Lazy admin notes ;)

There’s a fantastic utility called lshw. In console mode, it provides detailed information about your CPU, motherboard, storage devices, HDDs, kernel configuration, memory timings, and more. Some Linux distributions include lshw by default, but it wasn’t available in Debian. To install it, simply install the lshw package:

aptitude install lshw

After installation, run the utility by typing lshw in the terminal, and you’ll immediately get a detailed report.

Here’s an example of the output you can expect:

root@sergey:/home/erdees# lshw
sergey
description: Desktop Computer
product: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
serial: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
width: 32 bits
capabilities: smbios-2.4 dmi-2.4 smp-1.4 smp
configuration: boot=normal chassis=desktop cpus=2 uuid=00020003-0004-0005-0006-000700080009
*-core
description: Motherboard
product: N68C-S UCC
vendor: ASRock
physical id: 0
*-firmware
description: BIOS
vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
physical id: 0
version: P1.40 (08/25/2010)
size: 64KiB
capacity: 960KiB
capabilities: pci upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb ls120boot zipboot biosbootspecification netboot
*-cpu:0
description: CPU
product: AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 220 Processor
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 3
bus info: cpu@0
version: 15.6.3
serial: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
slot: CPUSocket
size: 800MHz
capacity: 2800MHz
width: 64 bits
clock: 200MHz
capabilities: boot fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp x86-64 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc nonstop_tsc extd_apicid pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt cpufreq
*-cache:0
description: L1 cache
physical id: 5
slot: L1-Cache
size: 128KiB
capacity: 256KiB
capabilities: pipeline-burst internal varies data
*-cache:1
description: L2 cache
physical id: 6
slot: L2-Cache
size: 512KiB
capacity: 1MiB
capabilities: pipeline-burst internal varies unified
*-memory:0
description: System Memory
physical id: e
slot: System board or motherboard
size: 2GiB
*-bank:0
description: DIMM Synchronous 400 MHz (2.5 ns)
product: PartNum0
vendor: Manufacturer0
physical id: 0
serial: SerNum0
slot: DIMM0
size: 2GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 400MHz (2.5ns)
*-bank:1
description: [empty]
product: PartNum1
vendor: Manufacturer1
physical id: 1
serial: SerNum1
slot: DIMM1
*-cpu:1
physical id: 4
bus info: cpu@1
version: 15.6.3
size: 2800MHz
capacity: 2800MHz
capabilities: cpufreq
*-cache:0
description: L1 cache
physical id: 0
size: 128KiB
*-cache:1
description: L2 cache
physical id: 1
size: 512KiB
*-memory:1 UNCLAIMED
description: RAM memory
product: MCP61 LPC Bridge
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: a
bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
version: a1
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz (15.2ns)
capabilities: ht bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
*-isa
description: ISA bridge
product: MCP61 LPC Bridge
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: isa bus_master
configuration: latency=0
resources: ioport:900(size=256)
*-serial
description: SMBus
product: MCP61 SMBus
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: 1.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:01.1
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pm cap_list
configuration: driver=nForce2_smbus latency=0
resources: irq:11 ioport:dc00(size=64) ioport:600(size=64) ioport:700(size=64)
*-memory:2 UNCLAIMED
description: RAM memory
product: MCP61 Memory Controller
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: 1.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:01.2
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz (15.2ns)
configuration: latency=0
*-usb:0
description: USB Controller
product: MCP61 USB Controller
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
version: a3
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pm ohci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ohci_hcd latency=0 maxlatency=1 mingnt=3
resources: irq:23 memory:f7fff000-f7ffffff
*-usb:1
description: USB Controller
product: MCP61 USB Controller
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: 2.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.1
version: a3
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: debug pm ehci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0 maxlatency=1 mingnt=3
resources: irq:22 memory:f7ffec00-f7ffecff
*-pci:0
description: PCI bridge
product: MCP61 PCI bridge
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: 100
bus info: pci@0000:00:04.0
version: a1
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pci ht subtractive_decode bus_master cap_list
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: MCP61 High Definition Audio
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: 5
bus info: pci@0000:00:05.0
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pm msi ht bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=HDA Intel latency=0 maxlatency=5 mingnt=2
resources: irq:22 memory:f7ff8000-f7ffbfff
*-ide:0
description: IDE interface
product: MCP61 IDE
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: 6
bus info: pci@0000:00:06.0
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ide pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pata_amd latency=0 maxlatency=1 mingnt=3
