Changing Your Oracle Linux 10 Hostname: A Home Lab Guide to Local and Network Visibility

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Changing Your Oracle Linux 10 Hostname: A Home Lab Guide to Local and Network Visibility

#oracle#linux#network#tutorial

Aaron Rose

Aaron Rose       
Software Engineer & Technology Writer


Introduction

Welcome to the cutting edge of home lab computing! If you're running the latest Oracle Linux 10 on your mini PC, you've got a robust and powerful system at your fingertips. One of the first steps in personalizing your setup is changing your system's hostname to something more descriptive and memorable. While this might seem like a simple task, ensuring that your new hostname is visible to other devices on your network requires a few extra steps.

This guide will walk you through the entire process, from changing the name on the machine itself to making sure every other device in your home can find your mini PC by its new name. Let's get started! 💻

Step 1: Changing the Local Hostname

First, you'll need to open a terminal on your Oracle Linux 10 mini PC. This is where we'll execute all the necessary commands.

Check your current hostname

It's always good practice to know where you're starting. The hostnamectl command will show you the current hostname and other system details.

hostnamectl

Set the new static hostname

Now, let's set the new name for your machine. Choose a name that is easy to remember and uses only letters, numbers, and hyphens. A hostname can be up to 63 characters long, and for best compatibility, it should only contain lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens.

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname home-server

Replace home-server with your desired hostname. The hostnamectl command is the modern, recommended way to do this on systems using systemd, like Oracle Linux 10, as it automatically updates the /etc/hostname file for you, ensuring the name is persistent across reboots.

Update the /etc/hosts file

The /etc/hosts file is a critical component for local name resolution, mapping IP addresses to hostnames on your machine. To ensure your system can correctly resolve its own new name, we need to update this file.

For this task, we'll use nano, a simple and beginner-friendly text editor.

sudo nano /etc/hosts

Inside the file, you'll see lines that look similar to this:

127.0.0.1   localhost
127.0.1.1   old-hostname

While many systems use 127.0.1.1 for local hostname resolution, for a home lab server with a static IP address, the most reliable approach is to add a line that maps your server's LAN IP directly to its new hostname.

Look for a line with your server's local IP address (e.g., 192.168.1.50) and change the hostname on that line to the new name. If no such line exists, add it.

127.0.0.1   localhost
127.0.1.1   old-hostname
192.168.1.50   home-server

Pro Tip: For a home server, setting a static IP address is highly recommended for reliability. You can configure this through your router's settings using a DHCP reservation or directly on your Linux system using a tool like nmcli.

Once you have made the changes, press Ctrl+X to exit, Y to save the changes, and Enter to confirm the filename.

Step 2: Ensuring Network Visibility

Changing the hostname on the machine itself doesn't automatically make it visible to other devices on your network. For that, you need to update your network's DNS server, which is almost always your home router.

Option A: Update Your Router (Most Effective)

This is the recommended method because it ensures every device on your network can find your mini PC by its new name without any manual configuration.

  1. Log in to your router's web interface. You can do this by typing its IP address (often 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1) into your browser.

  2. Find the DHCP or LAN settings. Look for sections like "DHCP Server," "LAN Settings," or "Address Reservation."

  3. Find your mini PC's entry. Your router may list it by its MAC address or its previous hostname.

  4. Change the hostname. There should be a field to set a name for the device's IP address or MAC address. Change this to home-server and save the settings.

Note on router variability: Every router's interface is different. If you can't find these settings, search for terms like "DHCP Reservation" or "Static Lease" in your router's manual or support forums.

Option B: Manually Edit Other Machines' hosts Files

If you cannot configure your router, you can manually add the new hostname and IP address to the hosts file on each computer that needs to access your mini PC.

  • On Windows: Edit C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts (as an administrator).
  • On Linux/macOS: Edit /etc/hosts (as root).

Add a line with your mini PC's IP address and the new hostname:

192.168.1.50   home-server

Step 3: Apply and Verify Changes

The final step is to apply and verify that the new hostname is working as expected.

Apply the changes

A full reboot is the most thorough way to ensure all services pick up the new name.

sudo reboot

Alternatively, you can restart the specific services responsible for hostname management and networking.

sudo systemctl restart systemd-hostnamed
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

(The systemd-hostnamed service manages the system's hostname, while NetworkManager handles network connections and DNS resolution.)

Verify the change locally

After the reboot (or service restart), log back into your mini PC and run hostnamectl again. You should see "Static hostname: home-server" in the output. You can also test local name resolution by pinging yourself:

ping -c 4 home-server

If it successfully pings, your local configuration is correct.

Verify network visibility

From another computer on your home network, open a command prompt or terminal and try to ping your mini PC using its new name.

# On a Windows computer
ping home-server

# On another Linux/macOS computer
ping -c 4 home-server

If you receive successful ping replies, congratulations! Your Oracle Linux 10 mini PC is now fully configured and accessible by its new name.

Troubleshooting

  • "ping: unknown host" error: This means the new hostname is not being resolved. Check your router's settings and your /etc/hosts file for any typos or incorrect IP addresses.

  • systemctl command fails: If you see an error, double-check that you typed the service name correctly (systemd-hostnamed and NetworkManager).

Conclusion

We hope this guide has been helpful! Enjoy your newly-named Oracle Linux 10 home lab server.

Aaron Rose is a software engineer and technology writer at tech-reader.blog and the author of The Rose Theory series on math and physics.

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