[Web4lib] IP address changes

[James M. Gilbert]

Prior to authenticating the entire range, ask Comcast whom that range may be
issued to - you would in effect allow others in that range to authenticate
as well.
 
If you need the static IP - approach Comcast about that possibility. It
can't hurt to explain why you need it (databases, etc). 


James M. Gilbert
Systems Librarian
Whitehall Township Public Library
3700 Mechanicsville Road
Whitehall, PA 18052
610-432-4339

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Will Kurt
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 2:00 PM
To: lcohn at bplnj.org; web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] IP address changes

An import issue that I'm not entirely clear on from your email is what you
need a static ip for.  If you have databases that authenticate by IP, then
even if you are able to find your current ip address it's going to be a pain
to have to constantly update the database vendors that this has happened, it
would be much better to see if they could authenticate the entire range that
your dynamic IPs fall under (I believe that this actually shouldn't be too
large, but Comcast would know better).

If you need a static IP for things like running a test webserver (which
violate certain isp's TOS), or connecting remotely via ssh etc than I
recommend a free service like <http://www.dyndns.com/>http://www.dyndns.com/
which will do DNS for dynamic IPs. You get a pretty generic domain name
which will always redirect you to the correct ip address.  Also it would be
very trivial to quickly write a shell/batch script that routinely ping'd
this host.
In windows just create a schedule task that runs essentially this 'ping
myhost.dynamicDNS.org > ipfile.txt'
and ipfile.txt will always have your current ip.

--Will



At 12:28 PM 12/7/2007, L Cohn wrote:

>I was told by the man who fixes our computers that we have a free 
>Comcast line and so the IP address of our library computers will change 
>every so often.  His answer to my next question was no, but I"m hoping 
>someone out there might have an idea for me.
>
>Instead of trying to log in to our online databases from inside the 
>library and finding out after the fact that our IP addresses have 
>changed, I was wondering if there was any way for me to be notified 
>automatically when our IP addresses have changed or are about to 
>change.  Any ideas?
>
>Thanks,
>Lisa
>
>------------------------------------
>Lisa Cohn, ILL, WebMaster,  Reference
>Bloomfield Public Library,  bplnj.org
>90 Broad Street, Bloomfield, NJ 07003
>   (973-566-6200x217, lcohn at bplnj.org
>------------------------------------
>
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