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.

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

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

• How to Display a System's Processor Type

• How to Display a System's Host ID Number

• How to Display the Date and Time

• How to Set a System's Date and Time Manually

• How to Set Up a Message-of-the-Day

• How to Change a System's Host Name

Displaying System Information

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

Table 15-1 Commands for Displaying System Information

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