hi how do you set the hostname in linux?

im a complete newbie, and its taking a while to adapt

Edit the /etc/hosts file from the command line.

# pico /etc/hosts

Add the line but do not remove the first line.

Control O Control X

man hostname
/etc/hostname

Woops correct me if I am wrong.

Each Linux distribution has a different way of setting the host name, and if you're using control panel software, that can complicate things.

I'm not sure about other control panels, but if you're using Cpanel, you should change the host name using WHM.

Otherwise, In Red Hat Linux, edit /etc/sysconfig/network and change HOSTNAME to whatever you want the host name to be. For example, if you want the host name to be my.host.name, the line should look like this:

HOSTNAME=my.host.name

It is also a good idea to add the host name to /etc/hosts. Edit /etc/hosts and add a line with your server's main IP address followed by the host name. For example, if your server's main IP address is 127.142.128.35, the line should look like this:

127.142.128.35 my.host.name

Then on the shell, type hostname followed by the host name and press Enter. For example:

hostname my.host.name

That should take care of it. If you're a control panel, restart the control panel software, or reboot.

Just enter this:
hostname google.com
reboot

hehe, why do you need to reboot? :D

Originally posted by roly
Just enter this:
hostname google.com
reboot

...but that doesn't save the host name, so when you reboot, wouldn't it revert back to the old host name?

You should also remember to add an A record for the hostname in your domain's DNS .

If for example you are going to use

peacock.xanadu.com as the host name for a server

you should have

1] an A record for pecock.xanadu.com in the DNS info of xanadu.com [it is not necessary that either the DNS or xanadu.com be hosted on the server]

2] the A record should resolve to an IP on the server

If hostname doesn't resolve Apache wouldn't start

Cheers
Balaji