Can I set-up an .com domain with apache on a personal server with dynamic ip?

Question

I work as a software developer and I would like to set-up a small personal server for myself on home. I don't have a lot of network knowledge and I tough it would be a good idea to ask here first.

Is there a way to set-up a website using apache with a .com domain and be visible from outside?

My internet provider has a thing named dynamic DNS that gives me a domain so I don't need to look-up for my IP every time my router restarts or something else happens.

I want to run small applications on my server, node.js, python, java, etc. Of course, dynamic DNS is good enough for these but I also want to run a full website with a domain.

My server would run Microsoft Windows Server 2012.

I wanna know if this is possible and if the answer is yes a little guidance on what should I look for. I also tried to search over the internet but I get a lot of articles with domains used to authenticate on computers or something like that.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Yes, this is achievable and all you'd need to do is create a CNAME record in your .com admin console to point to your DDNS domain name.

I've never tried it but I wonder if you may have bproblems where typing your .com address may redirect to your ddns domain name in the browser.

Alternatively, to ensure your domain name remains the same in the browser you could create an A Record to point your www.example.com domain name to your ISp public IP. The only downside of this is if your IP changes you'll need to change it in your .com domain name registrar control panel each time so that it correctly points to your latest IP.

See the answer here: https://serverfault.com/questions/65712/using-cname-to-point-to-another-domain-to-save-ip-addresses

Finally: Could you ask your ISP if they can provide you a static or sticky IP?