resources: irq:0 ioport:1f0(size=8) ioport:3f6 ioport:170(size=8) ioport:376 ioport:ffa0(size=16)
*-bridge
description: Ethernet interface
product: MCP61 Ethernet
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: 7
bus info: pci@0000:00:07.0
logical name: eth1
version: a2
serial: 00:25:22:7c:24:3f
size: 100000000
capacity: 100000000
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: bridge pm msi ht bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=forcedeth driverversion=0.64 duplex=full ip=10.0.0.99 latency=0 link=yes maxlatency=20 mingnt=1 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
resources: irq:27 memory:f7ffd000-f7ffdfff ioport:d480(size=8)
*-ide:1
description: IDE interface
product: MCP61 SATA Controller
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: 8
bus info: pci@0000:00:08.0
logical name: scsi2
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ide pm msi ht bus_master cap_list emulated
configuration: driver=sata_nv latency=0 maxlatency=1 mingnt=3
resources: irq:21 ioport:d400(size=8) ioport:d080(size=4) ioport:d000(size=8) ioport:cc00(size=4) ioport:c880(size=16) memory:f7ffc000-f7ffcfff
*-disk
description: ATA Disk
product: Hitachi HDS72103
vendor: Hitachi
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: scsi@2:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sda
version: JPFO
serial: JPB421HF16YM0K
size: 298GiB (320GB)
capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=0009f25e
*-volume:0
description: EXT4 volume
vendor: Linux
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@2:0.0.0,1
logical name: /dev/sda1
logical name: /
version: 1.0
serial: 9b56b814-078c-4a13-96b1-d5ec8ea79272
size: 29GiB
capacity: 29GiB
capabilities: primary bootable journaled extended_attributes large_files huge_files dir_nlink extents ext4 ext2 initialized
configuration: created=2011-03-22 12:21:34 filesystem=ext4 lastmountpoint=/F$���g��x=��’��n��p7���^��g���^��^�!����g��� modified=2011-06-08 13:51:51 mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,barrier=1,data=ordered mounted=2011-08-24 08:56:59 state=mounted
*-volume:1
description: Extended partition
physical id: 2
bus info: scsi@2:0.0.0,2
logical name: /dev/sda2
size: 268GiB
capacity: 268GiB
capabilities: primary extended partitioned partitioned:extended
*-logicalvolume:0
description: Linux filesystem partition
physical id: 5
logical name: /dev/sda5
logical name: /home
capacity: 266GiB
configuration: mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered state=mounted
*-logicalvolume:1
description: Linux swap / Solaris partition
physical id: 6
logical name: /dev/sda6
capacity: 1880MiB
capabilities: nofs
*-ide:2
description: IDE interface
product: MCP61 SATA Controller
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: 8.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:08.1
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ide pm msi ht bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=sata_nv latency=0 maxlatency=1 mingnt=3
resources: irq:20 ioport:c800(size=8) ioport:c480(size=4) ioport:c400(size=8) ioport:c080(size=4) ioport:c000(size=16) memory:f7ff7000-f7ff7fff
*-pci:1
description: PCI bridge
product: MCP61 PCI Express bridge
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: 9
bus info: pci@0000:00:09.0
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pm msi ht pciexpress normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:24 ioport:e000(size=4096) memory:f8000000-fbffffff ioport:e0000000(size=268435456)
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: G98 [GeForce 8400 GS]
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
version: a1
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=nvidia latency=0
resources: irq:19 memory:fb000000-fbffffff memory:e0000000-efffffff(prefetchable) memory:f8000000-f9ffffff ioport:ec00(size=128) memory:fafe0000-faffffff(prefetchable)
*-pci:2
description: PCI bridge
product: MCP61 PCI Express bridge
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: b
bus info: pci@0000:00:0b.0
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pm msi ht pciexpress normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:25
*-pci:3
description: PCI bridge
product: MCP61 PCI Express bridge
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: c
bus info: pci@0000:00:0c.0
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pm msi ht pciexpress normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:26
*-pci:4
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 101
bus info: pci@0000:00:18.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-pci:5
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor Address Map
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 102
bus info: pci@0000:00:18.1
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-pci:6
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 103
bus info: pci@0000:00:18.2
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-pci:7
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 104
bus info: pci@0000:00:18.3
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
configuration: driver=k10temp
resources: irq:0
*-pci:8
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor Link Control
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 105
bus info: pci@0000:00:18.4
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-network DISABLED
description: Ethernet interface
physical id: 1
logical name: vboxnet0
serial: 0a:00:27:00:00:00
capabilities: ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes multicast=yes
root@sergey:/home/erdees#