Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : VPS Hosting : VPS Tutorials : HOW TO: Change the hostname and not get cpanels licence error

[Ben James]

I have found over the years that it is anoying when you update the hostname on a server running cpanel and cpanel gives you an invalid licence error, if you want to change the hostname on a cpanel server then

1)log into shell with root

2)type "hostname (then at the end put anything you want as your hostname, but it must be something.yourdomain.xxx please be aware that the something will show as the server name in cpanel

3)type /usr/local/cpanel/cpkeyclt

then just load cpanel as you would normaly, but dont forget to add an a entry for the new hostname

[ramdak5000]

Very useful. I have a few VPS accounts whose hostnames I have changed several times to reflect the changes in my business strategy and each time, I had to ask my hosting company to take care of the cPanel licence issue.

When you say, "then just load cpanel as you would normaly", do you actually mean WHM?

[layer0]

If you change hostnames on a Virtuozzo/OpenVZ VPS, you should also ensure that your host has updated the hostname from their side as well...else your hostname will be reset the next time your VPS reboots. There are ways around that too, but its simpler just provide your host with the up to date info.

[Ben James]

you could load cpanel or whm normally, it is just to test that it has worked correctly

[ihostq]

I have always had this problem. Now, i just type in /usr/local/cpanel/cpkeyclt in command promt, and it works great! No problem at all, as it updates with cpanel.net automatically when you type it.

[TGJ_Sean]

Thanks it helped.

Great info,

[Ben James]

Glad to be able to help

[Checkers]

LOL thanks mate.. i was kinda struggling with this..

[supportoncall]

Easy and well known stuff to do.

[Ben James]

it may be easy and well known however some people still dont know this stuff and this sort of forum is the perfect place to learn

[psyxakias]

/usr/local/cpanel/cpkeyclt re-downloads the license from cPanel's site which is s required if you change mainIP (requires license adjustment from cPanel's side too) or hostname. However, changing hostname with "hostname <new.host.name>" without setting it in O/S's configuration, will be reverted at the next reboot giving you the unlicensed error again.

So there should be another step to change it on the O/S startup configuration (depending the O/S or type of server: dedicated/vps), not just using hostname command

Thank you.

[Ben James]

I will post how to do this when i have the time

[Ben James]

ok, sorry it has taken me so long to post the final pice to this thread i have been kind of busy recently.

first pico /etc/hosts

type something similar to

<your server shared ip here> <chosen hostname here>.<your domain here>.<extension>

the below that have

127.0.0.1 localhost


then you can use the hostname command to set your hostname to the same as it is in your /ect/hosts configuration.

[linux-tech]

if you want to change the hostname on a cpanel server then

Use CPanel to manage cpanel and related materials. Don't make it more complicated than it has to be. WHM no longer gives you a 'license error'.

first pico /etc/hosts

/etc/hosts is NOT a valid place to change a hostname, nor is it any sort of relevant place for your system's hostname to be changed. 2 places require changing, but NOT /etc/hosts

#1:
/etc/sysconfig/network needs to be updated
#2:
/proc/sys/kernel/hostname needs to be updated

Now, since you're using Cpanel, it's best to use CPanel to manage Cpanel's things (backups, etc), because otherwise it'll try to rewrite system files (ie: hostname)

This brings us to the question:

what is /etc/hosts for

Well, that's answered in the man pages:

This file is a simple text file that associates IP addresses with hostnames, one line per IP address. For each host a single line should be present with the following information:

In english (layman's terms):
/etc/hosts is a 'dns' of sorts. It doesn't rely on dns running, the resolvers running, or anything of the like. It is NOT used to control the system's hostname, though it CAN be used to look up the system's hostname. You can add multiple ip host combinations in there and they will ALWAYS be available to the system, REGARDLESS of whether your dns is running or not

The files needed to edit the hostname are listed above, though, again, if you're using a control panel (CPanel), or even a VPS (virtuozzo, etc), you'll want to use THEIR setup to change and manipulate your hostname so that you can be sure it doesn't go right back where you don't want it to go

[Ben James]

Thanks for this, i have allways used cpanel to change the hostname so have never had to do it manualy, just update the licence.

Thanks.