# How many relay nodes are there in the ipfs network? How can I become a relay node?
**URL:** https://discuss.ipfs.tech/t/how-many-relay-nodes-are-there-in-the-ipfs-network-how-can-i-become-a-relay-node/15565
**Category:** Protocol
**Tags:** go-ipfs
**Created:** [November 24, 2022, 3:55am UTC](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/t/how-many-relay-nodes-are-there-in-the-ipfs-network-how-can-i-become-a-relay-node/15565 "2022-11-24T03:55:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@fanhai](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/u/fanhai)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2022, 3:55am UTC](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/t/how-many-relay-nodes-are-there-in-the-ipfs-network-how-can-i-become-a-relay-node/15565/1 "2022-11-24T03:55:16Z")
[specs/autonat at master ยท libp2p/specs (github.com)](https://github.com/libp2p/specs/tree/master/autonat#readme)
In order to prevent attacks like the one described in [RFC 3489, Section 12.1.1](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3489#section-12.1.1) (see excerpt below), implementations MUST NOT dial any multiaddress unless it is based on the IP address the requesting node is observed as. This restriction as well implies that implementations MUST NOT accept dial requests via relayed connections as one can not validate the IP address of the requesting node.
How many relay nodes are there in the ipfs network? How can I become a relay node?
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### Author:  [@danieln](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/u/danieln)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2022, 1:46pm UTC](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/t/how-many-relay-nodes-are-there-in-the-ipfs-network-how-can-i-become-a-relay-node/15565/2 "2022-11-24T13:46:40Z")
More background here:
> **[Hole punching in libp2p - Overcoming Firewalls](https://blog.ipfs.tech/2022-01-20-libp2p-hole-punching/)**
>
> All the latest information about the IPFS Project in one place: blog posts, release notes, videos, news coverage, and more.
and
>
As of Kubo 0.13, circuit relay v2 is enabled by default: [https://github.com/ipfs/kubo/releases/tag/v0.13.0](https://github.com/ipfs/kubo/releases/tag/v0.13.0)