How to add an IP to hostname file

Question

I have a Centos 5.8 server. How can I add my server IP address 192.168.20.254 so that it reflects when I run the command hostname -i

At the moment the command only shows the loopback IP 127.0.0.1 and the software I am trying to install complains that the server IP is not reflected here.

Answer 1

Edit file /etc/hosts and add line:

192.168.20.254 this.is.my.host

Of course instead of this.is.my.host enter proper hostname. You can check it by running hostname without any parameters.

Answer 2

The hostname of the machine can be changed in the following file

#/etc/sysconfig/network 

The

#/etc/hosts

is for local IP > name resolution (No DNS available)