diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
index 2a0f61c..81e8029 100644
--- a/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ common_apt_repositories:
   - "deb http://security.debian.org/ {{ ansible_distribution_release }}/updates main contrib non-free"
 common_apt_upgrade_policy: ""
 
+common_hostname: True
+common_hostname_hosts_additional: []
+
 common_locales: []
 common_locales_default:
 
diff --git a/tasks/hostname.yml b/tasks/hostname.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8bf8f31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tasks/hostname.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+---
+- name: set hostname
+  hostname:
+    name: "{{ inventory_hostname_short }}"
+
+- name: /etc/hostname
+  copy:
+    dest: /etc/hostname
+    content: "{{ inventory_hostname_short }}\n"
+    owner: root
+    group: root
+    mode: 0644
+    backup: yes
+    state: file
+
+- name: /etc/hosts
+  template:
+    dest: /etc/hosts
+    src: hosts.j2
+    owner: root
+    group: root
+    mode: 0644
diff --git a/tasks/main.yml b/tasks/main.yml
index 8ec8741..d2cb19a 100644
--- a/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/tasks/main.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 ---
 
 - include: resolvconf.yml
+
+- include: hostname.yml
+  when: common_hostname
+  tags: ['common', 'hostname']
+
 - include: apt.yml
 
 - include: locales.yml
diff --git a/templates/hosts.j2 b/templates/hosts.j2
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b29f08e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/hosts.j2
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# {{ ansible_managed }}
+
+127.0.0.1   localhost.localdomain localhost
+127.0.1.1   {{ inventory_hostname }} {{ inventory_hostname_short }}
+
+::1         localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
+ff02::1     ip6-allnodes
+ff02::2     ip6-allrouters
+
+{% for host in common_hostname_hosts_additional %}
+{% if host['short'] is defined %}
+{{ host['ip'] }} {{ host['fqdn'] }} {{ host['short'] }}
+{% else %}
+{{ host['ip'] }} {{ host['fqdn'] }}
+{% endif %}
+{% endfor %}