Changing Hostname

    There are three variations of a hostname in a Fedora system:

    1. A static name is used by default at system bootup. This name will typically be short and contain only letters, numbers and dashes.

    2. A transient name is assigned by the network. It is probably going to be the same as the static name, unless there are multiple hosts with the same static name on the local network. For example, if there are two hosts both with static name “localhost”, one machine may be assigned a transient name of “localhost-1”.

    To see the hostname from the command line, use the command with no options. The example output below shows the static and transient hostnames. Your output may be slightly different depending on which hostname types have been set.

    To see the current static, transient or pretty hostname, you can use the command with options, such as:

    Changing the hostname

    For Fedora Workstation, using the default GNOME desktop, open the Settings application and choose About.

    You can replace the value in the Device name field with the name of your choosing. The effect of this field is as follows:

    • If you enter a name that is more descriptive, contains mixed-case and other types of characters, this will set the pretty name, and a static name will be derived from that automatically.

    You can see the effect of the change by using the command again:

    Hostnames can also be set at the command line with the command. For example: