System Administration Guide, Volume 2

Using Commands to Display System Information

The following table describes commands that enable you to display general system information.

Table 27-1 Commands for Displaying System Information


Command	Enables You to Display a System's ...
psrinfo(1M)	Processor type
isainfo(1)	Supported applications and it reports the number of bits supported by native applications on the running system, which can be passed as a token to scripts
showrev(1M)	Hostname, host identification number, release, kernel architecture, application architecture, hardware provider, domain, and kernel version
uname(1)	Operating system name, release, and version; node name; hardware name; processor type
hostid(1)	Host ID number
prtconf(1M)	Installed memory
date(1)	Date and time

How to Determine Whether a System Can Run the 64-bit Solaris Operating Environment

Currently, the only platform capable of supporting the 64-bit Solaris operating environment is an UltraSPARC system. You can verify whether a system is an UltraSPARC system by using the following command:

$ uname -m
sun4u

If the output of the uname -m command is sun4u, then the machine is an UltraSPARC system.

If you are running the Solaris 8 release, you can verify this by using the psrinfo command:

# psrinfo -v 		
Status of processor 0 as of: 07/12/99 09:41:47
  Processor has been on-line since 07/08/99 13:51:11.
  The sparcv9 processor operates at 333 MHz,
        and has a sparcv9 floating point processor.

If the processor type is sparcv9, the platform is capable of running the 64-bit Solaris operating environment. This test does not work on previous versions of the psrinfo command, where all platforms report the less precise sparc as the processor type.

How to Determine Whether a System Has 64-bit Solaris Capabilities Enabled

You can use the isainfo command to determine whether a system has 64-bit capabilities enabled, which means the system is booted with the 64-bit kernel.

Examples--Determining Whether a System Has 64-bit Solaris Capabilities Enabled

An UltraSPARC system running a 32-bit kernel looks like this:

$ isainfo -v
32-bit sparc applications

The output means this system is capable of supporting only 32-bit applications.

An UltraSPARC system running a 64-bit kernel looks like this:

 $ isainfo -v 
64-bit sparcv9 applications 
32-bit sparc applications

This output means this system is capable of supporting both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

Use the isainfo -b command to display the number of bits supported by native applications on the running system.

The output from a SPARC, IA, or UltraSPARC system running the 32-bit Solaris operating environment looks like this:

$ isainfo -b
32

The output from a 64-bit UltraSPARC system running the 64-bit Solaris operating environment looks like:

$ isainfo -b
64

The command returns 64 only. Even though a 64-bit UltraSPARC system is capable of running both types of applications, 64-bit applications are the best kind of applications to run on a 64-bit system.

The uname -p output remains sparc or i386 to ensure that existing 32-bit applications continue to run without interruption.

How to Display System and Software Release Information

To display specific system and software release information, use the showrev command.

$ showrev [-a]

`-a`	Displays all system release information available.

Example--Displaying System and Software Release Information

The following example shows showrev command output.

$ showrev -a
Hostname: starbug
Hostid: nnnnnnnn
Release: 5.8
Kernel architecture: sun4u
Application architecture: sparc
Hardware provider: Sun_Microsystems
Domain: solar.com
Kernel version: SunOS 5.8 s28_26 February 2000

OpenWindows version: 
OpenWindows Version 3.6.2  9 August 1999

No patches are installed
$

How to Display General System Information (`uname`)

To display system information, use the uname command.

$ uname[-a]

`-a`	Displays the operating system name as well as the system node name, operating system release, operating system version, hardware name, and processor type.

Example--Displaying General System Information

The following example shows uname command output.

$ uname
SunOS
$ uname -a
SunOS starbug 5.8 Generic sun4u sparc SUNW,Ultra-5_10
$

How to Display a System's Host ID Number

To display the host identification number in hexadecimal format, use the hostid command.

$ hostid

Example--Displaying a System's Host ID Number

The following example shows sample output from the hostid command.

$ hostid
80a5d34c

How to Display a System's Installed Memory

To display the amount of memory installed on your system, use the prtconf command.

$ prtconf [| grep Memory]

grep Memory

Focuses output from this command to display memory information only.

Example--Displaying a System's Installed Memory

The following example shows sample output from the prtconf command.

# prtconf | grep Memory
Memory size: 128 Megabytes

How to Display the Date and Time

To display the current date and time according to your system clock, use the date command.

$ date

Example--Displaying the Date and Time

The following example shows sample output from the date command.

$ date
Thu Sep 16 14:06:44 MDT 1999
$