New UI node name

In the new UI for setting up a node, is there a reason why I can no longer use underscore for node name ?
All my old devices have underscores in the name

See this post for an explination:

I had not noticed the change. Thankfully all my old nodes with underscores work with my router.

And if you still really want to use them see Otto’s work-around:

Thanks, I have no issue with dashes, just wondered why. My old ones seem to work ok with my UDM pro. I assume I don’t need to recreate them all with dashes if they work ok ? or will they stop working in the future ? I’ll keep an eye on the thread above

The UDM Pro like my ERX support underscores in mDNS names, but that is not in the RFC, so we’re just lucky Ubiquiti chose to implement this.

All routers support dashes though, so I can see why the ESPHome devs are preferring they be used to prevent issues with other routers.

Unless Ubiquiti have a change of heart and remove underscores from their mDNS server we’re ok. Actually even then we should be good if using static IP addresses for the ESPHome nodes.

Ah OK I see. Over time I might migrate over as and when I need to do any updates. I’ve used static IPs in all my ESP configs.

I assume the easiest way is to copy the config, delete the node, create a new node, paste back in, change the name and upload ? or is there an easier way ?

It worked OK in my old Netgear router as well

You would also have to delete the ESPHome device from Home Assistant and add it back after renaming in ESPHome. Or Home Assistant would likely complain about the integration not generating unique ids. Or produce a bunch of duplicate sensors.

It’s too much work for me to bother.

I wish I had known a month ago when I moved to a new network and re-did all my esp nodes.
Never mind I’ll leave it as well until I need to change it.

Hmm, maybe the hyphens would be converted to underscores by Home Assistant. Not sure. I’ll ask the clever folk over on the ESPHome Discord server if the devices need to be deleted and report back.

Just tried this - You can do it by renaming the YAML in ESPHOME directory, editing the YAML and changing the name and then uploading from the dashboard. Existing HA integration works.
New folder is created with src in, delete the old one.
I guess you could do the above and then do Update All

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No issues with duplicates in the entities list or non unique ids reported in the HA error log?

No, all works as it did

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Nice. Thanks.