When change the hostname the content of the file /etc/hosts must be updated manually?

frankfalse

7/11/24, 2:26 PM

I work with lubuntu 22.04. To set the hostname I would like to use the nmcli command as following:

nmcli general hostname "new-hostname"

The previous command set the new hostname in the file /etc/hostname. The problem is that the content of the file /etc/hosts remains:

# Standard host addresses
127.0.0.1  localhost
::1        localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
ff02::1    ip6-allnodes
ff02::2    ip6-allrouters
# This host address
127.0.1.1  <OLD-HOSTNAME>

The last line of the file continues to store <OLD-HOSTNAME> as hostname.

If I execute the following ping command in a terminal I obtain:

> ping <OLD-HOSTNAME>
PING <OLD-HOSTNAME> (127.0.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from <OLD-HOSTNAME> (127.0.1.1): icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.062 ms
64 bytes from <OLD-HOSTNAME> (127.0.1.1): icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.093 ms
64 bytes from <OLD-HOSTNAME> (127.0.1.1): icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.092 ms
...

The question is: when I change the hostname I have to change manually the last line of the file /etc/hosts and set the <new-hostname>?

1 + 0

network-manager

networking

dns

hostname

Score:2

Ubuntu

raj

7/11/24, 3:00 PM

Yes. These two files are independent, serve different purposes and you have to change /etc/hosts as well if you change the hostname.

+ 4

frankfalse

7/11/24, 3:25 PM

Are there other operations necessary to have a correct change of hostname? Is it sufficient to change only these 2 files?

raj

7/12/24, 12:46 PM

If your hostname is used also by other services/daemons, like for example web server, or mail server, you may need to change it in their configurations as well. If not, it should be sufficient.

frankfalse

7/12/24, 12:58 PM

Thank you very much. Now I have to find how to modify `/etc/hosts` by a non root user and without sudo command. I have found [this link](https://askubuntu.com/questions/895640/can-i-edit-hosts-without-sudo). When I will finish my test I will accept your answer. Any other suggested are appreciated.

raj

7/12/24, 1:01 PM

`sudo` is actually the safest tool to do it. Only you should give the user in question permission to run only a particular command that edits the hosts file and nothing else.

Elon Musk

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EN: When change the hostname the content of the file /etc/hosts must be updated manually?

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