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Getting Hardware Information from a Machine
Introduction
On machines (especially remote ones), it’s often useful to obtain information such as available RAM, etc.
In short, we might need other information, and I’m not sure where to put all of this data.
Linux
dmesg
This command shows what is written during kernel boot and all kernel calls (module loading, etc.). On some distributions, it’s even written in the logs in /var/log/*. Here’s an example output:
dmesg
[ 0.000000] Linux version 2.6.22-14-generic (buildd@king) (gcc version 4.1.3 20070929 (prerelease) (Ubuntu 4.1.2-16ubuntu2)) #1 SMP Tue Feb 12 02:46:46 UTC 2008 (Ubuntu 2.6.22-14.52-generic)
[ 0.000000] Command line: root=/dev/mapper/lvm-racine ro quiet splash
[ 0.000000] BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009fc00 (usable)
[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 00000000000f0000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 000000007fe0ac00 (usable)
...
dmidecode
This command allows you to view RAM usage, free space, and other useful information:
# dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.3 present.
75 structures occupying 2618 bytes.
Table at 0x000F0450.
Handle 0xDA00, DMI type 218, 65 bytes
OEM-specific Type
Header and Data:
DA 41 00 DA B2 00 17 0B 0E 38 00 00 80 00 80 01
00 02 80 02 80 01 00 00 A0 00 A0 01 00 58 00 58
00 01 00 59 00 59 00 01 00 75 01 75 01 01 00 76
01 76 01 01 00 05 80 05 80 01 00 FF FF 00 00 00
00
Handle 0xDA01, DMI type 218, 35 bytes
OEM-specific Type
Header and Data:
DA 23 01 DA B2 00 17 0B 0E 38 00 10 F5 10 F5 00
00 11 F5 11 F5 00 00 12 F5 12 F5 00 00 FF FF 00
...
Hard Disks
For hard disk information, use the hdparm command to get all the details:
$ hdparm -i /dev/sda
/dev/sda:
Model=ST3500320AS , FwRev=SD15 , SerialNo= 9QM89WJF
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs RotSpdTol>.5% }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4
BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=?8?
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=976773168
IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6
AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: unknown: ATA/ATAPI-4,5,6,7
* signifies the current active mode
BSD
dmesg
Just like in Linux, the dmesg command exists, but the logs are not in the same place. You need to look in the /var/run/dmesg.boot file:
$ cat /var/run/dmesg.boot
OpenBSD 4.2 (GENERIC.MP) #1378: Tue Aug 28 10:48:58 MDT 2007
deraadt@amd64.openbsd.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile/GENERIC.MP
real mem = 2146729984 (2047MB)
avail mem = 2073427968 (1977MB)
mainbus0 at root
bios0 at mainbus0: SMBIOS rev. 2.4 @ 0x7ffbc000 (62 entries)
bios0: vendor Dell Inc. version "1.5.1" date 08/10/2007
bios0: Dell Inc. PowerEdge 1950
acpi at mainbus0 not configured
ipmi0 at mainbus0: version 2.0 interface KCS iobase 0xca8/8 spacing 4
mainbus0: Intel MP Specification (Version 1.4)
cpu0 at mainbus0: apid 0 (boot processor)
cpu0: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU 5130 @ 2.00GHz, 1995.33 MHz
cpu0: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,DS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,SBF,SSE3,MWAIT,DS-CPL,VMX,TM2,CX16,xTPR,NXE,LONG
cpu0: 4MB 64b/line 16-way L2 cache
cpu0: apic clock running at 332MHz
cpu1 at mainbus0: apid 1 (application processor)
cpu1: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU 5130 @ 2.00GHz, 1995.02 MHz
cpu1: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,DS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,SBF,SSE3,MWAIT,DS-CPL,VMX,TM2,CX16,xTPR,NXE,LONG
cpu1: 4MB 64b/line 16-way L2 cache
mpbios: bus 0 is type PCI
mpbios: bus 1 is type PCI
...
