Change Hostname on Arch Linux

Last modified: October 7, 2020
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Introduction

When creating a new FastyCloud VPS, you can set the Server Hostname before deployment. If you skip this step or decide to rename your server later, you’ll discover that changing the server hostname from the Customer Portal also performs a fresh reinstall of the entire server.

Change Hostname

Follow this guide if you need to change the server hostname without reinstalling.

Supported Versions

This guide should apply to any recently updated version of Arch Linux.

Examples

This guide uses olddog for the old hostname and newtricks for the new hostname.

1. Check the Current Hostname

Check the hostname using the hostnamectl tool.

$ hostnamectl
   Static hostname: olddog
         Icon name: computer-vm
           Chassis: vm
        Machine ID: bcb4587239c44fdca546c15890e88726
           Boot ID: 02807656576840d2bc9b8c2b96617803
    Virtualization: kvm
  Operating System: Arch Linux
            Kernel: Linux 5.3.1-arch1-1-ARCH
      Architecture: x86-64

Check the hosts file with the getent tool.

$ getent hosts
127.0.0.1       localhost
127.0.0.1       localhost
127.0.1.1       olddog.localdomain olddog

2. Change Hostname

Change the hostname to newtricks.

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname newtricks

3. Update /etc/hosts

Use your favorite text editor to change any instances of your old hostname to the new hostname in /etc/hosts. If you have a DNS name pointed to this instance, it’s a best practice to also set that name here.

sudo vim /etc/hosts

From:

127.0.0.1        localhost
::1              localhost
127.0.1.1        olddog.localdomain olddog

To:

127.0.0.1        localhost
::1              localhost
127.0.1.1        newtricks.localdomain newtricks

4. Confirm the Changes

Either reboot the server or log out and back in again to your user session.

Test the change with the hostnamectl tool.

$ hostnamectl
   Static hostname: newtricks
         Icon name: computer-vm
           Chassis: vm
        Machine ID: bcb4587239c44fdca546c15890e88726
           Boot ID: 02807656576840d2bc9b8c2b96617803
    Virtualization: kvm
  Operating System: Arch Linux
            Kernel: Linux 5.3.1-arch1-1-ARCH
      Architecture: x86-64

Test the change with the getent tool.

$ getent hosts
127.0.0.1       localhost
127.0.0.1       localhost
127.0.1.1       newtricks.localdomain newtricks

📝 Note: For a system with a permanent IP address, that permanent IP address should be used instead of 127.0.1.1. The order of hostnames in /etc/hosts is significant. The first string is canonical hostname. Subsequent names on the same line are aliases.

Update DNS

Your server hostname is changed and ready to use. This procedure does not change your DNS name, and you’ll need to perform those steps at your domain registrar.

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