I just moved a server I was setting up from my work network to a colo. The helpful guy at the colo set up networking there, so it's working fine now.

However the hostname is messed up. At work, I named the server "antunsbox", since it was on the internal network, so /etc/hosts used to look like this (spaces have been added because the forums won't let me post anything that looks like a link):

Now it looks like this:

So I've commented out the old domain in /etc/hosts/, but what do I need to restart for it to take effect, bearing in mind I don't have full-time physical access to the server now)?

Thanks,

Antun

my /etc/host file
127.0.0.1 linux.domain.com linux localhost.localdomain.com

if its needed, edit /etc/sysconfig/network to change your host name

Changes in the /etc/hosts file take effect immediately.

oopps sorry, i type the contents of my /etc/hosts file wrongly.

[mesut@linux mesut]$ cat /etc/hosts
# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
127.0.0.1 linux.domain.com linux localhost.localdomain localhost

But when I do:

$ hostname

I still get the old hostname ("antunsbox").

Although as you can see I've commented out the antunsbox line from /etc/hosts. Also, if I do:

$hostname -i

I get:

hostname: Unknown host

... shouldn't I get my IP address?

-Antun

either reboot or restart your network connection... that should show you the right hostname.

The /etc/hosts file has nothing to do woth your hostname. The /etc/hosts file list the different hosts on your network, inkluding your own.
The hostname of your machine is set using the hostname command. This is a temporary change of hostname and has to be set in the config scripts in /etc/sysconfig/network
Change HOSTNAME=<new hostname>

I've updated /etc/sysconfig/network to read:

HOSTNAME=www.lumeneo.com

I've also updated /etc/hosts and /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default/resolv.conf, and removed any reference to "antunsbox".

I've restarted networking using:

/etc/rc.d/init.d/network/ restart

... and I restarted:

/etc/rc.d/init.d/named restart

(Not sure if that one had anything to do with this issue). However the machine still thinks it's called antunsbox.

Then I went into /etc/ and did:

find . -type f -exec grep -H antunsbox {} \;

... to look for any files that have antunsbox in them. A bunch in /etc/httpd turned up, some in printcap and one in mail. None of these appeared relevant. One other file turned up: /etc/detectchanges/hostname (all it contained was one word: antunsbox), but I'm not quite sure what this file is for. (I'm running Fedora Core).

If I change hostname in /etc/sysconfig/network, do I still have to change it using the command hostname?

-Antun

You may have to log out and log in again for the hostname to show up in the prompt.

I was at the same point. Rebooted the machine. Still no change. What did you end up doing?

Red Hat's system-config-network command works for me. There are actually three palces hostnames appear:
1) On DNS tab.
2) In DHCP section of device settings.
3) The hosts file tab.

You could follow this simple guide to make sure you've tested and hit everything you need to set the hostname properly..

http://www.cpqlinux.com/hostname.html