Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Administration Unleashed

162CHAPTER 6Analyzing HardwareFor each structure listed, the following information is presented:. Handle: Unique value for each structure so other structures can reference each other.. Type: The SMBIOS or DMI type number as defined by the SMBIOS or DMIspecifications.. Size: Size of the structure. Each one has a 4-byte header that stores the handle, type,and size. The remainder of the size stores the actual data about the structure, whichvaries, so the size varies.. Decoded values: Information about the structure. Varies according to the type asshown in Listing 6.11.The dmidecode output can be narrowed down by a few command-line options such asdmidecode -q to not display unknown, inactive, and OEM-specific values. Table 6.1 showsall the command-line options for dmidecode.TABLE 6.1 Command-Line Options for dmidecodeCommand Line Option Description-d Read memory from a different device file. The default file read is/dev/mem.-q Quiet mode. Does not display unknown, inactive, and OEMspecificvalues.-s Only show values with . can be one of thefollowing: bios-vendor, bios-version, bios-release-date,system-manufacturer, system-product-name, systemversion,system-serial-number, baseboard-manufacturer,baseboard-product-name, baseboard-version, baseboardserial-number,baseboard-asset-tag, chassismanufacturer,chassis-version, chassis-serial-number,chassis-asset-tag, processor-manufacturer, processorversion.Not all keywords return a value on all systems. To listvalid keywords for a system, execute dmidecode -s (don’t list a). This option can only be used once per commandexecution.-t Only show entries of type . can be one of thefollowing: bios, system, baseboard, chassis, processor,memory, cache, connector, slot. Specify more than one type byseparating them with commas. To list valid types for a system,execute dmidecode -t (don’t give a ). Refer to thedmidecode man page for a list of types along with their associatedtype number value.-u Dump data as hexadecimal instead of decoding them. Mostlyused for debugging purposes.-h Show brief usage information for dmidecode.-V Show version of dmidecode.