GossenFeb 10, 2025
Just a technical question. I am running a server at home with GoToSocial and Pixelfed. This is running super, only my internet connection has a dynamic IP address. Every day around the same time it changes. I notice that after this IP change it takes a while (10min) before GoToSocial and Pixelfed are available again. Can this hurt as far as federation is concerned? Or will other servers find my server stupid? #Federation #DynDNS #GoToSocial #Pixelfed #TechnicalQuestion #IT #Server
Show threadErickFeb 10, 2025

@gossen Based on your hashtags I assume you are using DynDNS. If I recall correctly they have a client and an API to update your DNS records, but it’s been a while since I used them (my domains are on Namecheap and they include free dynamic DNS records). In my case, I have a script that runs every 15 minutes and checks my IP address, if it is different it sends an update.

In your case, I think you can do some basic diagnostics to see if there is a big delay on the domain propagation, or if it is a localized problem (your ISP’s DNS cache being slower to update).

Next time the IP refreshes you can try using dig to check the DNS resolution.

  • To check with your current DNS provider: dig your.domain
  • To check with Google's: dig @8.8.8.8 your.domain
  • To check with Cloudflare's: dig @1.1.1.1 your.domain
Show threadGossen
@erick Thanks for your reply. Indeed I'm using dyndns. And that's working beautiful. But I wondered if the temporary delay/offline status from my servers plays nice with federation. Sorry for the confusion.
Feb 10, 2025 at 1:11pmWeb
Show threadErickFeb 10, 2025

@gossen no confusion at all. I am wondering if that 15 minutes delay you see is due to your current ISP/DNS provider or if in fact is taking that long to refresh. That’s why I shared the idea of using dig to compare what you get with what others may get.

As for your question, I’m not familiar with the protocol but I don’t think a few minutes delay in domain resolution would be that bad; I would assume the only downside would be some missing activities.

Show threadGossenFeb 10, 2025
@erick I will dive into that. Thanks again. Much appreciated 👍