Today I’m pleased to introduce a new, free service which makes the Internet easier to use for the hundreds of millions of people with a dynamic IP address: DNS-O-Matic.

DNS-O-Matic gives you a free and easy way to announce your dynamic IP changes to multiple services with a single update.

No idea what I’m talking about? Well here’s the super-abridged version:

• Your computer has something called an IP address associated with it that is unique on the Internet, a lot like a phone number is unique.
• IP addresses are how computers reach each other, just like we use phone numbers to reach our friends on the phone.
• Unfortunately, unlike phone numbers, most residential ISPs (Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, etc.) give you a dynamic IP address instead of one that is static (stays the same).
• Whenever your IP changes, it can make it hard for certain network services to figure out how to reach you.
• DNS-O-Matic fixes that.

DNS-O-Matic solves this problem in a very general way that provides immense benefits to network service providers (like OpenDNS), software developers and, of course, users like yourselves. A lot of small businesses and remote offices have dynamic IPs: DNS-O-Matic is for you, too.

Most importantly, it’s completely free for all parties involved.

Solving a troublespot for OpenDNS customers

OpenDNS offers a lot of benefits on top of our free, fast, reliable DNS service. All of these benefits are tied to your current IP address. For those with static, unchanging IP addresses, this has always been simple. For dynamic IP addresses (the majority of home users), this requirement has meant an extra step: installing or configuring software to send updates when your IP changes. It’s never been as easy as we want.

Some of our more technical OpenDNS customers who use dynamic DNS hostnames asked for a way to use that hostname to track their changing IP. We took a wider view and came up with a scalable solution that helps our users, and is available to any company who needs to solve this problem.

Creating a broader opportunity for the industry

Like we did with PhishTank, OpenDNS is solving an industry-wide problem with a scalable and open solution. DNS-O-Matic works because everyone involved in the Dynamic IP process benefits:

First: Every one of the hundreds of millions of Internet users with a dynamic IP address can now share their dynamic IP changes with all the services they care about in one update. One IP update will be redistributed to every service you subscribe to. New services are automatically supported without requiring you to download anything or buy a new device.

Second: Developers of dynamic IP update software can support multiple services — current and future — by supporting a single, free API. One of the reasons that hardware vendors only support one or two Dynamic DNS services is that it’s hard to add support for each and every one in their hardware device. Now they only need to support one standard and they can offer their customers the ability to use ANY or ALL services. That’s a huge win for software developers. There’s already a healthy list of software that can send updates to DNS-O-Matic. The list will grow quickly; let us know if you have an addition.

Third: Dynamic DNS service providers (like DynDNS, No-IP, ChangeIP, etc.) now benefit from increased distribution. As DNS-O-Matic support spreads, all the supported services become available to new customers without any effort. OpenDNS will add new services to that list as requested.

More importantly, new services have an immediate user-base from which to offer their service. There is a lot of opportunity for applications to take advantage of DNS-O-Matic. Everything from your Slingbox to your Xbox 360 could use DNS-O-Matic and make it easier to manage network devices at home or at work.

Supporting new services is easy

During the private beta, a DNS-O-Matic user suggested we add support for the BroadbandReports.com Line Monitoring service. We hadn’t heard of this worthwhile service before but adding support for it in DNS-O-Matic took about 30 minutes and was immediately available to every DNS-O-Matic user.

Thanks are in order…

During the building of DNS-O-Matic, we’ve been thrilled to have the support of so many individuals and companies in the DNS world. DNS-O-Matic helps make services easier to use and businesses easier to operate because complementary (and even competitive) businesses are working together. Our thanks to the many developers and service providers we’ve spoken to recently: we look forward to more collaboration. We’re also grateful to our beta testers.

Why DNS-O-Matic?

Oh, and the name DNS-O-Matic? We chose that name because it’s fun to say and memorable. It’s also a hat tip to Ping-O-Matic, a service from some of the lead developers of WordPress for redistributing blog update notifications to dozens of services. It’s simple, free and stable — three attributes we respect a lot in a great service and will uphold with ours.

