup-delay=sec switch
- The man page packaged with the TCL version does not have an example of how to structure the command line or the config file

Currently this is the config file I am experimenting on:

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# For testing inadyn functionality
period = 300
custom freemyip {
password = My24characterPassword
hostname = mysite.freemyip.com
checkip-server = http://checkip.dyndns.org
ddns-server = freemyip.com
ddns-path = "/update?token=%p"
}

For now I will keep trying to get the syntax right and if I get it to work properly, I will post back here with what worked for me. But I would always be appreciative if anyone else had a working config file to share. 

Still working on it. Thanks,

BKM

[Misalf]

man inadyn.conf  gives

period = SEC
How often the IP is checked, in seconds. Default: apx 1 minute. Max: 10 days.

[xyz-worx]

Hi bkm,

as I suggested 'inadyn' in my reply from Feb. 27th I will share my experiences with 'inadyn'.

First of all I would like to note (again) that I use 'inadyn' with TCL 3.8.4 and that I have a
paid DYN-DNS account.

'inadyn' was installed as 'on-boot'.

bootlocal.sh contains

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...
usr/local/sbin/inadyn
...

without any parameters.

inadyn.conf is placed (via filetool.lst) in /etc  with the following content:

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## inadyn configuration file
update_period_sec 600 # Check for a new IP every 600 seconds
# DynDNS username and password here
username xxxx
password xxxx
dyndns_system dyndns@dyndns.org
## Dynamic DNS hosts
alias xyz-worx.ath.cx
alias xyz-worx.dyndns.org
#run in background
background
#The name, including the full path, of a log file.
log_file /var/log/inadyn.log

If you take a look at the log-file from today you will see that 'inadyn'
might need some attempts until it gets the IP-address. And even when
it got the IP-address there will be further error messages.

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Tue Apr 11 17:10:15 2017: Started 'Inadyn version 1.98.0' - dynamic DNS updater.
Tue Apr 11 17:10:15 2017: Failed resolving host name checkip.dyndns.org: Temporary failure in name resolution
Tue Apr 11 17:10:15 2017: Failed periodic query of IP# change.  Error 'RC_IP_INVALID_REMOTE_ADDR' (0x12)
Tue Apr 11 17:20:17 2017: Checking for IP# change, connecting to checkip.dyndns.org(91.198.22.70)
Tue Apr 11 17:20:18 2017: IP# for alias 'xyz-worx.ath.cx' needs update to '188.193.195.191'
Tue Apr 11 17:20:18 2017: IP# for alias 'xyz-worx.dyndns.org' needs update to '188.193.195.191'
Tue Apr 11 17:20:18 2017: Updating DDNS server with new IP#, connecting to members.dyndns.org(204.13.248.111)
Tue Apr 11 17:20:18 2017: Alias 'xyz-worx.ath.cx' to IP# '188.193.195.191' updated successfully.
Tue Apr 11 17:20:19 2017: Updating DDNS server with new IP#, connecting to members.dyndns.org(204.13.248.111)
Tue Apr 11 17:20:20 2017: Alias 'xyz-worx.dyndns.org' to IP# '188.193.195.191' updated successfully.
Tue Apr 11 17:30:23 2017: Checking for IP# change, connecting to checkip.dyndns.org(91.198.22.70)
Tue Apr 11 17:30:43 2017: Error 115 when connecting to remote server: Operation now in progress
Tue Apr 11 17:30:43 2017: Failed periodic query of IP# change.  Error 'RC_IP_CONNECT_FAILED' (0x13)
Tue Apr 11 17:40:45 2017: Checking for IP# change, connecting to checkip.dyndns.org(91.198.22.70)
Tue Apr 11 17:40:48 2017: No IP# change detected, still at 188.193.195.191

And that's the result of a ping:

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tc@box:~$ ping xyz-worx.ath.cx
PING xyz-worx.ath.cx (188.193.195.191): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 188.193.195.191: seq=0 ttl=63 time=16.998 ms
64 bytes from 188.193.195.191: seq=1 ttl=63 time=5.155 ms
64 bytes from 188.193.195.191: seq=2 ttl=63 time=2.764 ms
64 bytes from 188.193.195.191: seq=3 ttl=63 time=11.179 ms
64 bytes from 188.193.195.191: seq=4 ttl=63 time=9.490 ms
64 bytes from 188.193.195.191: seq=5 ttl=63 time=7.374 ms
64 bytes from 188.193.195.191: seq=6 ttl=63 time=4.518 ms
^C
--- xyz-worx.ath.cx ping statistics ---
7 packets transmitted, 7 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 2.764/8.211/16.998 ms
tc@box:~$

So, 'inadyn' worx for me.

Hope this might be helpful for you.

best regards

xyz-worx

[bkm]

Thank you xyz-worx,

I might just try your configuration. I believe that inadyn has not changed since it was first introduced into the TCL repository. I think someone recently added it to the version 7 repository with no changes, so your version may very well be the working version still today.

If that is true then the man page bundled with it may not be accurate. The configuration I listed in my last post is what I have been trying to get functional and it has not been successful. The command I entered into the bootlocal.sh is:

inadyn -f /etc/inadyn.conf

This would hopefully point it to the config file I place in the /etc directory.
The time between ip address checks in my case is 300 seconds so I have tried these two lines in my config file:

update-period = 300             -and-         update = 300

Neither of them have worked so I am inclined to try your syntax for that line.

I have also noted delayed answers from http://checkip.dyndns.org but was not sure if that may have been blowing up my inadyn implementation. Your log file seems to indicate that it will keep trying anyway, which is a good thing.

Since you have a paid Dyndns account you probably did not have to specifically call out the "checkip-server" in your config file. When I set that variable I used the full path "http://" included. I will have to try it without that part and see if it works. Different man pages across the internet call it "checkip-server" or "checkip-url" so even the man pages do not agree on how it should be called out. Of course the man page bundled with the TCL implementation has no mention of the variable at all which leaves me searching and experimenting even further.

Sharing your config file has been enlightening. Thank you. I now have more testing I can do to see if these syntax changes make any difference. When I had the mini web server working here at my office, I could not tell if the inadyn function was working. So, I unplugged the box and carted it across town to another office and hooked it up there. I made the port changes to their router and fired it up. After about 40 minutes, it had still not been able to track the IP address change to the new office. So, back to my office and more testing.

I am also going to try to set up a temporary directory in /tmp and then save it before shutdown and reboot so I have a place to setup the inadyn log file. Then I will enable logging and see if I get anything.

Thanks for the peek into your configuration. I will keep trying stuff here.

BKM

[bkm]

Well, thank you all for trying to help. After 3 days of wrestling with this package I have given up. I am sure there is a way to get this to work, but I have just not been able to find that magical combination of command line switches and config file syntax that makes it all happen.

Hopefully someone else will have better luck with this. I will just let a local router take care of the IP update part.

Thanks again. I am sorry I couldn't follow this one to a successful ending.

BKM