Change Host Name in Red Hat and Oracle Linux

Make sure you are logged in as root and move to /etc/sysconfig and open the network file in vi.

cd /etc/sysconfig
vi network

Look for the HOSTNAME line and replace it with the new hostname you want to use. In this example I want to replace localhost with redhat9.

HOSTNAME=vis.expolanka.com

When you are done, save your changes and exit vi. Next we will edit the /etc/hosts file and set the new hostname.

vi /etc/hosts

In hosts, edit the line that has the old hostname and replace it with your new one.

192.168.1.110     vis.expolanka.com    vis

Save your changes and exit vi. The changes to /etc/hosts and /etc/sysconfig/network are necessary to make your changes persistent (in the event of an unscheduled reboot).

Now we use the hostname program to change the hostname that is currently set.

hostname vis.expolanka.com 

And run it again without any parameters to see if the hostname changed.

hostname

Finally we will restart the network to apply the changes we made to /etc/hosts and /etc/sysconfig/network.

service network restart

You can follow either the first option OR the second one.

Type the following command to enter GUI mode.

[root@localhost ~]# system-config-network

• Go to “DNS Configuration”.
• Modify your preferred hostname and click OK.
• Click ” Save & Quit”.
• Save and reboot your server.