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Changing Hostname on Solaris

Introduction

While there are things about Solaris that can be frustrating, this is one aspect where it's impressive! You don't need to restart your machine to change the hostname - it updates live. I have to admit that's pretty cool.

Temporary Method

Here's the temporary method (which will be lost after reboot):

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hostname machine_name

And to verify:

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hostname

Manual Method

The method provided here doesn't use any utilities.

Edit the following files and modify the HOSTNAME value:

  • /etc/inet/hosts
  • /etc/net/ticlts/hosts
  • /etc/net/ticots/hosts
  • /etc/net/ticotsord/hosts
  • /etc/nodename
  • /etc/hostname.[identifier of the interface that associates the IP address with the HOSTNAME]

Then go to /var/crash and rename the directory:

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cd /var/crash
mv oldname newname

All that's left is to restart.

In the case of a cluster, modify these files (except if the cluster is not yet configured on this machine):

  • /etc/cluster/nodeid