[tor-onions] Use onion-like domains for a regular websites and DynDNS

Thu Jul 28 00:07:05 UTC 2022

Hey Sergey,

I think your Idea is really interesting, however I do have a small comment.

You create the hidden service on the Yurt installation (ex. 
yurtc329rc231[...].onion) and the corresponding DynDNS entry (ex. 
yurtc329rc231[...].jkl.mn). Now what if the user does not have 
Port-Forwarding set up? This would result in the DynDNS entry pointing 
to the public IP of the user to not work, whilst the .onion service does 
work, as Tor does not care much about NAT. This may make for a confusing 
user experience - especially since you want to be the NextCloud for 
inexperienced users. Do you intend on doing something about that? A 
possible solution would be to have the DynDNS server test connectivity, 
and if no connectivity is found the .jkl.mn domain points to some kind 
of clearnet->tor reverse-proxy. This way the data would simply be routed 
over Tor if the port forward is faulty.

I do however have to say: The Idea is great and definitely possible. 
Also I think this is a very important project for the future of easy 
self-hosting, as other FOSS-projects may benefit from using and adapting 
the code you write for Yurt-DynDNS! I'll definitely need to follow this 
project.

Have a nice day,*
Kevin Kandlbinder*
</kevin at kevink.dev/>

Am 29.06.2022 um 20:35 schrieb Sergey Ponomarev:
> Hello the Tor Community,
>
> I have a proposition to build a DynDNS server that will host
> onion-like addresses for regular websites. And I'll appreciate any
> feedback, opinions and thoughts on this.
>
> I am working on a YurtPage which is a small home page server and kind
> of light version of NextCloud for inexperienced users.
> Some users already have an IP static or dynamic so their site can be
> directly accessed from the Internet.
> But still they need a domain to be independent from IP changes.
> Unfortunately domains are controlled by the DNS mafia and they cost
> money.
> The NameCoin's .bit domains are cool but they cost money too.
>
> So for users I'll implement a Dynamic DNS (DynDNS) so that they'll
> automatically receive a subdomain of mine's jkl.mn site like
> SomeonesYurt.jkl.mn
> And the user's homepage will send ping to jkl.mn so it can detect the
> public IP and update a DNS record.
>
> The problem is that I don't want to have a responsibility to host the
> DynDNS service. I may forget to renew its domain or hosting, or its
> server dies or I may die.
> And I decided to generate an onion-like address so they'll look like
> http://jklmnyiyjnwfc6aklubg45o4hbkvz5uu47hcwjinbihi4shcucq5aiid.jkl.mn/
>
> I see a few advantages:
> * In case the jkl.mn disappears users may install a Tor Onion Service
> and visitors can still open the site by replacing jkl.mn to .onion in
> links. I'm going to install the Tor Service by default.
> * I don't need to store a database: a homepage may just sign its
> request with a private key and the DynDNS can check it and update a
> DNS record.
> * Yes, the address is not possible to remember but anyone can save a
> bookmark or use google to find it. Instead I'll not have
> cybersquatters who took all the good domains. Anyone can buy a domain
> and use CNAME if they wish.
>
> What do you think about this idea? Will it work?
> I created a project to develop it
> https://github.com/yurt-page/dyndns-onion  but decided to consult with
> you first.
>
> To go further I think that the remaining problems may also be solved easily.
>
> Volontiers may start their own DynDNS servers and exchange the records
> with each other.
> The homepage sends a Ticket to any DynDNS server. The Ticket is just
> an encrypted IP and timestamp and anybody can decrypt it with the
> public key from the domain. The ticket with last time is considered as
> actual and every DynDNS server may return its IP.
> Here may be used other technologies like DHT for a quicker lookup and
> to be independent if the jkl.mn domain disappears.
> Similarly to a .bit TLD we may have .dyn that are free to anyone. But
> unlike .onion domains the .dyn domains are not anonymous and lookups
> are not blocked on DNS level and can be answered by any.
>
> I'm not an expert in DNS and TOR so please tell me if the idea is
> worth implementing.
>
> Regards,
> Sergey Ponomarev stokito.com
> _______________________________________________
> tor-onions mailing list
> tor-onions at lists.torproject.org
> https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-onions
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