I run this Web site without a static IP address. I registered an address at DynDNS.org which, as long as I keep it updated, keeps me on the 'Net.

In the past I've used a Windows-based program to keep my address updated. But the hard drive in that Windows box took leave of its life a few days ago. Somehow my IP address didn't change for a few days, but then my DSL modem fell off the 'Net.

Then I found setup instructions for Debian and Dyndns, which solved that problem. There's a Dyndns client in Debian now, which this document explains, so now my Web server can keep itself online without any help from a Windows box and without me writing any nasty code.

Now, I haven't tested this theory, but I suspect one could use DynDNS plus DHCP or PPPoE to run a Web site with a registered domain name without paying the extra monthly fee for a static IP address. The trick would be to set up your registered name's DNS record as a CNAME to your DynDNS name.

Setting up the DNS records is left as an exercise to the reader, mostly because my understanding of it is good enough for me to do it myself, but not to explain it--when I've tried in the past, all I've succeeded in doing was confusing both of us.