Hostname is defined as label or name of a computer and network device. In this article we will discuss how to set and change hostname on CentOS 7 & RHEL 7 system. There are three different commands through which we can query, set and change hostname.
- hostnamectl
- nmtui
- nmcli
Types of Hostname that we can set on CentOS 7 and RHEL 7 server.
- Static Hostname — It is conventional hostname that we set on the servers and as the name suggest hostname will be static and persistent across the reboot.Static hostname is stored in the file /etc/hostname.
- Transient Hostname — It is the hostname which is obtained from DHCP and mDNS. Transient hostname might be temporary because it is only temporarily written to kernel hostname.
- Pretty Hostname — It is a hostname that can include all kind of special characters. Pretty hostname is stored in the file /etc/machine-info .
How to check the Hostname on CentOS 7 / RHEL 7 ?
Using the hostname and hostnamectl command, we can view the hostname of our CentOS 7 and RHEL 7 system,
[[email protected] ~]# hostname OR [[email protected] ~]# hostnamectl status OR [[email protected] ~]# hostnamectl
Hostnamectl Command
hostnamectl command is used to configure,modify and query hostname. Basic syntax is listed below :
# hostnamectl <options> <new_hostname>
Let’s set the static hostname ‘cloud.linuxtechi.com‘
[[email protected] ~]# hostnamectl set-hostname "cloud.linuxtechi.com" [[email protected] ~]#
Verify the new hostname using hostnamectl and hostname command :
How to remove or clear the hostname ?
If you want to remove or clear hostname on CentOS 7 and RHEL 7 system, then use the following hostnamectl command,
[[email protected] ~]# hostnamectl set-hostname "" [[email protected] ~]# [[email protected] ~]# hostname localhost.localdomain [[email protected] ~]# hostnamectl Static hostname: n/a Transient hostname: localhost Icon name: computer Chassis: n/a Machine ID: a5c10f2a26324894a3b0b83d504c1ff2 Boot ID: c3ff9d084b364b56bb0d588b64ff6f1a Virtualization: oracle Operating System: CentOS Linux 7 (Core) CPE OS Name: cpe:/o:centos:centos:7 Kernel: Linux 3.10.0-123.el7.x86_64 Architecture: x86_64 [[email protected] ~]#
How to Set Pretty Hostname on CentOS 7 / RHEL 7 ?
[[email protected] ~]# hostnamectl set-hostname "Pradeep Antil's CentOS-7 Laptop" --pretty [[email protected] ~]#
How to Remove or flush pretty hostname ?
Use the following hostnamectl command to remove or flush pretty hostname,
[[email protected] ~]# hostnamectl set-hostname "" --pretty
How to set hostname on the Remote Server from your local machine.
Using hostnamectl, we can also set the hostname on remote system from the local system,
Syntax :
# hostnamectl set-hostname -H <Remote-Server-ip> @<new_hostname>
Above command will use ssh for connecting and authentication for remote server.
[email protected]:~# hostnamectl set-hostname -H 192.168.1.13 @cloud.linuxtechi.com [email protected]'s password: [email protected]:~#
nmtui command
nmtui stands for ‘Network Manager Text User Interface‘, it is a text user interface which is used to configure hostname.
When we type nmtui command below window will appear
[[email protected] ~]# nmtui
Select “Set system hostname” and then click on OK..
Type the hostname whatever you want to set and then click on OK.
Restart the hostnamed service
[[email protected] ~]# systemctl restart systemd-hostnamed [[email protected] ~]#
Verify new hostname using ‘hostname’ & ‘hostnamectl’ command
nmcli command
nmcli is a command line utility for configuring and query hostname.
Check the hostname :
[[email protected] ~]# nmcli general hostname cloud.linuxtechi.com [[email protected] ~]#
Change or set hostname :
Syntax :
# nmcli general hostname <new_hostname>
[[email protected] ~]# nmcli general hostname antil.linuxtechi.com
Restart the hostnamed service using below systemctl command
[[email protected] ~]# systemctl restart systemd-hostnamed [[email protected] ~]# hostname antil.linuxtechi.com [[email protected] ~]#
Note : hostnamectl command is recommended to query and configure hostname
