How To Change Hostname on Rocky Linux 9

In this tutorial, we will show you how to change the hostname on Rocky Linux 9. For those of you who didn’t know, In the Linux operating system, the hostname is a name that is assigned to a device (such as a computer or server) that is connected to a network. The hostname is used to identify the device on the network and is usually a combination of letters and numbers. In this case, we can assign a unique hostname to each machine to remember them easily. Hostname also allows each machine to communicate using the device name rather than the IP address.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step change of hostname on Rocky Linux. 9.

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Rocky Linux 9.
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Change Hostname on Rocky Linux 9

Step 1. The first step is to update your system to the latest version of the package list. To do so, run the following commands:

sudo dnf check-update
sudo dnf install dnf-utils

Step 2. Check Your Current Hostname.

Before setup a hostname, it is important to check the current hostname of your system. You can check it using the following command:

hostnamectl

Output:

   Static hostname: meilana
         Icon name: laptopQ
           Chassis: laptop
        Machine ID: e46efe3a7cg0detz9fb521a2021b2e
           Boot ID: ef56510okb9cadd81nikah99419
  Operating System: Rocky Linux 9
            Kernel: Linux 5.6.0-07-generic
      Architecture: x86-64

Step 3. Changing the System Hostname.

To change the hostname, you can use the set-hostname option followed by the new hostname that you want to use. For example:

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname idroot-machine

After running the above command, you can confirm the new hostname using the following command:

hostnamectl

Output:

   Static hostname: idroot-machine
         Icon name: laptopQ
           Chassis: laptop
        Machine ID: e46efe3a7cg0detz9fb521a2021b2e
           Boot ID: ef56510okb9cadd81nikah99419
  Operating System: Rocky Linux 9
            Kernel: Linux 5.6.0-07-generic
      Architecture: x86-64

Keep in mind that the hostname is a system-wide setting, so you may need to log out and log back in for the changes to take effect. You may also need to update any configuration files or scripts that reference the old hostname.

It’s also a good idea to choose a descriptive and unique hostname that reflects the purpose of the machine. This can make it easier to identify the machine on a network or in logs and can help to prevent conflicts with other devices on the network.

Congratulations! You have successfully changed the hostname. Thanks for using this tutorial to change the hostname on your Rocky Linux 9 system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Rocky Linux website.