Moving to a new house, or upgrading from your ISP's terrible combo-router to a nice mesh Wi-Fi system? Unplugging the LocalNode and moving it to a new network requires a few configuration updates.
Overview
The LocalNode gets its network identity (IP address) from the router it is plugged into. If your old router handed out addresses starting with 192.168.1.X, and your new router uses 10.0.0.X, the LocalNode will seamlessly adapt, but some of your advanced apps might need to be pointed to the new address.
Step 1: Understanding Subnet Changes
Before you unplug the LocalNode, check what kind of IP addresses your new router hands out.
- If both the old and new routers use the same subnet (e.g., both use
192.168.1.X), the move will be completely flawless. - If they use different subnets (e.g., old was
192.168.1.X, new is 10.0.0.X), the LocalNode will get a new IP address.
Step 2: Connecting the LocalNode
- Unplug the power and ethernet from the LocalNode.
- Plug the ethernet into a LAN port on the new router.
- Plug in the power. Wait 3 minutes for it to boot.
- Open a browser on your laptop (which is connected to the new Wi-Fi) and navigate to
http://localnode.local.
If the dashboard loads, the server successfully negotiated a new IP address with the new router!
⚠️ Warning: If the dashboard does not load, you must find the LocalNode's new IP address. Log into your new router's admin panel, look at the "Attached Devices" list, find the "localnode" device, and type that IP address directly into your browser.
Step 3: Fixing AdGuard and WireGuard
Because the LocalNode has a new IP address, any device pointing to the old IP address will fail.
Fixing AdGuard Home:
If you set your old router to use the LocalNode for DNS ad-blocking, you must log into the new router and configure its DNS settings to point to the LocalNode's new IP address. If you manually set the DNS on your iPhone, you must update the iPhone settings to the new IP address.
Fixing WireGuard VPN:
- You must log into your new router and set up the Port Forwarding rule again (UDP Port 51820 pointing to the LocalNode's new IP).
- If your home internet provider changed (meaning your public IP changed), you must update your DuckDNS IP, or update the Endpoint IP in the WireGuard app on your phone.
Next Steps
Need help? Email hello@localnode.tech or visit localnode.tech/contact.