Change the host name

This step shows how to change the host name of the industrial PC. Note that in doing so you will also change the unique name of the industrial PC in a network.

Host names for Beckhoff Industrial PCs on delivery

On current devices, the host name is formed from the Beckhoff Traceability Number (BTN), which is used on all new devices and printed on the name plate as the serial number. The BTN is a unique serial number consisting of eight characters.

The information on the name plate of the industrial PC is decisive. If no BTN number is available, the host name is formed from the MAC address. If a BTN number exists, the BTN number is used to form the host name instead.

Proceed as follows:

1. On industrial PCs with Beckhoff RT Linux^®, the host name is managed by the systemd-hostnamed service and can be changed with the hostnamectl command.

sudo hostnamectl hostname my-beckhoff-ipc

2. Replace my-beckhoff-ipc with the desired name.

3. To check the change, you can display the current host name with the following command:

hostnamectl status

4. If you want to reset the host name to the Beckhoff default value (BTN), use:

sudo sh -c 'hostnamectl hostname "$(bhf-hostname generate)"'

This automatically regenerates and sets the factory host name in accordance with the Beckhoff standard.