System Administration Guide: Advanced Administration

Chapter 15 Displaying and Changing System Information (Tasks)

This chapter describes the tasks required to display and change the most common system information. This is a list of the step-by-step instructions in this chapter.

Displaying System Information

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

Table 15–1 Commands for Displaying System Information


Command	Man Page	System Information Displayed
`date`	date(1)	Date and time
`hostid`	hostid(1)	Host ID number
`isainfo`	isainfo(1)	Reports the number of bits supported by native applications on the running system, which can be passed as a token to scripts
`isalist`	isalist(1)	Identifies processor type for x86
`prtconf`	prtconf(1M)	Installed memory
`psrinfo`	psrinfo(1M)	Processor type
`showrev`	showrev(1M)	Hostname, host ID, release, kernel architecture, application architecture, hardware provider, domain, and kernel version
`uname`	uname(1)	Operating system name, release, version, node name, hardware name, and processor type

How to Determine If 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. To verify if a system is an UltraSPARC system, use the following command:

$ uname -m
sun4u

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

You can verify that the machine is an UltraSPARC system by using the psrinfo command:

# psrinfo -v 		
Status of processor 0 as of: 05/30/01 13:48:46
  Processor has been on-line since 05/18/01 10:02:40.
  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.

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

Use the isainfo command to determine if a system has 64-bit capabilities enabled, which means that the system is booted with the 64–bit kernel.

Examples—Determining If a System Has 64–bit Solaris Capabilities Enabled

The output for an UltraSPARC system running a 32-bit kernel appears as follows:

$ isainfo -v
32-bit sparc applications

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

The output for an UltraSPARC system running a 64-bit kernel appears as follows:

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

This output means that 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, x86, or UltraSPARC system running the 32–bit Solaris operating environment appears as follows:

$ isainfo -b
32

The output from a 64–bit UltraSPARC system running the 64–bit Solaris operating environment appears as follows:

$ 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.

How to Display a System's Processor Type

Use the psrinfo -v command to identify a system's processor type. This command also displays the number of processors, as shown in the following example.

#psrinfo -v
Status of processor 0 as of: 02/24/2003 09:11:05
  Processor has been on-line since 02/03/2003 10:21:46.
  The sparcv9 processor operates at 600 MHz,
        and has a sparcv9 floating point processor.
Status of processor 1 as of: 02/24/2003 09:11:05
  Processor has been on-line since 02/24/2003 07:02:28.
  The sparcv9 processor operates at 600 MHz,
        and has a sparcv9 floating point processor.

On an x86 system, use the isalist command to identify the processor type.

#isalist
pentium_pro+mmx pentium_pro pentium+mmx pentium i486 i386 i86

How to Display Solaris Release Information

Display the contents of the /etc/release file to identify your Solaris release version.

$ more /etc/release
                       Solaris 9 s9_58shwpl3 SPARC
           Copyright 2002 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
                        Use is subject to license terms.
                             Assembled 15 April 2002

How to Display General System Information

To display general system information, use the showrev command.

Examples—Displaying General System Information

The following example shows the showrev command output. The -a option displays all available system information.

$ showrev -a
Hostname: starbug
Hostid: nnnnnnnn
Release: 5.9
Kernel architecture: sun4u
Application architecture: sparc
Hardware provider: Sun_Microsystems
Domain: solar.com
Kernel version: SunOS 5.9 May 2002

OpenWindows version: 
X11 Version 6.6.1 5 April 2002

No patches are installed
$

You can also use the uname command to display system information. The following example shows the uname command output. The -a option displays the operating system name as well as the system node name, operating system release, operating system version, hardware name, and processor type.

$ uname
SunOS
$ uname -a
SunOS starbug 5.9 Generic sun4u sparc SUNW,Ultra-5_10
$

How to Display a System's Host ID Number

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

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.

Example—Displaying a System's Installed Memory

The following example shows sample output from the prtconf command. The grep Memory command selects output from the prtconf command to display memory information only.

# 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.

Example—Displaying the Date and Time

The following example shows sample output from the date command.

$ date
Thu May 31 17:44:58 MDT 2003
$

Changing System Information

This section describes commands that enable you to change general system information.

How to Set a System's Date and Time Manually

Become superuser.

Enter the new date and time.

# date mmddHHMM[[cc]yy]

`mm`	Month, using two digits.
`dd`	Day of the month, using two digits.
`HH`	Hour, using two digits and a 24-hour clock.
`MM`	Minutes, using two digits.
`cc`	Century, using two digits.
`yy`	Year, using two digits.

See date(1) for more information.

Verify that you have reset your system's date correctly by using the date command with no options.

Example—Setting a System's Date and Time Manually

The following example shows how to use the date command to manually set a system's date and time.

# date
Thu Jun 21 13:59:15 MDT 2003
# date 0621141003
Thu Jun 21 14:10:00 MDT 2003

How to Set Up a Message-of-the-Day

Edit the message-of-the-day file, /etc/motd, to include announcements or inquiries to all users of a system when they log in. Use this feature sparingly, and edit this file regularly to remove obsolete messages.

Become superuser.

Edit the /etc/motd file and add a message of your choice.

Edit the text to include the message that will be displayed during user login. Include spaces, Tabs, and Returns.

Verify the changes by displaying the contents of the /etc/motd file.
$ cat /etc/motd Welcome to the UNIX Universe. Have a nice day.

Example—Setting Up a Message-of-the-Day

The default message-of-the-day, provided when you install Solaris software, contains SunOS version information.

$ cat /etc/motd
Sun Microsystems Inc.   SunOS 5.9       Generic  May 2002

The following example shows an edited /etc/motd file that provides information about system availability to each user who logs in.

$ cat /etc/motd
The system will be down from 7:00 a.m to 2:00 p.m. on
Saturday, July 7, for upgrades and maintenance.
Do not try to access the system during those hours.
Thank you.

How to Change a System's Host Name

A system's host name is specified in several different locations.

Remember to update your name service database to reflect the new host name.

Use the following procedure to change or rename a system's name.

Become superuser.

Change the system's host name in the following files:
- /etc/nodename
- /etc/hostname.xxy
- /etc/inet/hosts
- /etc/net/ticlts/hosts
- /etc/net/ticots/hosts
- /etc/net/ticotsord/hosts

(Optional) If using a name service, change the system's host name in the hostfile.

Reboot the system to activate the new host name.
# init 6