How to Change or Set hostname on OEL/RHEL/CentOS 7

Published 02 Sep 2014 Read time 2 min(s) 18 sec(s) (2391 views). Linux

Unlike Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL) 6, Redhat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6 or CentOS 6, manually changing “HOSTNAME=xxxxx” into file /etc/sysconfig/network and restarting system simply will not work on OEL/RHEL/CentOS 7. The procedure to totally different from the previous version.

For those looking for OEL/RHEL/CentOS version 6 instructions, see my other post (How to change hostname on OEL/RHEL/CentOS version 6).

There are 4 different methods to change/set the hostname in OEL/RHEL/CentOS 7:

The recommended method is by using the hostnamectl command to control the system hostname.
Using the NetworkManager text based user interface (nmtui)
Using the NetworkManager command-line tool (nmcli)
Editing the /etc/hostname file directly

Prior to changing the hostname, let's check the current hostname:

# hostname
schlumpf.localdomain

Method 1 : Using hostnamectl (recommended)

hostnamectl is used to change the system hostname. With this tool we can change all three classes of hostname (static, transient and pretty)

We can also use hostnamectl to check the current hostname:

# hostnamectl status
   Static hostname: schlumpf.localdomain
   Pretty hostname: RHEL 7 Lab System
         Icon name: computer-vm
           Chassis: vm
        Machine ID: b7cd503ff56bf007dd3e3612482bb2aa
           Boot ID: 5eab5023f20640c8855a15e10cad767f
    Virtualization: kvm
  Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 7
       CPE OS Name: cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7:GA:server
            Kernel: Linux 3.10.0-693.1.1.el7.x86_64
      Architecture: x86-64

To set the new hostname, we issue the command:
```
hostnamectl set-hostname hostname
```
For example:
```
# hostnamectl set-hostname pitufo
```
Note: If you use hostnamectl, you do not need to notify the change of the hostname to the system.

Method 2 : Using nmtui

The NetworkManager tool is used to set the static hostname in /etc/hostname file.

Start the NetworkManager text based tool by issuing the nmtui command on your terminal window.
```
# nmtui
```
Select Set system hostname from within nmtui:
Set the hostname to match your new FQDN hostname, and select OK:
Restart the hostnamed to force the hostnamectl to notice the change of the static hostname:
```
# systemctl restart systemd-hostnamed
```

Verify the change on the hostname:

# hostname
pitufo
# cat /etc/hostname
pitufo
# cat /etc/sysconfig/network
# Created by anaconda
HOSTNAME=pitufo

Method 3 : Using nmcli

nmcli can be used to query and set the static hostname in /etc/hostname file.

To check the hostname:

# nmcli general hostname
schlumpf.localdomain

Change the hostname:
```
# nmcli general hostname pitufo
```
Restart the hostnamed to force the hostnamectl to notify the change of the static hostname:
```
# systemctl restart systemd-hostnamed
```

Method 4 : Editing /etc/hostname

Note: This is the simplest method but does require a reboot of the server.

View the current content:

# cat /etc/hostname
schlumpf.localdomain

To change the hostname to pitufo replace the content of the file /etc/hostname:
```
# echo "pitufo" >/etc/hostname
# cat /etc/hostname
pitufo
```
Restart the system:
```
# shutdown -r now
```
Verify the change:
```
# hostname
pitufo
```