DDNS (inadyn) syntax for multiple host support & wildcards

[sanbop]

I'm happy to see that in 384.7+, Asuswrt-Merlin uses a new DDNS client (inadyn) that adds SSL support (and much more).

With that said I have noticed a couple of annoyances (using version 384.8_2)

1. Updating multiple hosts is not as simple as just separating the hosts with commas in the UI ("Host Name" field under DDNS), as before.
   E.g. setting that field to something like

   a1.example.com,a2.example.com

   no longer works. Instead one has to use the multi-host syntax of inadyn, e.g.:

   { "a1.example.com", "a2.example.com" }

   Once set that way, it seems to work, however in the UI the double quotes get HTML-escaped, e.g. as follows:

   { &#34a1.example.com&#34, &#34a2.example.com&#34 }

   Consequently when one saves this form again the value gets mangled, and DDNS will no longer work (due to a inadyn config syntax error):
   

   ...
   Jan  3 16:05:48 inadyn[20097]: In-a-dyn version 2.5 -- Dynamic DNS update client.
   Jan  3 16:05:48 inadyn[20097]: /etc/inadyn.conf:4: unexpected token '34a1.example.com", "a2.example.com" }'
   Jan  3 16:05:48 inadyn[20097]: Parse error in /etc/inadyn.conf
   Jan  3 16:05:48 syslog: Error code 74: Missing .conf file
   ...

2. Also note that the UI does not seem to allow starting a host name with double quotes (gives an error), which seems to be needed to properly set a wildcard domain request. This limitation might have been there in earlier versions too. (Also I have not tried using single quotes). The workaround is that when using multiple hosts (with the inadyn syntax) one can just start with '{', which seems acceptable.

Thanks and keep up the good work!

 

[RMerlin]

Updating multiple hosts is not as simple as just separating the hosts with commas in the UI

You should never had done so, because it messes everything else in the firmware where that field is expected to contain one and only one valid hostname, which gets used in locations such as the OpenVPN client config file. That was never supported. If you need to support multiple hostnames or services, then use a customized config file for the additional services.

 

[sanbop]

... If you need to support multiple hostnames or services, then use a customized config file for the additional services.

In version 384.8_2 adding multiple host entries in the UI using the inadyn syntax (with the quirks I described above) seems to work just fine - i.e. I don't have to use a customized config. I (now) understand that this is not supported and things are fragile and can break (e.g. if/when I update) - yet I still prefer it that way.
Thanks!

 

[RMerlin]

In version 384.8_2 adding multiple host entries in the UI using the inadyn syntax (with the quirks I described above) seems to work just fine - i.e. I don't have to use a customized config. I (now) understand that this is not supported and things are fragile and can break (e.g. if/when I update) - yet I still prefer it that way.
Thanks!

It might have seemed fine for you, but it broke other areas of the firmware that you simply weren't running across (i.e. exporting an OpenVPN client config, or generating a Let's Encrypt certificate).

 

[sanbop]

It might have seemed fine for you, but it broke other areas of the firmware that you simply weren't running across (i.e. exporting an OpenVPN client config, or generating a Let's Encrypt certificate).

If I ever plan to use those functions on my router I'll take that into consideration. Thanks!