How to change system hostname in SUSE

openSUSE and SLES will assign a random hostname to the system during installation if not manually set. The random hostname starts with linux- followed by four random alphanumeric characters.

hostname information for openSUSE and SLES is stored in /etc/hostname file as with other Linux systems. You can change the hostname for your SUSE system by editing the /etc/hostname file or by using hostnamectl program at the terminal.

1. Open the Terminal application.
2. Show current hostname.

   user@linux-ui1m:~> hostname
   linux-ui1m

   hostname is normally displayed in at the shell prompt via \h in the $PS1 environment variable.

3. Set hostname using hostnamectl.

   user@linux-ui1m:~> sudo hostnamectl set-hostname host
   [sudo] password for root:

4. Check hostname again to confirm.

   user@linux-ui1m:~> hostname
   host

   The shell prompt is not immediately updated as $PS1 is only set when a new shell is started

5. Start a new shell to test.

   user@linux-ui1m:~> bash
   user@host:~>