Ubuntu – how to change the hostname

hostname

My hostname is localhost, reported by hostname command, and terminal prompt root@localhost:~#.

How can i change it to mismis.com with mismis alias? and what is the proper configuration.

I confused after reading some articles on web.

My /etc/hosts:

127.0.0.1       localhost
127.0.1.1       srv345.myweb.com      srv345
178.162.231.61  janstone.mismis.com    janstone
# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1     localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters

Best Answer

Try running the following command in a terminal.

sudo sysctl kernel.hostname=mismis.com

/etc/hosts:

127.0.0.1       localhost
127.0.1.1       mismis.com mismis srv345.myweb.com srv345
178.162.231.61  janstone.mismis.com    janstone

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1     localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters

Related Solutions

Change Hostname Without Restart – How to Guide

It's easy. Just click the Gear icon (located at upper right corner of the screen), open "About this computer" screen (located at Gear icon ) and edit "Device name".

Or, in a terminal, use the following command:

sudo hostname your-new-name

This will set the hostname to your-new-name until you restart. See man hostname and How do I change the computer name? for further information. Do not use _ in your name.

Note

After a restart your changes in /etc/hostname will be used, so (as you said in the question), you should still use

sudo -H gedit /etc/hostname

(or some other editor) so that file contains the hostname.

To test that the file is set up correctly, run:

sudo service hostname start

You should also edit /etc/hosts and change the line which reads:

127.0.1.1     your-old-hostname

so that it now contains your new hostname. (This is required otherwise many commands will cease functioning.)

Hostname – How to Safely Change Username and Hostname

Changing the hostname

Change the hostname in the following two files:

/etc/hostname
/etc/hosts

(You'll need to use sudo to edit these files. Eg. sudo nano /etc/hostname)

Changing the username

First, set a password for root:

sudo su
passwd root

Then reboot the machine. When you see the login screen, switch to a virtual terminal using CtrlAltF4. Login with the username root and the password you set previously.

It's now safe to change the username using the following three steps:

Rename the user:
```
usermod -l newUsername oldUsername
```
Change the name of the user directory and all daughter directories to match the new username and update the filepaths:
```
mv /home/oldUsername* /home/newUsername*
```

Update the user database:

usermod -d /home/newUsername* -m newUsername