When is a static IP not static? Easy enough to answer - when it changes!
I pay for a static (unchanging) IP address as part of the business internet cable service for Artisan Radio. I've had the station down for a few days making changes to the computer it runs on - when I brought it back up today, lo and behold, I typed in www.artisanradio.com and the browser just hung there and eventually errored out.
Well, after spending a bit of time checking things I finally went and looked at the IP address being assigned to my router - it had changed! So the DNS service that I subscribe to was pointing everyone attempting to access the website somewhere else.
A few quick keystrokes, changing the IP for the DNS servers and we were back in business.
So, lesson learned. Never rely on the 'static' adjective applied to your IP address.
[ISP's generally do not guarantee that even static IP addresses will NOT change, but they are supposed to inform you when they do].
Internet Service Providers lie by SOP (Standard Operating Procedure).
With my bundled telephone service I asked twide, "I don't want call waiting and I want to be unlisted." But every since that time I am listed and have call waiting.
When the guy installed the internet I asked, "is it a dynamic IP address?"
He said, "It's a static IP address." That wasn't true, based on the fact that the address changed.
Trying to confront them about their lies is like trying to talk a sink hole out of sinking.
You might request a hostname that doesn't change.
Something similar to h51.static.yourisp.c o m.
Then set your DNServers to tell the browser to look for the A record (your IP address) First.
When the browser fails to find a host at your A record, have it then look at the CName record pointing to h51.static.yourisp.c o m.
So it might look like:
NS1.DNS.c o m points to your static IP
NS2.DNS.c o m also points to your static IP
NS3.DNS.c o m points to a CNAME h51.static.yourisp.c o m.
NS4.DNS.c o m points to a CNAME h51.static.yourisp.c o m.
Provided things still work on a look first here, if not there then look here, if not there try over here... basis.
I quit relying upon static IP years ago and exclusively depend upon CNAME instead... but what works well for my limited purposes may not work for yours.
Your mileage may vary from mine.
I'm actually thinking of getting rid of the static IP. Most DNS providers support a protocol to programmatically change your IP address. I have an application I purchased for a nominal fee a while ago that periodically checks to see if your IP address has changed; if it has, it goes out and changes it at the DNS provider. Probably good enough, considering that even dynamic IP addresses are usually not all that dynamic.
For several years I've been using Dyn Updater from dyn.com
They assign me a choice of "names" which become my "internet address for my radio streams" and Dyn Updater continuously resets everytime the numeric IP address changes.
The service was free for a long time... I think they still have a free service. But I depend on it so much I upgraded to a low cost version.
I have my own domain name. The software that I use is called DynSite - it works very well, but I don't know if they're even around any more.
Still around. 🙂