diff --git a/multinode-demo/client.sh b/multinode-demo/client.sh
index 10b6305de5..ef69e6de4e 100755
--- a/multinode-demo/client.sh
+++ b/multinode-demo/client.sh
@@ -1,15 +1,14 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 if [[ -z $1 ]]; then
-  printf 'usage: %s [network path to solana repo on leader machine] [number of nodes in the network if greater then 1]' "$0"
-  exit 1
+    echo "usage: $0 [network path to solana repo on leader machine] <number of nodes in the network>"
+    exit 1
 fi
 
 LEADER=$1
 COUNT=${2:-1}
 
-set -x
-rsync -v "$LEADER"/{leader.json,mint-demo.json} . || exit $?
+rsync -vz "$LEADER"/{leader.json,mint-demo.json} . || exit $?
 
 # if RUST_LOG is unset, default to info
 export RUST_LOG=${RUST_LOG:-solana=info}
diff --git a/multinode-demo/leader.sh b/multinode-demo/leader.sh
index 70a2bee217..2f7e8edbc5 100755
--- a/multinode-demo/leader.sh
+++ b/multinode-demo/leader.sh
@@ -1,14 +1,26 @@
 #!/bin/bash
+here=$(dirname $0)
+. "${here}"/myip.sh
+
+myip=$(myip) || exit $?
+
+[[ -f leader-"${myip}".json ]] || {
+  echo "I can't find a matching leader config file for \"${myip}\"...
+Please run ${here}/setup.sh first.
+"
+  exit 1
+}
 
 # if RUST_LOG is unset, default to info
 export RUST_LOG=${RUST_LOG:-solana=info}
 
-set -x
-[[ $(uname) = Linux ]] && sudo sysctl -w net.core.rmem_max=26214400
+[[ $(uname) = Linux ]] && sudo sysctl -w net.core.rmem_max=26214400 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null
 
-IPADDR="$(ifconfig | awk '/inet (addr)?/ {print $2}' | cut -d: -f2 | grep -v '127.0.0.1')"
-
-cp leader-"$IPADDR".json leader.json
+# this makes a leader.json file available alongside genesis, etc. for
+#  validators and clients
+cp leader-"${myip}".json leader.json
 
 cargo run --release --bin solana-fullnode -- \
-      -l leader.json < genesis.log tx-*.log > tx-"$(date -u +%Y%m%d%k%M%S%N)".log
+      -l leader-"${myip}".json \
+      < genesis.log tx-*.log \
+      > tx-"$(date -u +%Y%m%d%H%M%S%N)".log
diff --git a/multinode-demo/myip.sh b/multinode-demo/myip.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..084046026e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/multinode-demo/myip.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+function myip()
+{
+  declare ipaddrs=(
+    $(curl -s ifconfig.co)                             # query interwebs
+    $(ifconfig | awk '/inet(6)? (addr:)?/ {print $2}') # machine interfaces
+  )
+
+  if (( ! ${#ipaddrs[*]} ))
+  then
+      echo "
+myip: error: I'm having trouble determining what our IP address is...
+  Are we connected to a network?
+
+"
+      return 1
+  fi
+
+
+  declare prompt="
+Please choose the IP address you want to advertise to the network:
+
+   0) ${ipaddrs[0]} <====== this one was returned by the interwebs...
+"
+
+  for ((i=1; i < ${#ipaddrs[*]}; i++))
+  do
+    prompt+="   $i) ${ipaddrs[i]}
+"
+  done
+
+  while read -p "${prompt}
+please enter a number [0 for default]: " which
+  do
+    [[ -z ${which} ]] && break;
+    [[ ${which} =~ [0-9]+ ]] && (( which < ${#ipaddrs[*]} )) && break;
+    echo "Ug. invalid entry \"${which}\"...
+"
+    sleep 1
+  done
+
+  which=${which:-0}
+
+  echo "${ipaddrs[which]}"
+
+}
+
+if [[ ${0} == ${BASH_SOURCE[0]} ]]
+then
+    myip "$@"
+fi
diff --git a/multinode-demo/setup.sh b/multinode-demo/setup.sh
index 61b61ab27b..1f393782e3 100755
--- a/multinode-demo/setup.sh
+++ b/multinode-demo/setup.sh
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 #!/bin/bash
+here=$(dirname $0)
+. "${here}"/myip.sh
 
-TOKENS=${1:-1000000000}
+myip=$(myip) || exit $?
 
-cargo run --release --bin solana-mint-demo <<<"${TOKENS}" > mint-demo.json
+num_tokens=${1:-1000000000}
+
+cargo run --release --bin solana-mint-demo <<<"${num_tokens}" > mint-demo.json
 cargo run --release --bin solana-genesis-demo < mint-demo.json > genesis.log
 
-IPADDR="$(ifconfig | awk '/inet (addr)?/ {print $2}' | cut -d: -f2 | grep -v '127.0.0.1')"
-
-cargo run --release --bin solana-fullnode-config -- -d > leader-"$IPADDR".json
-cargo run --release --bin solana-fullnode-config -- -b 9000 -d > validator-"$IPADDR".json
+cargo run --release --bin solana-fullnode-config -- -d > leader-"${myip}".json
+cargo run --release --bin solana-fullnode-config -- -b 9000 -d > validator-"${myip}".json
diff --git a/multinode-demo/validator.sh b/multinode-demo/validator.sh
index 298f0c9825..499c42c86a 100755
--- a/multinode-demo/validator.sh
+++ b/multinode-demo/validator.sh
@@ -1,22 +1,30 @@
 #!/bin/bash
+here=$(dirname $0)
+. "${here}"/myip.sh
 
-if [[ -z $1 ]]; then
-  printf 'usage: %s [network path to solana repo on leader machine]\n' "$0"
+leader=$1
+
+[[ -z ${leader} ]] && {
+  echo "usage: $0 [network path to solana repo on leader machine]"
   exit 1
-fi
+}
 
-LEADER=$1
+myip=$(myip) || exit $?
 
-set -x
+[[ -f validator-"$myip".json ]] || {
+  echo "I can't find a matching validator config file for \"${myip}\"...
+Please run ${here}/setup.sh first.
+"
+  exit 1
+}
 
-rsync -v "$LEADER"/{mint-demo.json,leader.json,genesis.log,tx-*.log} . || exit $?
+rsync -vz "${leader}"/{mint-demo.json,leader.json,genesis.log,tx-*.log} . || exit $?
 
-[[ $(uname) = Linux ]] && sudo sysctl -w net.core.rmem_max=26214400
+[[ $(uname) = Linux ]] && sudo sysctl -w net.core.rmem_max=26214400 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null
 
 # if RUST_LOG is unset, default to info
 export RUST_LOG=${RUST_LOG:-solana=info}
 
-IPADDR="$(ifconfig | awk '/inet (addr)?/ {print $2}' | cut -d: -f2 | grep -v '127.0.0.1')"
-
 cargo run --release --bin solana-fullnode -- \
-    -l validator-"$IPADDR".json -v leader.json < genesis.log tx-*.log
+      -l validator-"${myip}".json -v leader.json \
+      < genesis.log tx-*.log