No-IP (Vitalwerks LLC) is a domain and host service provider. No-IP offers DNS services, DDNS, email, network monitoring and SSL certificates. Email services include

POP3 In computing, the Post Office Protocol (POP) is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a mail server. POP version 3 (POP3) is the version in common use, and along with IMAP the most common p ...

SMTP The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is an Internet standard communication protocol for electronic mail transmission. Mail servers and other message transfer agents use SMTP to send and receive mail messages. User-level email clients typical ...

, mail backup services, mail reflection and filtering.

History

No-IP was launched in October 2000 offering free

dynamic DNS Dynamic DNS (DDNS) is a method of automatically updating a name server in the Domain Name System (DNS), often in real time, with the active DDNS configuration of its configured hostnames, addresses or other information. The term is used to desc ...

and

URL redirection URL redirection, also called URL forwarding, is a World Wide Web technique for making a web page available under more than one URL address. When a web browser attempts to open a URL that has been redirected, a page with a different URL is opened ...

. Users were able to create a sub-domain under a few domains owned by No-IP. In May 2000, Vitalwerks Internet Solutions, LLC was formed as the parent company of No-IP. In January 2001 No-IP began offering paid managed DNS services which allowed users to set up dynamic DNS using their own domain name. Later that year, they began to offer email services. They began reselling domain names in 2002 and in 2006 became an

ICANN The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is an American multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces ...

accredited

registrar A registrar is an official keeper of records made in a register. The term may refer to: Education * Registrar (education), an official in an academic institution who handles student records * Registrar of the University of Oxford, one of the se ...

. No-IP was subsequently featured in

MacUser ''MacUser'' was a monthly (formerly biweekly) computer magazine published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. and licensed by Felden in the UK. It ceased publication in 2015. In 1985 Felix Dennis’ Dennis Publishing, the creators of MacUser in the UK, l ...

in 2004 and

PCMag ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...

in 2005.

Technology and services

No-IP provides

services. A basic one is provided free to use as long as the user refreshes their access from time to time, thus keeping it active. Upgrades to the DDNS comes from purchases. Dynamic IP addresses are common on residential cable or DSL broadband accounts, and the typical users of DDNS would be the users of these types of internet connections. The service allows users to create up to three hostnames on a No-IP domain. Software clients are provided for Windows, OS X, and Linux which allows the DDNS to connect with these OSes. More often, however, routers are used in such a DDNS configurations. Most open-source firmware distributions, such as

OpenWrt OpenWrt (from ''open wireless router'') is an open-source project for embedded operating systems based on Linux, primarily used on embedded devices to route network traffic. The main components are Linux, util-linux, musl, and BusyBox. All com ...

and

DD-WRT DD-WRT is Linux-based firmware for wireless routers and access points. Originally designed for the Linksys WRT54G series, it now runs on a wide variety of models. DD-WRT is one of a handful of third-party firmware projects designed to replace ...

, include DDNS in their downloadable packages, but OpenWrt requires an extra package for No-IP specifically.

Microsoft legal action and controversy

On 19 June 2014,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

launched an

ex parte In law, ''ex parte'' () is a Latin term meaning literally "from/out of the party/faction of" (name of party/faction, often omitted), thus signifying "on behalf of (name)". An ''ex parte'' decision is one decided by a judge without requiring all ...

legal action against No-IP, requesting that Microsoft be given control of 22 of No-IP's domain names. This was granted without notifying No-IP on 26 June 2014, and Microsoft began redirecting domain traffic to their

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

. According to No-IP this affected malicious and non malicious users alike, despite Microsoft's erroneous statement of intent to the contrary. Legitimate users of the service were also diverted to the Microsoft sinkhole. Backlash to the confiscation however led to Microsoft returning the domains to No-IP.

References

External links

*
How Microsoft Appointed Itself Sheriff of the Internet
- Wired, Robert McMillan, 16 October 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:No-Ip Alternative Internet DNS services Dynamic DNS Internet properties established in 2000

History

Technology and services

Microsoft legal action and controversy

See also

References

External links