Find Serial Number Linux

As the title of this article informs, the information in the article relates on how to check the server’s serial number. In order to check the serial number of a server, just type a certain command in the command line. The command is generally available in every common Linux operating system distribution. If there is a condition where a direct contact to the server is impossible, just remote the server to check the serial number. Every server has its own serial number. Normally, it exist as a label attached in the server. But sometimes, the label is not available in any part of the physical server and it is impossible to see it. So, if it is not possible to access the server directly in contact, just access the server remotely.

  1. How To Find Serial Number Linux
  2. How To Find Vmware Serial Number Linux
  3. Find Serial Number Linux
  1. A better way of doing it that works on most of the new distributions of linux is to the command dmidecode. It will show the serial number along with all sorts of useful information like product name and bios releases, etc.
  2. The serial interfaces (RS-232) is a legacy interface. It has no enumeration process, you have to tell your application which /dev/ttyS. to use (some application do have some auto-detection features, but it's not always reliable). About serial interfaces. The Serial port can either have a physical interface on your computer: DB9 serial interface.

Ever needed to obtain the serial number (or other details) for a remote server? Couldn’t be bothered to walk/run/drive/fly all the way there just to read a sticky label on the back or bottom of said server? The command you want to run, as root, is dmidecode. For example, to get the make and model and serial number of a server.

Without further explanation, below are steps to check the server’s serial number :

How To Find Serial Number Linux

1. Access the server remotely.

A common method for accessing a Linux operating system distribution remotely is by using ‘ssh’ tool command.The command pattern to remote server using ‘ssh’ command :

For an example :

2. After successfully access the server remotely, just type the suitable command in the command line.

Find Serial Number Linux

Below is the command pattern to accomplish the task :

For an example :

Basically, it is very easy to execute the command. Moreover, the execution of the above command is a success in Ubuntu Linux operating system distribution. Precisely, the execution of the command is done in Linux Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver. Actually, although the execution of the above example is a success in Linux Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver, the command itself is compatible with every command Linux operating system distribution. Just try to execute the command by typing it in the command line.

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?Discussion

How to identify a device > serial device

How to 'identify' the serial device (/dev/ttyS*) for a given interface of your computer (not the peripheral connected behind it).

The serial interfaces (RS-232) is a legacy interface. It has no enumeration process, you have to tell your application which /dev/ttyS* to use (some application do have some auto-detection features, but it's not always reliable).

Find

The Serial port can either have a physical interface on your computer:

  • DB9 serial interface.
  • DB25 serial interface (on older computers).
  • RJ-45 serial interface (mostly on switch and routers, but also on some computers like Sun ones).

Or it can be 'built-in' another device, like:

  • Internal Modem (ISA, PCI...).
  • PC Card (pcmcia, Cardbus...), including Modem, GSM or UMTS/3G cards.
  • USB to serial adapters.
  • Docking station (for laptop).

Often, the computer have an internal UART chipset, but not a physical interface : Recent laptops have the DB-9 connector on the docking station only ; Some desktop have 1 connector available, the 2nd requires an optional cable, etc. so what you see IS NOT what you have.

Using hal

hal in installed by default in Desktop Environment (both Gnome and Kde), but not on servers.

Take special attention to 'info.product' and 'linux.device_file' lines :

more example : thinkpad-a22-hal.txt ; usb-to-serial-adapter_hal.txt

Find in /sys/*

This command should work on all standard Debian installation (even minimalist ones).

some explanations on this example :

serial8250

How To Find Vmware Serial Number Linux

ttyS* under 'serial8250' probably doesn't exist (they are present by default because it's hard to detect if they are present or not)

Find Serial Number Linux

0000:00:1e.0/0000:15:00.0/0.0/tty:ttyS1

if you look at the lspci output above, pci device '00:1e.0' is a PCI bridge to the card bus controller ('15:00.0'), so ttyS1 is a PC Card device.

pci0000:00/0000:00:03.3/tty:ttyS0
ttyS0 is directly connected to the PCI bus. according to the PCI device name, you can assume it isn't a Modem, so it's probably a built-in serial interface.
ttyUSB0/tty:ttyUSB0

if you look at the lspci output above, pci device '00:1a.0' is a USB Controller, so ttyUSB1 is a USB device (USB-to-serial or modem).

more example : thinkpad-a22-find-sysfs.txt

keywords:UART ; 8250 , 16550 ; 16450 ; RS232 ; RS-232 ; DB-9 ; DB9 ; DB25 ; UART ; Serial ; ttyS0 ; ttyS1 ; ttyS3 ; ttyS4 ;COM1 ; COM2 ; Com Port