Redirection Service Configuration
- Important Note Regarding This Page
The information on this page pertains to yiPost and PostPro, which are clients for reporting to redirection services that were created by www.kvtek.com. These clients were tested, but are temporarily unavailable from their creator, who is actively seeking someone to take over his site. As a result, some of the links below may not be functional. This data remains available for those who already downloaded the client, and are seeking additional configuration instructions. Should this client again become available, this data will be updated, and will return to the primary page on redirection service configuration.
- Using Your Account With A Client
Clients are offered for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Unix platforms. They have all been developed by third parties, and while dyndns.org doesn't specifically recommend or guarantee their functionality, there is a rating system in the client listings for each platform, accessible from the Client Information Page so you can get an idea of how people felt about the performance of different clients when they tried them.
The client that was tested is yiPost 1.2, (version 1.2.3.1) which is reportedly compatible with Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000. There is no traditional installer for this program. You download a 139K .zip file, and it contains one item, which is yiPost.exe. Make a directory called yiPost in C:\Program Files, put yiPost.exe in it, and launch the program by double-clicking on yiPost.exe.
When you launch the program for the first time, you are presented with an Options panel. If you are using a dialup connection, click the IpDetection tab, and make sure "Update only when dialup connection is active" is selected, and click OK.
You are now presented with the "New Account" panel. The first entry on this panel is called "Service", and has a pull-down menu that includes DynDNS.org, yi.org, eyep.net, No-IP.com, and several other redirection services. For this test, DynDNS.org was selected, but it was nice to see that yiPost was designed to work with so many other services. After selecting the Service, enter your USERNAME and PASSWORD for the redirection service in the appropriate fields. If the service you use allows you to have a Hostname other than your username (which DynDNS.org does) then you also fill in the Hostname field. If the service you use allows a selection of domain names (which DynDNS.org does) then a small pull-down menu will allow you to select the right one. Then click OK.
At this point, yiPost will automatically update your redirection service. It will automatically check your IP address and update the database if needed every 10 minutes by default, although you can change the update frequency by clicking the Options button if you choose. It can handle multiple accounts if desired. The program can be minimized to the task bar with the standard minimize button, and there is a "Hide" button which will minimize it to the system tray. Most people will want to use the program in the default "Minimize to SysTray on Startup" mode, which can also be changed in the options section if desired.
For those who want to see what the program is doing, under File Menu, you can select View Today's Log to see a log of everything the program has done today. Logs from previous days can be found in the yiPost directory.
If you use your computer to run a server frequently, and want the program to launch when your computer starts and work quietly in the background, make a shortcut of the yiPost.exe file and place it in the C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp directory, and it will automatically launch when your computer starts up. Verify that "Minimize To SysTray on Startup" is selected in the Options section.
Note to AOL users: If the yiPost client isn't working for you, and you have an AOL connection that typically doesn't display your actual numeric IP address in the server's log window, click the "Options" button, then select the "IP Detection tab", and select "Detect Local IP Address".
- Client Update Information
The client yiPost 1.2.3.1 is in the process of being replaced by PostPro 1.3.0.4, which appears to be the same application with a new name and some bug fixes, and worked reliably when tested. The above information should apply to both applications. For additional information on either client, you can write to info@kvtek.com, or try the support message boards.
- Additional Information Regarding Static IP Addresses
A static IP address is a numeric IP address that does not change. Typically, cable modems and DSL connections have static IP addresses, as do some dialup accounts. Those with a static IP address do not have the problem of a having a Palace address that constantly changes, but they may still want to use a redirection service to have a domain name that is themed to their Palace. One thing to be aware of is that with a static IP address, your account will never need updating, but if 35 days transpire and you don't update the database, your account will expire. Expiration times may vary at other redirection services. From the dyndns FAQ:
Q: How often can/should I update my hostname?
A: A Dynamic DNS hostname only needs to be updated when your IP address has changed. Any updates more frequently than this - from the same IP address - will be considered abusive by the update system and may result in your hostname becoming blocked. Any script which runs periodically should check to make sure that the IP has actually changed before making an update, or the host will become blocked. An exception to this is for users with mostly static IP addresses; you may update 24-35 days after your previous update with the same IP address to "touch" the record and prevent it from expiring. Users will receive an e-mail notification if a host has been unchanged for 33 days, hosts are deleted after 35 days of idle time.
The feature list for the yiPost client indicates that one of its features as of version 1.0 is:
Forces update after 25 days. If your IP did not change in 25 days yiPost will force the update of all accounts to prevent them from being deactivated by services.
Although this particular feature wasn't tested as part of this review, it seems there may be an advantage to using a client even if you have a static IP address.
- Summary
Other redirection services and clients may have more or less options, or be considered better or worse for various reasons. This isn't meant as an advertisement for any particular free service or client, but is just a collection of comments about what seems to be working well for me, in case it might also work well for others.
- Additional Resources
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