Dynamic DNS

After running PiVPN for a while you may notice that you are unable to connect anymore. This may be due to your Public IP being changed. You then have a dilema, in order to connect to your VPN you need to known the IP; however you can't get that information unless you are on your internal network.

The solution comes through Dynamic DNS. Which will automatically update an A record on a specific domain name allowing you to always connect.

There are several DynamicDNS providers, some free some not. This tutorial will cover DuckDNS however the same principles can apply to other providers.

DuckDNS

1. Head to DuckDNS and Sign In with an account.
2. Head to DuckDNS/Subdomains and register a subdomain name. It can be whatever you like.
3. Head to DuckDNS/Install and select Linux CRON and your domain name and follow the install instructions; you can run this on the same Raspberry Pi that you run PiVPN. You should end up with a file and cronjob running at ~/duckdns/duck.sh
4. Once you've installed the script you need to change your configuration files and your setup variables.
   1. configs - Within each configuration file change the Endpoint line from your old ip to your new domain name. Most likely [].duckdns.org
   2. setupVars - Changing the values here will mean next time you create a client they'll have the new dynamic dns.
      1. Change directory using cd to /etc/pivpn/wireguard and open the file setupVars.conf in your favourite text editor (you may need sudo), e.g. sudo nano setupVars.conf.
      2. Change the pivpnHOST value to your new domain name.
5. Enjoy. You now have a dynamic dns setup on your raspberry pi ensuring that you can always connect to your VPN.