What is a Hostname?
Hostname refer to the name given to a particular machine in a computer network. That machine can be a single computer, a network server, a network printer, a fax machine, a copier, a modem, a network story device, or any digital device connected to the network. And each machine can be assigned with a unique hostname which they are identified in the network.
The hostname began as a simple string of alpha-numeric characters (including a hyphen). Now it evolved to its current definition, which hostname means a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) that absolutely and uniquely identifies every computer connected to Internet via Domain Name Service (DNS) naming hierarchy.
Today, hostname refers to FQDN that consists of name of the host, a period, and domain name. The length of hostname cannot exceed 255 characters with domain name having maximum length of 63 characters.
If the computer has been named “sample” and the company’s domain name is “example.com.” and then the hostname for that computer will be “sample.example.com.”