Vultr DocsLatest Content

How to Change the Hostname on a Vultr Cloud Compute Instance

Updated on 28 August, 2025

Changing the hostname on an instance modifies the default server configuration and reinstalls the operating system. This operation may results in data loss when the instance is reinstalled to apply the new hostname.

Follow this guide to change the hostname on a Vultr Cloud Compute instance using the Vultr Customer Portal, or Terraform.

Warning
Changing the hostname reinstalls the operating system and wipes all data on your server.
  • Vultr Customer Portal
  • Terraform
  1. Navigate to Products and click Compute.
  2. Click your target Vultr Cloud Compute instance to open its management page.
  3. Navigate to the Settings tab.
  4. Find and click Change Hostname on the left navigation menu.
  5. Replace the existing value with your new hostname.
  6. Click Reinstall to change your instance hostname.
  7. Check the confirmation prompt and click Change Hostname to apply the new hostname.

  1. Open your Terraform configuration for the existing Cloud Compute instance.

  2. Update the hostname value in the instance resource.

    terraform 
    resource "vultr_instance" "cc" {
    # ...existing fields (region, plan, os_id, label, etc.)

    hostname = "new-hostname"
}

  3. Apply the configuration and observe the following output:

    Apply complete! Resources: 0 added, 1 changed, 0 destroyed.

Comments

No comments yet.