[[node-name]]
[discrete]
=== Node name setting

{es} uses `node.name` as a human-readable identifier for a
particular instance of {es}. This name is included in the response
of many APIs. The node name defaults to the hostname of the machine when
{es} starts, but can be configured explicitly in
`elasticsearch.yml`:

[source,yaml]
--------------------------------------------------
node.name: prod-data-2
--------------------------------------------------