The first thing to do of course if you haven't already is to get yourself an account with DynDNS.org. Signing up is FREE, and so are the services we are going to use here - there are other options which you can pay for.

Creating an account is really self-explanatory and I wont go into it here (you can ask me in the forums if you get stuck and I will add it to this tutorial upon request). An account is just that, a presence on the DynDNS system, after that you need to configure the account - add options and information in order to point the domain name to your server. Without such information, your web server can not be connected to from external users.

• Log in to your Account and select 'My Services'
• From the nav menu , select 'Add Host Services'
• If you have a dynamic IP address that changes you need to click on 'Add Dynamic DNS Host'
• If you have a static IP address that never changes, click on 'Add Static DNS Host'
• Whether 'Dynamic' or 'Static' you now need to add your preferred top level domain name - e.g - 'yoursite' . Do NOT add .com or anything else in this box.
• Now choose the DynDNS extension address for this domain. Use the drop-down box and choose one you like - e.g - 'dnsalias.com'
• In the IP address box, type in the IP address of the public network side of your computer or router. This will be the IP address assigned to you by your ISP and will NOT be a private network address such as 192.168.0.1 nor 10.0.0.1 etc. Check with your ISP or check your network connection properties to obtain the correct address.
• Tick the checkbox next to 'Enable Wildcard' - This ensures your site is reachable if 'http://www.yoursite.dnsalias.com' or 'http://yoursite.dnsalias.com' is used. (With or without 'www')
• Click the 'Add Host' button to save changes.

Thats about it, your site should soon be ready to start receiving visitors when they type in the URL you have chosen - the above example would be reachable by typing in 'www.yoursite.dnsalias.com' .

Such is the nature of the DNS system, you should allow time for this domain name to be propagated through the internet and could be 24 hrs before your site is reachable, although it is usually sooner than that.

This tutorial is complete enough to get your site seen on the internet. There is more to come, such as pointing a bought 'proper' domain name to your DynDNS account. This will then mean a URL such as 'www.yoursite.com' will point to 'www.yoursite.dnsalias.com' which in turn points to your web server - therefore 'www.yoursite.com' will be the address that people will use to get to your home server.