1HOSTNAMECTL(1) hostnamectl HOSTNAMECTL(1)
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6 hostnamectl - Control the system hostname
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9 hostnamectl [OPTIONS...] {COMMAND}
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12 hostnamectl may be used to query and change the system hostname and
13 related settings.
14 systemd-hostnamed.service(8) and this tool distinguish three different
16 hostnames: the high-level "pretty" hostname which might include all
17 kinds of special characters (e.g. "Lennart's Laptop"), the "static"
18 hostname which is the user-configured hostname (e.g.
19 "lennarts-laptop"), and the transient hostname which is a fallback
20 value received from network configuration (e.g. "node12345678"). If a
21 static hostname is set to a valid value, then the transient hostname is
22 not used.
23 Note that the pretty hostname has little restrictions on the characters
25 and length used, while the static and transient hostnames are limited
26 to the usually accepted characters of Internet domain names, and 64
27 characters at maximum (the latter being a Linux limitation).
28 Use systemd-firstboot(1) to initialize the system hostname for mounted
30 (but not booted) system images.
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33 The following commands are understood:
34 status
36 Show current system hostname and related information. If no command
37 is specified, this is the implied default.
38 set-hostname NAME
40 Set the system hostname to NAME. By default, this will alter the
41 pretty, the static, and the transient hostname alike; however, if
42 one or more of --static, --transient, --pretty are used, only the
43 selected hostnames are changed. If the pretty hostname is being
44 set, and static or transient are being set as well, the specified
45 hostname will be simplified in regards to the character set used
46 before the latter are updated. This is done by removing special
47 characters and spaces. This ensures that the pretty and the static
48 hostname are always closely related while still following the
49 validity rules of the specific name. This simplification of the
50 hostname string is not done if only the transient and/or static
51 hostnames are set, and the pretty hostname is left untouched.
52 The static and transient hostnames must each be either a single DNS
54 label (a string composed of 7-bit ASCII lower-case characters and
55 no spaces or dots, limited to the format allowed for DNS domain
56 name labels), or a sequence of such labels separated by single dots
57 that forms a valid DNS FQDN. The hostname must be at most 64
58 characters, which is a Linux limitation (DNS allows longer names).
59 Pass the empty string "" as the hostname to reset the selected
61 hostnames to their default (usually "fedora").
62 set-icon-name NAME
64 Set the system icon name to NAME. The icon name is used by some
65 graphical applications to visualize this host. The icon name should
66 follow the Icon Naming Specification[1].
67 Pass an empty string to reset the icon name to the default value,
69 which is determined from chassis type (see below) and possibly
70 other parameters.
71 set-chassis TYPE
73 Set the chassis type to TYPE. The chassis type is used by some
74 graphical applications to visualize the host or alter user
75 interaction. Currently, the following chassis types are defined:
76 "desktop", "laptop", "convertible", "server", "tablet", "handset",
77 "watch", "embedded", as well as the special chassis types "vm" and
78 "container" for virtualized systems that lack an immediate physical
79 chassis.
80 Pass an empty string to reset the chassis type to the default value
82 which is determined from the firmware and possibly other
83 parameters.
84 set-deployment ENVIRONMENT
86 Set the deployment environment description. ENVIRONMENT must be a
87 single word without any control characters. One of the following is
88 suggested: "development", "integration", "staging", "production".
89 Pass an empty string to reset to the default empty value.
91 set-location LOCATION
93 Set the location string for the system, if it is known. LOCATION
94 should be a human-friendly, free-form string describing the
95 physical location of the system, if it is known and applicable.
96 This may be as generic as "Berlin, Germany" or as specific as "Left
97 Rack, 2nd Shelf".
98 Pass an empty string to reset to the default empty value.
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102 The following options are understood:
103 --no-ask-password
105 Do not query the user for authentication for privileged operations.
106 --static, --transient, --pretty
108 If status is invoked (or no explicit command is given) and one of
109 these switches is specified, hostnamectl will print out just this
110 selected hostname.
111 If used with set-hostname, only the selected hostname(s) will be
113 updated. When more than one of these switches are specified, all
114 the specified hostnames will be updated.
115 -H, --host=
117 Execute the operation remotely. Specify a hostname, or a username
118 and hostname separated by "@", to connect to. The hostname may
119 optionally be suffixed by a port ssh is listening on, separated by
120 ":", and then a container name, separated by "/", which connects
121 directly to a specific container on the specified host. This will
122 use SSH to talk to the remote machine manager instance. Container
123 names may be enumerated with machinectl -H HOST. Put IPv6 addresses
124 in brackets.
125 -M, --machine=
127 Execute operation on a local container. Specify a container name to
128 connect to, optionally prefixed by a user name to connect as and a
129 separating "@" character. If the special string ".host" is used in
130 place of the container name, a connection to the local system is
131 made (which is useful to connect to a specific user's user bus:
132 "--user --machine=lennart@.host"). If the "@" syntax is not used,
133 the connection is made as root user. If the "@" syntax is used
134 either the left hand side or the right hand side may be omitted
135 (but not both) in which case the local user name and ".host" are
136 implied.
137 -h, --help
139 Print a short help text and exit.
140 --version
142 Print a short version string and exit.
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145 On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.
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148 systemd(1), hostname(1), hostname(5), machine-info(5), systemctl(1),
149 systemd-hostnamed.service(8), systemd-firstboot(1)
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152 1. Icon Naming Specification
153 http://standards.freedesktop.org/icon-naming-spec/icon-naming-spec-latest.html
154systemd 248 HOSTNAMECTL(1)