Dynamic DNS

The web uses DNS to convert a URL to the ip address needed to actually navigate to the place on the internet that we want to go.
This is important if we want to be able to find the things that we are self hosting & making accessible on the internet.
However, most of us won't have the luxury of a single, static, IP address for our home - we will get one allocated from a bank of IP addresses that belong to the ISP.
Which means that <Home URL> could point at different IP addresses at different times.

There is a way around this:
Point <Home URL> at a server which is updated to point at the IP address that you are using at this moment. (Well, typically you would update it every 5 minutes). This is a dynamic DNS service & you can get them for free. 😊👍

Here are a few options (there are plenty more, these ones are free):
Duckdns.org
FreeDNS
No IP

You'll only need the one dynamic DNS domain if, like me, you have an actual domain registered (even though the domain you own doesn't have dynamic updating. See the next post for info on CNAMEs, & then the post on Inadyn (to keep the DNS up to date with your home's actual IP address)