How to update the hostname on a Debian system

Try this command first too change your hostname:

hostnamectl set-hostname newhostname

Exit the terminal, and come back in.

If that doesn’t work, also check the rest of this documentation.

Numerous configurations require the exact hostname on a Debian system. If your hostname is something that you need to change, follow this article:

There are two places that you have to visit to change the hostname on a Debian system:

1. /etc/hosts
2. /etc/hostname

On a stock new Ubuntu installation, /etc/hosts should look like this before the changes:

# cat /etc/hosts
...
127.0.1.1 ubuntu-4gb-fsn1-2 ubuntu-4gb-fsn1-2
127.0.0.1 localhost
# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1 localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters

After you’ve made the changes, use the hostname command to check if it worked.

Reference

• https://www.vultr.com/docs/how-to-change-your-hostname-on-debian