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 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.