Linux system properties

Problem

Find your system information in Linux through the command line.

Solution

Most files that hold system information can be found in /proc, such as /proc/mdstat.

Easiest way to read them is to use either the less, or cat command to to read them:

less /proc/cpuinfo

or

cat /proc/cpuinfo

Using grep

You can append | grep parameter at the end of your command to only display lines that contain your parameter. The following command finds anything in /proc/meminfo with the line containing "Total"

cat /proc/meminfo | grep Total

MemTotal: 16036920 kB
SwapTotal: 8388600 kB
VmallocTotal: 34359738367 kB
HugePages_Total: 0

Keep in mind that Linux is case-sensitive, so if you cannot find the line you need, but believe it should be there, capitalize the first letter. "| grep total" will not work, but "| grep Total" will.

Important /proc files

cpuinfo - shows information about your CPU. Append "| grep model" to see your CPU's model number.

meminfo - shows information about your system memory (RAM). Append "| grep Total" to see your total system RAM.

version - shows current version and distribution of your OS

devices - shows a list of all attached devices (including system buses and available ports). Append "| grep devtype" to look up specific devices, such as hard drives. Wildcards are allowed. Example:

cat /proc/devices | grep tt*

partitions - shows hard drive partitions

mdstat - shows RAID information

modules - shows live modules

swap - shows swap file information

Other information files

Explore the /proc directory for other information you may require:

ls /proc