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Is it possible to have a usable domain without a VPS or a static IP address? (pawb.social)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by Inkstainthebat@pawb.social to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

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I've been thinking about finally getting myself a proper domain for my server, but a friend told me that to get one I either need a VPS with a public ip (which just takes all the fun out of selfhosting) or purchase a static ip, which is beyond what I'm willing to spend for a hobby. Do I have any good options or should I just let it go?

Also, if this isn't the correct community for this, I'd appreciate being pointed to the right one, thank you

Update: after reading the comments the two main options I'm considering now are either a cheap VPS to use as proxy for my network via wireguard, or DynamicDNS. I'll see if I can figure out the rest from here, thank you!

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[–] tburkhol@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

If you only need it to be accessible inside your home, then you just need to run your own DNS. Have your dhcp point at your DNS and your DNS declare itself the master for your domain.

To get full functionality, you'll probably want to have your registrar point to the public IP you get from your ISP as the domain's authoritative name server.You should be able to script it to update the registrar when your ISP changes your IP, but that usually happens infrequently enough to do manually. Obviously can't do that if you're behind CGNAT.

To get Lets Encrypt certificates, you can do the DNS challenge. If your ISP gives you a (even inconsistent) public IP, you can do fancy 'views' with your selfhosted DNS, where it responds with private IPs inside your network and your ISP-given IP outside your network. I have certbot set up to expose my DNS & web server just before it starts its renewal process, then close the firewall after. Once you have the certificate, you can move it to where ever it will actually be used.