namecheap-ddns-exporter

Simple ddns with namecheap and export metrics for it.

Setup

Make sure you have required software:

python
pip
git

Clone Source

I am running on ec2 and simply clone into the ec2-user's home directory.

git clone https://github.com/jewzaam/namecheap-ddns-exporter

config.yaml

You can name the file whatever you want, but this document assumes config.yaml.

Pick a port and setup DDNS in namecheap.

refresh_delay_seconds: 300
host: <the DDNS host>
domain: <your domain>
password: <your Dynamic DNS Password>
ip_source: <URL to fetch IP address>

refresh_delay_seconds can be quick if you're

ip_source examples:

local is a special case where no external service is used, just gets the local IP address
http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/public-ipv4 for AWS specifically
https://api.ipify.org for generic query

Python requirements

pip install -r requirements.txt --user

Linux Service

Install the service by setting up some env vars then copying the systemd template with those vars, start the service, and enable the service.

export REPO_BASE_DIR=~/namecheap-ddns-exporter
export PORT=8004
export CONFIG=$REPO_BASE_DIR/config.yaml
export PYTHON=$(which python)

cat $REPO_BASE_DIR/src/systemd/namecheap-ddns.service | envsubst > /tmp/namecheap-ddns.service
sudo mv /tmp/namecheap-ddns.service /etc/systemd/system/namecheap-ddns.service

unset REPO_BASE_DIR
unset PORT
unset CONFIG
unset PYTHON

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start namecheap-ddns.service
sudo systemctl enable namecheap-ddns.service

Windows Service

There is a simple .bat file included which can be edited to tune config and port. Make sure the repo, you configuration, and the .bat are not going to be deleted by something (like happened with me with Dropbox!).

As this is likely to provide access to a remote host by name you want it to run at system startup. Use "Task Scheduler" to set it to run the .bat without a user when network is connected.

Verify

DDNS

Check the IP address is updated for the record in Namecheap when it is started and on any IP address change (such as when changing networks).

Metrics

Check the metrics are exported on the port you specified.