RedHat Enterprise Linux 6 - Edit Hostname

You have to do a little bit more than using hostname. The following link below should solve your problem. Change your Hostname without Rebooting in RedHat Linux

Make sure you are logged in as root and move to /etc/sysconfig and open the network file in vi.

cd /etc/sysconfig
vi network

Look for the HOSTNAME line and replace it with the new hostname you want to use. In this example I want to replace localhost with redhat9.

HOSTNAME=redhat9

When you are done, save your changes and exit vi. Next we will edit the /etc/hosts file and set the new hostname.

vi /etc/hosts

In hosts, edit the line that has the old hostname and replace it with your new one.

192.168.1.110     redhat9

Save your changes and exit vi. The changes to /etc/hosts and /etc/sysconfig/network are necessary to make your changes persistent (in the event of an unscheduled reboot).

Now we use the hostname program to change the hostname that is currently set.

hostname redhat9

And run it again without any parameters to see if the hostname changed.

hostname

Finally we will restart the network to apply the changes we made to /etc/hosts and /etc/sysconfig/network.

service network restart

The hostname in a Red Hat system is configured in the file /etc/sysconfig/network.

Edit the file and add or edit a line such as this:

HOSTNAME="bravo.cmweb.com"

Follow this how to to change the hostname on RHEL 6 Server. Reboot is required for both options.

You can follow either the first option OR the second one.

1. Modify /etc/sysconfig/network

   vi /etc/sysconfig/network
   
   NETWORKING=yes
   HOSTNAME=MyNewHostname.localdomain
   

   • Save and reboot your server.

2. Type the following command to enter GUI mode.

   [root@localhost ~]# system-config-network
   

   • Go to “DNS Configuration”.
   • Modify your preferred hostname and click OK.
   • Click ” Save & Quit”.
   • Save and reboot your server.