AIX::SysInfo - A Perl module for retrieving information about an AIX
(RS/6000) system
SYNOPSIS
use AIX::SysInfo;
my %sysinfo = get_sysinfo;
DESCRIPTION
This module provides a Perl interface for accessing information about an
RS/6000 machine running the AIX operating system. It makes available a
single function, get_sysinfo, which returns a hash containing the
following keys:
hostname
The value of this key contains the hostname of the system.
serial_num
The value of this key contains the unique ID number for the system.
num_procs
The value of this key contains the number of processors in the
system.
total_ram
The value of this key contains the total amount of RAM in the
system, in megabytes.
total_swap
The value of this key contains the total amount of swap space in the
system, in megabytes.
aix_version
The value of this key contains the version of AIX and the latest
complete maintenance level on ths system, in the form "VRMF-ML".
model_type
The value of this key contains the RS/6000 model type of the system.
See the NOTE below for more information.
proc_speed
The value of this key contains the speed of the processors in the
system. See the NOTE below for more information.
sys_arch
The value of this key contains the type of processor architecture in
the system. See the NOTE below for more information.
The values for model_type, proc_speed, and sys_arch are obtained by
parsing several system values, as described in the IBM TechDoc
`Determining CPU Speed in AIX', available from
*http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/rs6k/techbrowse/*. This article
describes several methods for determining those pieces of information.
Unfortunately, the methods provided by IBM do not include every RS/6000
model ever made, and some of the methods result in ambiguous results
(i.e., multiple values for each key.) All possible values for each item
are returned as a single scalar, separated by the word "or".
VERSION
1.0 (released 2000-07-03)
BUGS
Since I do not have access to every combination of hardware and
operating system, this module has been tested in only a small subset of
possible environments. Therefor, there may be "unexpected behavior" in
some of the environments where I have not been able to test.
For that reason, I'd really appreciate it if people would e-mail me if
any of the values produced by this module do not conform with their
expectations.
Also, because this is such an early release version, the functions and
the types of values returned are subject to change, based on feedback
from users. Don't depend on this module (yet!) for use in production
code.
TO-DO
* Find a more definitive way of obtaining some of the information
returned by functions in this module.
* Add an object-oriented interface.
* Add many more functions.
* Add features requested by AIX sysadmins (hint, hint!)
AUTHOR
Sandor W. Sklar
<mailto:ssklar@stanford.edu>
<http://whippet.stanford.edu/~ssklar/>
COPYRIGHT/LICENSE
Copyright (c) 2001, Sandor W. Sklar. This module is free software. It
may be used, redistributed, and/or modified under the terms of the Perl
Artistic License.