<p>I don't know what the design decisions were that led to this, or their rationale, but:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Particularly if you run a MAINNET node and a TESTNET node on the same machine, how would the host know which incoming traffic is intended for which node?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It's not possible to run two services on the same IP with the same port. If you want to run both a mainnet and a testnet node, at least one of them will need to run on a non-default port. Apart from needing configuration to change the port on one of them, this shouldn't be a big deal.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-26T19:16:50.497Z
2022-02-27T14:16:39.680Z
2022-02-27T14:16:39.680Z
Pieter Wuille
<p>I don't know why was made in this manner but if you wanna run both nodes (mainnet &amp; testnet) in this particular port you could use tor hidden services.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-26T23:05:33.893Z
2022-02-26T23:05:33.893Z
6eer
<p>The default port for the Lightning Network is 9735. This is the case not only for nodes on MAINNET, but also for nodes on TESTNET.</p>
<p>Why is that? What's the purpose of this? Wouldn't it make more sense to use different ports for the different networks?</p>
<p>Particularly if you run a MAINNET node and a TESTNET node on the same machine, how would the host know which incoming traffic is intended for which node?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-26T20:08:56.107Z
Which implementation are you using? c-lightning has merged different ports for mainnet/testnet but it hasn't made it into a release yet. (It also hasn't made it into the BOLTs yet) https://github.com/ElementsProject/lightning/pull/4900
Michael Folkson
<lightning-network><testnet><port>
Port 9735 for both MAINNET and TESTNET
Dalit Sairio
# Port 9735 for both MAINNET and TESTNET

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-02-26)

The default port for the Lightning Network is 9735. This is the case not only for nodes on MAINNET, but also for nodes on TESTNET.

Why is that? What's the purpose of this? Wouldn't it make more sense to use different ports for the different networks?

Particularly if you run a MAINNET node and a TESTNET node on the same machine, how would the host know which incoming traffic is intended for which node?

**Tags:** lightning-network, testnet, port

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Which implementation are you using? c-lightning has merged different ports for mainnet/testnet but it hasn't made it into a release yet. (It also hasn't made it into the BOLTs yet) https://github.com/ElementsProject/lightning/pull/4900  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2022-02-26. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

I don't know what the design decisions were that led to this, or their rationale, but:

> Particularly if you run a MAINNET node and a TESTNET node on the same machine, how would the host know which incoming traffic is intended for which node?

It's not possible to run two services on the same IP with the same port. If you want to run both a mainnet and a testnet node, at least one of them will need to run on a non-default port. Apart from needing configuration to change the port on one of them, this shouldn't be a big deal.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2022-02-26. Score: 0

I don't know why was made in this manner but if you wanna run both nodes (mainnet & testnet) in this particular port you could use tor hidden services.


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