How to set hostname on Raspberry Pi

The purpose of this tutorial is to show how to change the system hostname on a Raspberry Pi. The hostname is an important part of your device, as it allows it to be easily identified on the local network. The hostname is also shown in other prominent places throughout the system, such as in the prompt of the command line terminal. This helps make it easy to know which system you are working on if you frequently SSH into your Raspberry Pi and other systems simultaneously.

Hostnames give us a way to know which device we are interacting with either on the network or physically, without remembering a bunch of IP addresses that are subject to change. You should pick a descriptive hostname like “rasp-pi” or “backup-server” to make it easily identifiable to local server administrators, rather than something ambiguous like “server2” which could be just about any system on your network.

In this tutorial you will learn:

• How to change the hostname on a Raspberry Pi via raspi-config
• How to change the hostname on a Raspberry Pi via hostnamectl (systemd)

Software Requirements and Linux Command Line Conventions

Category	Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used
System	Raspberry Pi
Software	raspi-config, hostnamectl (systemd)
Other	Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command.
Conventions	# – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command $ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

Set hostname on Raspberry Pi step by step instructions

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We will cover two methods of changing the Raspberry Pi’s system hostname below. Ordinarily, the raspi-config utility proves easiest to use and is simple for all users to understand, but if you do not have this utility available for some reason, you can always set the hostname manually with the hostnamectl command. Choose whichever method you prefer.

Using raspi-config to change hostname

1. Open the raspi-config utility with root permissions by executing the command below:

   $ sudo raspi-config
   

2. Select the System Options menu from the raspi-config tool.

   

3. Scroll down and select the Hostname option in this menu.

   

4. The next screen contains a helpful reminder that the criteria for a hostname is quite strict. We can only use ASCII characters in the name, with a through z, all digits, and the hyphen being the only allowed characters. Just press Enter to get past this warning.

   

   
   

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5. Finally, enter the desired hostname you want to use, and then press Enter for the changes to take effect.

   

Using hostnamectl to change hostname

1. First, check your current hostname. To do so use either the hostnamectl or hostname command:

   $ hostname
   raspberry
   

   Your output of the hostnamectl command may look similar to the one below:

   $ hostnamectl
    Static hostname: raspberry
   ...
   

   In either case the current hostname of our system is raspberry.

2. Next, use the hostnamectl command to change the hostname of our Raspberry Pi system. For an example, we will switch our hostname to linuxconfig.

   $ sudo hostnamectl set-hostname linuxconfig
   

   The above command will change the hostname of our Raspberry Pi system to linuxconfig.

3. Next, edit the /etc/hosts file to reflect the change by executing the command sudoedit /etc/hosts. For example, change:
   

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   FROM:

   127.0.0.1 localhost
   127.0.1.1 raspberry
   

   TO:

   127.0.0.1 localhost
   127.0.1.1 linuxconfig
   

4. Execute the hostnamectl command to confirm the hostname change:

   $ hostnamectl
    Static hostname: linuxconfig
   ...
   

Closing Thoughts

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In this tutorial, we saw two methods for changing the hostname on a Raspberry Pi system using raspi-config and hostnamectl. We also learned about the importance of picking an applicable hostname to assist in the easy identification of a system. Administrators can use these methods to ensure that they have a network of appropriately named devices.