1HOSTNAMECTL(1) hostnamectl HOSTNAMECTL(1)
2
6 hostnamectl - Control the system hostname
7
9 hostnamectl [OPTIONS...] {COMMAND}
10
12 hostnamectl may be used to query and change the system hostname and
13 related settings.
14 This tool distinguishes three different hostnames: the high-level
16 "pretty" hostname which might include all kinds of special characters
17 (e.g. "Lennart's Laptop"), the static hostname which is used to
18 initialize the kernel hostname at boot (e.g. "lennarts-laptop"), and
19 the transient hostname which is a fallback value received from network
20 configuration. If a static hostname is set, and is valid (something
21 other than localhost), then the transient hostname is not used.
22 Note that the pretty hostname has little restrictions on the characters
24 and length used, while the static and transient hostnames are limited
25 to the usually accepted characters of Internet domain names, and 64
26 characters at maximum (the latter being a Linux limitation).
27 The static hostname is stored in /etc/hostname, see hostname(5) for
29 more information. The pretty hostname, chassis type, and icon name are
30 stored in /etc/machine-info, see machine-info(5).
31 Use systemd-firstboot(1) to initialize the system host name for mounted
33 (but not booted) system images.
34
36 The following commands are understood:
37 status
39 Show current system hostname and related information. If no command
40 is specified, this is the implied default.
41 set-hostname NAME
43 Set the system hostname to NAME. By default, this will alter the
44 pretty, the static, and the transient hostname alike; however, if
45 one or more of --static, --transient, --pretty are used, only the
46 selected hostnames are changed. If the pretty hostname is being
47 set, and static or transient are being set as well, the specified
48 hostname will be simplified in regards to the character set used
49 before the latter are updated. This is done by removing special
50 characters and spaces. This ensures that the pretty and the static
51 hostname are always closely related while still following the
52 validity rules of the specific name. This simplification of the
53 hostname string is not done if only the transient and/or static
54 host names are set, and the pretty host name is left untouched.
55 Pass the empty string "" as the hostname to reset the selected
57 hostnames to their default (usually "localhost").
58 set-icon-name NAME
60 Set the system icon name to NAME. The icon name is used by some
61 graphical applications to visualize this host. The icon name should
62 follow the Icon Naming Specification[1].
63 Pass an empty string to reset the icon name to the default value,
65 which is determined from chassis type (see below) and possibly
66 other parameters.
67 set-chassis TYPE
69 Set the chassis type to TYPE. The chassis type is used by some
70 graphical applications to visualize the host or alter user
71 interaction. Currently, the following chassis types are defined:
72 "desktop", "laptop", "convertible", "server", "tablet", "handset",
73 "watch", "embedded", as well as the special chassis types "vm" and
74 "container" for virtualized systems that lack an immediate physical
75 chassis.
76 Pass an empty string to reset the chassis type to the default value
78 which is determined from the firmware and possibly other
79 parameters.
80 set-deployment ENVIRONMENT
82 Set the deployment environment description. ENVIRONMENT must be a
83 single word without any control characters. One of the following is
84 suggested: "development", "integration", "staging", "production".
85 Pass an empty string to reset to the default empty value.
87 set-location LOCATION
89 Set the location string for the system, if it is known. LOCATION
90 should be a human-friendly, free-form string describing the
91 physical location of the system, if it is known and applicable.
92 This may be as generic as "Berlin, Germany" or as specific as "Left
93 Rack, 2nd Shelf".
94 Pass an empty string to reset to the default empty value.
96
98 The following options are understood:
99 --no-ask-password
101 Do not query the user for authentication for privileged operations.
102 --static, --transient, --pretty
104 If status is invoked (or no explicit command is given) and one of
105 these switches is specified, hostnamectl will print out just this
106 selected hostname.
107 If used with set-hostname, only the selected hostname(s) will be
109 updated. When more than one of these switches are specified, all
110 the specified hostnames will be updated.
111 -H, --host=
113 Execute the operation remotely. Specify a hostname, or a username
114 and hostname separated by "@", to connect to. The hostname may
115 optionally be suffixed by a port ssh is listening on, separated by
116 ":", and then a container name, separated by "/", which connects
117 directly to a specific container on the specified host. This will
118 use SSH to talk to the remote machine manager instance. Container
119 names may be enumerated with machinectl -H HOST. Put IPv6 addresses
120 in brackets.
121 -M, --machine=
123 Execute operation on a local container. Specify a container name to
124 connect to.
125 -h, --help
127 Print a short help text and exit.
128 --version
130 Print a short version string and exit.
131
133 On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.
134
136 systemd(1), hostname(1), hostname(5), machine-info(5), systemctl(1),
137 systemd-hostnamed.service(8), systemd-firstboot(1)
138
140 1. Icon Naming Specification
141 http://standards.freedesktop.org/icon-naming-spec/icon-naming-spec-latest.html
142systemd 245 HOSTNAMECTL(1)