Finally

You can learn more in the DNS-O-Matic FAQ. The OpenDNS knowledge base has more information on Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and an explanation of dynamic IP addresses.

Let us know what you think!

A brief note to say thank you to the several individuals who responded to our request for help on router instructions. We’re using the many useful emails and comments we got to cover the requested D-Link and Actiontec routers. We don’t need any more assistance with those models, at least.

We’ve also been entranced by the very well done emulators on the D-Link site: helpful to us and (I’m sure) to their customers.

Update: We’ve gotten great response from D-Link and Actiontec customers. No need to send anymore. Still waiting on confirmation about Blackberry.

We realize there are lots of popular (and not-so-popular) routers and modems we don’t have instructions for on our site. But it’s hard writing instructions for a device you don’t have in front of you. That’s why we’re calling on you to help us build out our Get Started library. At the top of our wish list are instructions for these models:

* D-Link DGL-4300
* D-Link DI-604
* Actiontec GT701
* Actiontec GT704

Inititally we thought we could write instructions based on user manuals. We found the manuals, but they didn’t provide enough information to teach others how to change DNS settings.

This just in: For Verizon users and others, we added instructions for the very popular Westell 327w today.

If you are so kind as to help us (and other OpenDNS users who share in your router or modem taste) out with instructions, please send a few bulleted steps based on any of the instructions we already have. Screenshots to accompany the steps would be great, too. Anyone who sends in accurate instructions will get a shout-out on our Web site and will forever be known as the helpful author of the [insert your router/modem model here] instructions.

Don’t worry about perfection. At this point anything will help us. And, of course, it’s our job to polish up the instructions and make them look pretty for the site.

There is also the possibility that some routers/modems don’t allow users to change DNS settings. That information is as helpful, if not more, than instructions.

Just send an e-mail with the instructions and screenshots, or other feedback, to contact at opendns dot com.

Oh, and if you have a Blackberry and can verify that these instructions work, we’d really appreciate it.

1. Go to Start->Network Connections->Show All Connections
2. Right-click your BlackBerry Internet icon, select Properties.
3. A window will open. Click the Server Types tab.
4. Click TCP/IP Settings.
5. Select “Use the following DNS server addresses:”
6. Enter 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.

When we launched three weeks ago, we had a reasonable cross-section of instructions for some of the most popular routers and operating systems. We knew, of course, that there are many, many different devices and scenarios, and we’d have to keep updating our instructions to match the real world.

Our customers couldn’t wait for us (good!). My thanks for these instructions go to individual customers.

• Buffalo AirStation are courtesy of Zach Marshall.
• Windows Vista (Beta) are courtesy of Colton Hilliard.
• SpeedStream 5200 are courtesy of Luis Serrano.
• IPCop (Linux firewall application) are courtesy of James Truesdale.
• BIND9 forwarding instructions (in our FAQ) are courtesy of an early customer (apologies for not remembering whom!)

We’re adding more ourselves, of course, like Windows 98.

I’m not ashamed to continue asking for help, whether corrections or new screenshots and instructions. We’re quite happy to take raw materials and clean them up (add our orange highlights, spell-check, etc.) to help get the word out to others who might have the same equipment or situation.

Email us your instructions and screenshots: contact at opendns dot com. All the credit will be yours!

Additional information about static IP addresses

We’re learning, to our dismay, that some routers will only let their owners set DNS servers if the owner has a static IP address. Most folks connecting from home (i.e., those who would use the router instructions) have a dynamic IP address.

One example, which was confirmed today to a customer by Motorola customer support is the Motorola WR850 wireless broadband router. Both models, the GP and G, only allow DNS settings to be changed for static IP addresses (PDF manual). Frustrating, but good to know. Earlier, we learned that the Linksys WRT54GC Compact Wireless-G Broadband Router (PDF manual available via this page) has the same limitations.

Fortunately, most people can simply use the operating system instructions, and the settings “closest to the customer” are the dominant ones, corporate networks excluded.

All of this information will make its way into the Get Started pages as we learn more.