Changing hostname in Linux

Background

Before the invention of DNS, your computer’s hostname was managed through the HOSTS file located at /etc/hosts. Anytime that a new computer was connected to your local network, all other computers on the network needed to add the new machine into the /etc/hosts file in order to communicate over the network.

Hostnames are the designations by which we separate systems into easily recognizable assets.

This is optional, but we can check the current status: Show current system hostname and related information.

hostnamectl status

   Static hostname: hostname1
         Icon name: computer-vm
           Chassis: vm
        Machine ID: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
           Boot ID: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
    Virtualization: kvm
  Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.9 (Ootpa)
       CPE OS Name: cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos
            Kernel: Linux 4.18.0-513.24.1.el8_9.x86_64
      Architecture: x86-64

Then we can set the new hostname:

hostnamectl set-hostname hostname2

and then we check the status:

hostnamectl status

   Static hostname: hostname2
         Icon name: computer-vm
           Chassis: vm
        Machine ID: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
           Boot ID: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
    Virtualization: kvm
  Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.9 (Ootpa)
       CPE OS Name: cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos
            Kernel: Linux 4.18.0-513.24.1.el8_9.x86_64
      Architecture: x86-64

Reboot the server.

reboot

ssh again and check the new hostname!

hostname

Sources

Photo by Djim Loic on Unsplash

How to change your hostname in Linux https://www.redhat.com/sysadmin/change-hostname-linux

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