Comments on: How to find out the machine ID on various UNIXes http://www.pythian.com/blogs/672/how-to-find-out-the-machine-id-on-various-unixes News and views from Pythian DBAs Fri, 5 Dec 2008 02:08:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: David Edwards http://www.pythian.com/blogs/672/how-to-find-out-the-machine-id-on-various-unixes#comment-131383 David Edwards Thu, 22 Nov 2007 00:47:35 +0000 http://www.pythian.com/blogs/672/how-to-find-out-the-machine-id-on-various-unixes#comment-131383 Sheeri: /etc/lsb-release should be useful for that, and is less likely to be edited by a system admin. The "lsb" in the filename stands for "Linux Standard Base"; but I'm not sure how widely this file is implemented yet, even in distributions that aim for LSB-compliance. On my Ubuntu 7.04 box, it reads, DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu DISTRIB_RELEASE=7.04 DISTRIB_CODENAME=feisty DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 7.04" Sheeri:

/etc/lsb-release should be useful for that, and is less likely to be edited by a system admin. The “lsb” in the filename stands for “Linux Standard Base”; but I’m not sure how widely this file is implemented yet, even in distributions that aim for LSB-compliance.

On my Ubuntu 7.04 box, it reads,

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=7.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=feisty
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION=”Ubuntu 7.04″

]]> By: Sheeri http://www.pythian.com/blogs/672/how-to-find-out-the-machine-id-on-various-unixes#comment-131314 Sheeri Wed, 21 Nov 2007 23:24:52 +0000 http://www.pythian.com/blogs/672/how-to-find-out-the-machine-id-on-various-unixes#comment-131314 I just learned this a month or so ago myself.....On Linux (I haven't tried on other machines) /etc/issue will give you a more human readable result than uname -a will. For instance: > uname -a Linux hostname 2.4.32-grsec+f6b+gr217+nfs+a32+fuse23+tg+++opt+c8+gr2b-v6.194 #1 SMP [date timezone time] i686 GNU/Linux > cat /etc/issue Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 \n \l The \n and \l as well as other features are described here: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-change-login-message/ Since there are so many flavors of Linux, this can come in handier than uname -a -- with uname -a I had a hard time telling the differences among fedora versions. I just learned this a month or so ago myself…..On Linux (I haven’t tried on other machines) /etc/issue will give you a more human readable result than uname -a will.

For instance:

> uname -a
Linux hostname 2.4.32-grsec+f6b+gr217+nfs+a32+fuse23+tg+++opt+c8+gr2b-v6.194 #1 SMP [date timezone time] i686 GNU/Linux

> cat /etc/issue
Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 \n \l

The \n and \l as well as other features are described here:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-change-login-message/

Since there are so many flavors of Linux, this can come in handier than uname -a — with uname -a I had a hard time telling the differences among fedora versions.

]]> By: Darrin Leboeuf http://www.pythian.com/blogs/672/how-to-find-out-the-machine-id-on-various-unixes#comment-131301 Darrin Leboeuf Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:21:39 +0000 http://www.pythian.com/blogs/672/how-to-find-out-the-machine-id-on-various-unixes#comment-131301 Great point Dave... Here is one that I like to refer to as well: http://bhami.com/rosetta.html -D Great point Dave…

Here is one that I like to refer to as well: http://bhami.com/rosetta.html

-D

]]> By: David Edwards http://www.pythian.com/blogs/672/how-to-find-out-the-machine-id-on-various-unixes#comment-131299 David Edwards Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:18:29 +0000 http://www.pythian.com/blogs/672/how-to-find-out-the-machine-id-on-various-unixes#comment-131299 Don't forget the Unix Rosetta Stone as a key to things like this. I believe there are more than one of these now, so try a search for it: http://www.google.com/search?q=unix+rosetta+stone . Don’t forget the Unix Rosetta Stone as a key to things like this. I believe there are more than one of these now, so try a search for it: http://www.google.com/search?q=unix+rosetta+stone .

]]> By: Darrin Leboeuf http://www.pythian.com/blogs/672/how-to-find-out-the-machine-id-on-various-unixes#comment-131294 Darrin Leboeuf Wed, 21 Nov 2007 21:51:42 +0000 http://www.pythian.com/blogs/672/how-to-find-out-the-machine-id-on-various-unixes#comment-131294 Thanks Matt! Just to clarify - uname will typically print some system information and things like kernel name, node name processor architechture etc... The "HostID" is like a MAC address for a server in that is unique for each server. The command for Linux is also: <strong>hostid</strong> Thanks Matt! Just to clarify - uname will typically print some system information and things like kernel name, node name processor architechture etc… The “HostID” is like a MAC address for a server in that is unique for each server.

The command for Linux is also: hostid

]]> By: Matthew Montgomery http://www.pythian.com/blogs/672/how-to-find-out-the-machine-id-on-various-unixes#comment-131274 Matthew Montgomery Wed, 21 Nov 2007 21:19:52 +0000 http://www.pythian.com/blogs/672/how-to-find-out-the-machine-id-on-various-unixes#comment-131274 Linux : uname -n Linux : uname -n

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