Solaris
prtdiag
Here’s how to obtain hardware information on Solaris:
System Configuration: Sun Microsystems Sun Fire X4140
BIOS Configuration: American Megatrends Inc. 080014 10/15/2008
BMC Configuration: IPMI 2.0 (KCS: Keyboard Controller Style)
==== Processor Sockets ====================================
Version Location Tag
-------------------------------- --------------------------
Quad-Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 2384 CPU 1
Quad-Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 2384 CPU 2
==== Memory Device Sockets ================================
Type Status Set Device Locator Bank Locator
------- ------ --- ------------------- --------------------
unknown empty 0 DIMM0 BANK0
unknown empty 0 DIMM1 BANK1
DDR2 in use 0 DIMM2 BANK2
DDR2 in use 0 DIMM3 BANK3
DDR2 in use 0 DIMM4 BANK4
DDR2 in use 0 DIMM5 BANK5
DDR2 in use 0 DIMM6 BANK6
DDR2 in use 0 DIMM7 BANK7
unknown empty 0 DIMM8 BANK8
unknown empty 0 DIMM9 BANK9
DDR2 in use 0 DIMM10 BANK10
DDR2 in use 0 DIMM11 BANK11
DDR2 in use 0 DIMM12 BANK12
DDR2 in use 0 DIMM13 BANK13
DDR2 in use 0 DIMM14 BANK14
DDR2 in use 0 DIMM15 BANK15
==== On-Board Devices =====================================
Gigabit Ethernet #1
Gigabit Ethernet #2
Gigabit Ethernet #3
Gigabit Ethernet #4
AST2000 VGA
==== Upgradeable Slots ====================================
ID Status Type Description
--- --------- ---------------- ----------------------------
0 in use PCI Express PCIExp SLOT0
1 available PCI Express PCIExp SLOT1
2 in use PCI Express PCIExp SLOT2
3 available PCI Express PCIExp SLOT3
4 available PCI Express PCIExp SLOT4
5 available PCI Express PCIExp SLOT5
prtconf
System Configuration: Sun Microsystems i86pc
Memory size: 73728 Megabytes
System Peripherals (Software Nodes):
i86pc
scsi_vhci, instance #0
disk, instance #5
disk, instance #6
disk, instance #7
disk, instance #8
isa, instance #0
asy, instance #0
motherboard (driver not attached)
pci, instance #0
pci10de,cb84 (driver not attached)
pci10de,cb84 (driver not attached)
pci10de,cb84 (driver not attached)
pci10de,cb84, instance #0
device, instance #0
keyboard, instance #0
mouse, instance #1
pci10de,cb84, instance #0
storage, instance #0
disk, instance #2
hub, instance #0
pci10de,cb84, instance #0
pci10de,cb84, instance #1
pci10de,cb84, instance #2
pci10de,370, instance #0
display, instance #0
pci10de,cb84, instance #0
pci10de,cb84, instance #1
pci10de,377 (driver not attached)
pci10de,376 (driver not attached)
pci10de,375, instance #2
pci108e,286, instance #0
disk, instance #3
pci1022,1200 (driver not attached)
pci1022,1201 (driver not attached)
pci1022,1202 (driver not attached)
pci1022,1203 (driver not attached)
pci1022,1204 (driver not attached)
pci1022,1200 (driver not attached)
pci1022,1201 (driver not attached)
pci1022,1202 (driver not attached)
pci1022,1203 (driver not attached)
pci1022,1204 (driver not attached)
pci, instance #1
pci10de,cb84 (driver not attached)
pci10de,cb84 (driver not attached)
pci10de,368 (driver not attached)
pci10de,cb84, instance #3
pci10de,cb84, instance #4
pci10de,cb84, instance #5
pci10de,cb84, instance #2
pci10de,cb84, instance #3
pci10de,378 (driver not attached)
pci10de,376 (driver not attached)
pci10de,377, instance #5
pci1077,143, instance #0
fp, instance #0
disk, instance #9
disk, instance #10
pci1077,143, instance #1
fp, instance #1
disk, instance #4
iscsi, instance #0
pseudo, instance #0
options, instance #0
agpgart, instance #0
xsvc, instance #0
objmgr, instance #0
used-resources (driver not attached)
cpus, instance #0
cpu, instance #0
cpu, instance #1
cpu, instance #2
cpu, instance #3
cpu, instance #4
cpu, instance #5
cpu, instance #6
cpu, instance #7
Resources
Last updated 26 Aug 2009, 13:30 CEST.