Introduction : For RHEL 8 you can use the hostnamectl command to change the hostname of an RHEL 8 server, laptop or desktop. You can use the hostname command to see or set the system’s hostname too. The hostname or computer name is usually at system startup in /etc/hostname file. Open the terminal application and type the following command to change the hostname on RHEL 8.
Display the current RHEL 8 hostname
Type any one of the following command including the cat command:
$ cat /etc/hostname
OR
$ hostname
OR
$ hostnamectl
RHEL 8 change hostname command
The procedure to change the computer name on Red Hat Linux:
- Type the following command to edit /etc/hostname using nano or vi text editor:
sudo vi /etc/hostname - Delete the old name and setup new name.
- Next Edit the /etc/hosts file:
sudo vi /etc/hosts - Replace any occurrence of the existing computer name with your new one.
- Reboot the system to changes take effect:
sudo reboot
How to change the RHEL 8 server hostname without a system restart
Type the following commands:
$ sudo hostname nixcraft-rhel8
Next edit the /etc/hostname file and update hostname:
$ sudo vi /etc/hostname
Finally, edit the /etc/hosts file and update the lines that reads your old-host-name:
$ sudo vi /etc/hosts
From:
127.0.1.1 localhost
To:
127.0.1.1 nixcraft-rhel8
Save and close the file.
A note about hostnamectl command
Systemd based Linux distributions such as RHEL 8 can simply use the hostnamectl command to rename hostname. To see current setting just type:
$ hostnamectl
Sample outputs:
Static hostname: localhost Icon name: computer-vm Chassis: vm Machine ID: 2f23e83aad5d413498ef79742ad660eb Boot ID: c3c158618d54451f82f3cee23471248d Virtualization: kvm Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 Beta (Ootpa) CPE OS Name: cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:beta Kernel: Linux 4.18.0-32.el8.x86_64 Architecture: x86-64
To change hostname from linux-mig6 to suse-rhel8, enter:
$ sudo hostnamectl set-hostname nixcraft-rhel8
$ hostnamectl
Set or change RHEL 8 server hostname using the hostnamectl command
Conclusion
On RHEL 8 one can use the hostnamectl command to control the system hostname and set a new name as well. This is recommended method for all RHEL 8 users.
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I wanted to know where can I machine-name on rhel8 and your post helped me to see /etc/hostname file. thanks a lot for tutorial.