Files
podman/docs/source/markdown/options/name.container.md
Jan Rodák 2aa54ee55f Document container name vs hostname and network DNS
Clarify that auto-generated names may use underscores, that DNS-enabled
networks resolve container names as given, and that container_name_as_hostname
changes the UTS hostname only.

Fixes: https://github.com/containers/podman/issues/28754

Signed-off-by: Jan Rodák <hony.com@seznam.cz>
2026-06-10 11:28:14 +02:00

1.5 KiB

####> This option file is used in: ####> podman podman-container.unit.5.md.in, create, run ####> If file is edited, make sure the changes ####> are applicable to all of those. << if is_quadlet >>

ContainerName=name

<< else >>

--name=name

<< endif >>

Assign a name to the container.

The operator can identify a container in three ways:

  • UUID long identifier (“f78375b1c487e03c9438c729345e54db9d20cfa2ac1fc3494b6eb60872e74778”);
  • UUID short identifier (“f78375b1c487”);
  • Name (“jonah”).

Podman generates a UUID for each container, and if no name is assigned to the container using << 'ContainerName=' if is_quadlet else '--name' >>, Podman generates a random string name such as exciting_chebyshev (adjective_noun, compatible with Docker). Container names are not required to be valid hostnames or domain names. Underscores and other characters allowed by naming rules are permitted. On Podman networks with DNS enabled, container-to-container name resolution still uses the name as given, for example exciting_chebyshev. The name can be useful as a more human-friendly way to identify containers. This works for both background and foreground containers. The container's name is also added to the /etc/hosts file using the container's primary IP address (also see the << 'AddHost=' if is_quadlet else '--add-host' >> option).

The name is not the hostname inside the container; see << 'HostName=' if is_quadlet else '--hostname' >>. See podman-network(1) for more on network DNS.