When working in the local environment, each system is assigned an IP address to distinguish them from one another on the LAN. However, it is very difficult to remember each host by their IP address, especially in a large environment. 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 post will show you how to set and change the hostname in Rocky Linux. This procedure is compatible with Rocky Linux 9 and Rocky Linux 10.

Step 1 – Check Your Current Hostname

Before setting up a hostname, it is important to check the current hostname of your system.

You can check it using the following command:

hostnamectl

You should see the current hostname of your system in the following output:

     Static hostname: rocky
           Icon name: computer-vm
             Chassis: vm šŸ–“
          Machine ID: c0b9710ec77a40fd91a1887844dc0166
             Boot ID: af19459c03a44f9383ba620f61dd6f44
        Product UUID: c0b9710e-c77a-40fd-91a1-887844dc0166
      Virtualization: kvm
    Operating System: Rocky Linux 10.0 (Red Quartz)       
         CPE OS Name: cpe:/o:rocky:rocky:10::baseos
      OS Support End: Thu 2035-05-31
OS Support Remaining: 9y 7month 2w                        
              Kernel: Linux 6.12.0-55.21.1.el10_0.x86_64
        Architecture: x86-64
     Hardware Vendor: QEMU
      Hardware Model: Standard PC _i440FX + PIIX, 1996_
    Firmware Version: 1.15.0-1
       Firmware Date: Tue 2014-04-01
        Firmware Age: 11y 6month 2w

As you can see, the current hostname of your system is vyompc.

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Step 2 – Change the Hostname Temporarily

If you want to change the hostname of your system temporarily, you can use the following syntax:

hostname new-hostname

After a system restart or logging out, the set hostname will return to the previous one.

For example, to change the hostname to newpc, run the following command:

hostname newpc

Step 3 – Change the Hostname Permanently

You can use the hostnamectl command to change your system hostname permanently. Use the following syntax to change the hostname permanently:

hostnamectl set-hostname new-hostname

For example, to change the hostname of your system to newpc, run the following command:

hostnamectl set-hostname newpc

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

hostnamectl

Step 4 – Change the Hostname Using /etc/hostname File

You can also change the hostname by editing the hostname configuration file. In this case, you will need to restart your system to apply the changes.

To change the hostname, edit the /etc/hostname file:

nano /etc/hostname

Replace the old hostname with a new hostname:

newpc

Save and close the file, then restart your system to apply the changes:

reboot

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Step 5 – Change the Hostname Using NMTUI Tool

You can also change the system hostname using the NMTUI tool.

To change the system hostname, open the command line interface and run the following command:

nmtui

You should see the following dialog box:
nmtui dialog page
Select Set system hostname and press the Enter key. You should see the following dialog box:
nmtui set new hostname page
Type your new hostname and click on the OK. You should see the following dialog box:
nmtui save new hostname page
Click on the OK button to change the hostname.

Conclusion

In this guide, we explained several methods to change the hostname of your Rocky Linux 10. You can now use your preferred method to change your system hostname. Try it on dedicated hosting from Atlantic.Net!