Performance Tuning and Monitoring, Part 1

dmidecode

The dmidecode command reads the system DMI table to display hardware and BIOS information of the system. This command will give you information on the current configuration of your system, as well as the system’s maximum supported configuration. For example, dmidecode gives both the current RAM on the system and the maximum RAM supported by the system.

To get information about your motherboard, I can use the following command:

# dmidecode -t baseboard

Given below is the output of this command on my system:

Handle 0x0200, DMI type 2, 9 bytes
Base Board Information
    Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
    Product Name: 0XD720
    Version:
    Serial Number: .BYNX3C1.CN486436AI4147
    Asset Tag:

Handle 0x0200, DMI type 10, 6 bytes
On Board Device Information
    Type: Video
    Status: Ebabled
    Description: ATI MOBILITY Radeon X1400

Handle 0x0A01, DMI type 10, 6 bytes
On Board Device Information
    Type: Sound
    Status: Enabled
    Description: Sigmantel 9200

In the same manner, you can get any information about your system. Check the man pages if you are not sure about the options. Running dmidecode -t will show you all the options that you can use:

dmidecode option requires an argument — ‘t’
Type number of keyword expected
Valid type keywords are:
    biod
    system
    baseboard
    chassis
    processor
    memory
    cache
    connector
    slot

By using dmidecode, any of these options will give you detailed information about it. For instance, if I want to know about the CPU, I can now easily run: dmidecode -t processor

I can also use grep with dmidecode to check how much RAM my system will support, as follows:

# dmidecode -t memory | grep -i Maximum
    Maximum Capacity: 4GB

So this is a very handy tool to know about your system’s configuration and capabilities.