Nagios variable $HOSTNAME$ in service definition

I got the following error: Error: Could not find any host matching '$HOSTNAME$' (config file '/usr/local/nagios/etc/servers/example.com.cfg', starting on line 136) Error: Failed to expand host list '$HOSTNAME$' for service 'HTTP' (/usr/local/nagios/etc/servers/example.com.cfg:136) My host/service definition: define host{ use linux-server ; Name of host template to use ; This host definition will inherit all variables that are defined ; in (or inherited by) the linux-server host template definition. host_name example.com alias example.com address 127.0.0.1 } ############################################################################### ############################################################################### # # HOST GROUP DEFINITION # ############################################################################### ############################################################################### # Define an optional hostgroup for Linux machines define hostgroup{ hostgroup_name linux-servers ; The name of the hostgroup alias Linux Servers ; Long name of the group members example.com ; Comma separated list of hosts that belong to this group } My template: # Local service definition template - This is NOT a real service, just a template! define service{ name local-service ; The name of this service template use generic-service ; Inherit default values from the generic-service definition max_check_attempts 4 ; Re-check the service up to 4 times in order to determine its final (hard) state check_interval 5 ; Check the service every 5 minutes under normal conditions retry_interval 1 ; Re-check the service every minute until a hard state can be determined register 0 ; DONT REGISTER THIS DEFINITION - ITS NOT A REAL SERVICE, JUST A TEMPLATE! } define service{ name http check_command check_http notifications_enabled 0 service_description HTTP host_name $HOSTNAME$ register 0 } define service{ use local-service,http ; Name of service template to use # host_name example.com } It's a fairly default Nagios, didn't do anything special with it. Am I using $HOSTNAME$ wrong or something? Would be nice if I can get a variable for the hostname, much less copy pasting etc :) Thank you!