Hostname alternatively referred as Computer name or site name, a host name is the name of the computer you’re currently logged into or visiting. Hostname is a label that is assigned to a device connected to a computer network and that is used to identify the device in various forms of electronic communication such as the World Wide Web. Hostnames may be simple names consisting of a single word or phrase, or they may be structured.
On the Internet, hostnames may have appended the name of a Domain Name System (DNS) domain, separated from the host-specific label by a period (“dot”). In the latter form, a hostname is also called a domain name. If the domain name is completely specified, including a top-level domain of the Internet, then the hostname is said to be a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). Hostnames that include DNS domains are often stored in the Domain Name System together with the IP addresses of the host they represent for the purpose of mapping the hostname to an address, or the reverse process.
Configuring hostname by using hostname command
The hostname command shows or sets the system hostname.
[root@localhost ~]# hostname
we can set the hostname by using the hostname command in the following way
[root@localhost ~]# hostname techbuddies.computertechnologyspecial.com
[root@localhost ~]# hostname
Configuring hostname by using hostnamectl command
In recent versions of Linux a new command hostnamectl is introduced, by using this command we can change the hostname in an easyway like hostname command
To view all the current host names, enter the following command:
[root@localhost ~]#hostnamectl status
To set all the host names on a system, enter the following command as
This will alter the pretty, static, and transient host names alike. The static and transient host names will be simplified forms of the pretty host name. Spaces will be replaced with “
-” and special characters will be removed.
To Set a Particular Host Name specify pretty, static or transient.
hostnamectl set-hostname "techbuddies personal" --pretty
Changing Host Names Remotely
To execute a
hostnamectl command on a remote system, use the
-H, --host option as follows:
here the username is the root and is optional and the hostname is the new hostname of remote host.
Configuring hostname by using /etc/hosts file
You can change the hostname by simply edit and add the required information in /etc/hosts file.
The default content of /etc/hosts file is as follows
[root@localhost ~]# cat /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.localdomain localhost4 localhost4.localdomain4
::1 localhost localhost.localdomain localhost6 localhost6.localdomain6
The leftmost column is the IP address to be resolved. The next column is that host’s name. Any subsequent columns are alias for that host.
add the hostname as like follows
10.0.0.1 techbuddies techbuddies.computertechnology.com
After you are finished configuring your networking files, don’t forget to restart your network for the changes to take effect.