> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.skale.space/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Changing Node IP

> Explores how to handle management of IP addresses with SKALE Nodes.

<Warning>
  You can't change your node IP address at this time. What is possible is to remove the node with the incorrect/old IP address and
  register a new node under the correct/new IP while keeping the old SGX key. Please contact the core team before proceeding for further guidance.
</Warning>

It is recommended to use a **permanent IP that can dynamically point to a node's machine IP (for example, elastic IP)** so you can update machines
if needed without having to change the IP recorded in SKALE Manager during node registration.

<Warning>
  If you must change your node IP in SKALE Manager, you must perform a node exit and re-registration between the time after getBounty is called and before 72 hours (3 days) elapses in the next month.
  Also, performing a node exit could be expensive to the node operator if it's currently supporting SKALE Chains.
</Warning>

To perform a node exit, and register a new machine and IP:

<Steps>
  1. Be sure to backup SKALE Node and SGX Wallet.
  2. Be sure you have your SGX Backup key.
  3. Execute `skale exit start` on the exiting node during the time window between getBounty and 72 hours from the UTC start of the month.
  4. Verify the exit process by executing `skale exit status`. (You don't need to wait for exit to finalize)
  5. Create a new node machine (`skale node init .env`, `skale wallet info`).
  6. From the old machine, move your node address funds to the new node wallet address `skale wallet send [new_address] [amount]`.
  7. Unlink the old node address `sk-val validator unlink-address [OLD_NODE_ADDRESS] `
  8. Link the new node to the validator ID `skale node signature [VALIDATOR_ID]`, `sk-val validator link-address [NEW_NODE_ADDRESS] [NEW_NODE_SIGNATURE]`
  9. Register the node with under the new IP `skale node register --name [NODE_NAME] --ip [NODE_IP] --port [PORT]`.
</Steps>

To perform a node exit, keep the original node machine and its data and update the IP, follow these steps (NOT RECOMMENDED):

<Steps>
  1. Perform the general node exit procedure steps 1 and 2 above.
  2. Be sure you have securely saved the sgx\_key\_name before moving to step 3.
  3. Remove .skale directory, remove all old containers, volumes, etc
  4. Do skale node init again.
  5. Go to `~/.skale/node_data/node_config.json` and replace `sgx_key_name` field with the old one.
  6. Link the node to the validator ID again.
  7. Register node with a new IP.
</Steps>