In this tutorial we will show you how to change hostname on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, Hostname is a label used to identify the machine and will help you to easily distinguish the server from another one. The hostname should be a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) and should point to the server IP address so you can access the server by using it.
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. If you are ready open up your terminal and follow through this tutorial, and in less than 10 minutes you will have changed your hostname on a Ubuntu 20.04 LTS server.
Change Hostname on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa
Step 1. First I will check the current hostname by running “hostnamectl status” on the shell of your server:
1 | hostnamectl |
The output on my system is:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Statichostname:chedelics Iconname:ubuntu-laptop Chassis:laptop MachineID:2381ec6bc9meilana1c843f3mariaea2 BootID:29intan594944feramona0759229ef0 OperatingSystem:Ubuntu20.04(FocalFossa) Kernel:Linux5.40.0-43-generic Architecture:x86-64 |
To changing the system hostname is a simple process. The syntax is as follows:
1 | [root@idroot~]# sudo hostnamectl set-hostname host.example.com |
For example, to change the system static hostname to meilana.idroot.us, you would use the following command:
1 | [root@idroot~]# sudo hostnamectl set-hostname meilana.idroot.us |
Recheck the hostname (Close the session and open a new session using console):
1 | [root@idroot~]# hostnamectl status |
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Statichostname:meilana.idroot.us Iconname:ubuntu-laptop Chassis:laptop MachineID:2381ec6bc9meilana1c843f3mariaea2 BootID:29intan594944feramona0759229ef0 OperatingSystem:Ubuntu20.04(FocalFossa) Kernel:Linux5.40.0-43-generic Architecture:x86-64 |
In each of these configurations, you’ll need to be sure your hostname conforms to the standards for FQDNs (Fully Qualified Domain Names). The ASCII letters a – z, the digits 0 – 9, and the hyphen (‘-‘) are the only characters acceptable (the first character, however, cannot be a hyphen). You may also find it necessary (or useful) to include the domain name as well, in which case you would then also use periods (dots) to separate the hostname and the domain name (and top-level domain).
For more command options you can add the --help flag at the end.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 | # hostnamectl --help hostnamectl[OPTIONS...]COMMAND... Queryorchangesystemhostname. -h--help Showthishelp --version Showpackageversion --no-ask-password Donotpromptforpassword -H--host=[USER@]HOST Operateonremotehost -M--machine=CONTAINEROperateonlocalcontainer --transient Onlysettransienthostname --static Onlysetstatichostname --pretty Onlysetprettyhostname Commands: status Showcurrenthostnamesettings set-hostnameNAME Setsystemhostname set-icon-nameNAME Seticonnameforhost set-chassisNAME Setchassistypeforhost set-deploymentNAME Setdeploymentenvironmentforhost set-locationNAME Setlocationforhost |
Congratulation’s! You have successfully change hostname. Thanks for using this tutorial how to change and set hostname on your Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you to check the official Ubuntu website.
