Why would I need HA DuckDns if I set up my subdomain at DuckDNS?

Configuration
1

I guess I am overlooking something simple, but I can’t figure out the need for DuckDNS Home Assistant add-on after I have created DuckDNS subdomain and set up port forwarding. I did the following:

  1. Created my sub-domain at duckdns.org, e.g. my-home-assistant and assigned my public IP.
  2. Set up port forwarding on my router for the internal IP address

Now if I enter http://my-home-assistant.duckdns.org:8123 in my browser, I can access my HA installation remotely. So what’s the purpose of HA DuckDns add-on, isn’t what I did sufficient?

Thanks in advance

Vagif

2

the duckdns add-on will handle letsencrypt certificates including alias domain names.

Also, not all routers support dyndns providers or you might not have access to your router.

EDIT: OK, not having access to the router also makes enabling nat access difficult

1 Like
3

The add-on does two things:

  1. It keeps your DuckDNS hostname up to date when your WAN IP changes
  2. It supports getting an SSL certificate from LetsEncrypt

If you have a static IP you don’t need the first and the second can be handled by the LetsEncrypt add-on.

1 Like
4

Thank you, makes sense.

5

Thank you for the answer. I didn’t think about encryption aspect of it. Now it’s clear.