# Local-Network Only Discourse

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/local-network-only-discourse/289569>\
**Category:** Self-hosting\
**Created:** [December 22, 2023, 7:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/local-network-only-discourse/289569 "2023-12-22T19:03:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1

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**Author:** ![red2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/red2/32/350459_2.png) [@red2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/red2)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 7:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/local-network-only-discourse/289569/1 "2023-12-22T19:03:33Z")

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Hello, I am interested in creating a Discourse forum for use at one location on one network. This is because the forum does not need to be (nor should it be) accessible externally. I’ve seen couple of topics which sound like people are trying to set up something similar to this, but there is a lack of concise answers.  
Essentially, my questions are as follows:

- How would my installation differ from the [default installation](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/main/docs/INSTALL-cloud.md) if I do not want to create a “cloud server” or connect to the internet? (Assuming a local machine with fresh installation of Ubuntu)
- Do I still need a domain name and mail service? If so, I don’t understand why I can’t simply connect to the local machine running Discourse using the local IP.
- Is Discourse even the right tool for the job? I like how the site is laid out and have used Discourse communities, but if this doesn’t make sense as an internal communication tool then I will look elsewhere.

Thank you

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