[[network.host]]
=== `network.host`

By default, Elasticsearch binds to loopback addresses only -- e.g. `127.0.0.1`
and `[::1]`. This is sufficient to run a single development node on a server.

TIP: In fact, more than one node can be started from the same `$ES_HOME`
location on a single node.  This can be useful for testing Elasticsearch's
ability to form clusters, but it is not a configuration recommended for
production.

In order to form a cluster with nodes on other servers, your
node will need to bind to a non-loopback address. While there are many
<<modules-network,network settings>>, usually all you need to configure is
`network.host`:

[source,yaml]
--------------------------------------------------
network.host: 192.168.1.10
--------------------------------------------------

The `network.host` setting also understands some special values such as
`_local_`, `_site_`, `_global_` and modifiers like `:ip4` and `:ip6`, details of
which can be found in <<network-interface-values>>.

IMPORTANT: As soon as you provide a custom setting for `network.host`,
Elasticsearch assumes that you are moving from development mode to production
mode, and upgrades a number of system startup checks from warnings to
exceptions. See <<dev-vs-prod>> for more information.