Ubuntu: Use ddclient as a OpenDNS IP Updater

OpenDNS is that company that provides a free, alternative DNS service that works better than that of your Internet provider. While Windows and Mac users can use the aptly named OpenDNS Updater client to notify OpenDNS of their constantly changing dynamic IP address so they remain logged into to the DNS service, Ubuntu users need to try something else cause OpenDNS Updater has no builds for Linux, Ubuntu.

Though it was originally created for the dyndns DNS service, the open source ddclient can serve our purpose. Running in the background, it can periodically check your external IP address and send an update to OpenDNS if it changes.

Given that ddclient is already in your Ubuntu official repositories, install with
sudo apt-get install ddclient
Now when it comes to “Package configuration”, don’t bother to fill-in any information, that will be done manually.
We’ll have to configure the /etc/default/ddclient and /etc/ddclient.conf files manually.
sudo gedit /etc/default/ddclient
Modify yours to look like this
#
run_ipup="false"
# Set to "true" if ddclient should run in daemon mode
# If this is changed to true, run_ipup must be set to false.
run_daemon="true"
daemon_interval="300"
#
sudo gedit /etc/ddclient.conf
Modify yours to look like this
# /etc/ddclient.conf
ssl = yes
use = web, web = http://checkip.dyndns.org:8245
server=updates.opendns.com
protocol=dyndns2
login=your-opendns-username
password=your-opendns-password
your-opendns-network
#
That should get ddclient notifying the OpenDNS service that your external IP address has changed.