Here are the three different ways you can determine which version of UNIX you are using.
The Slideshow below uses a Linux example, but the concepts are the same for all UNIX systems.
Often times I will ssh into a new client's box to make changes to their website configuration without knowing much about the server configuration.
I have seen a few ways to get information about the system you are using, but are there some standard commands to tell me what version of unix/linux I'm on and basic system information (like if it is a 64 bit system or not). Basically if you just logged into a box and didn't know anything about it, what things would you check out and what commands would you use to do it?
The motd in /etc/motd stands for "Message of the day."
As system administrator, you can modify this file to communicate information to all system users.
Just edit the file using a text editor. You will need to be
superuser[1] to have enough permissions to modify it. We will discuss becoming a superuser later in this module. You can modify /etc/issue, too.
The
uname
command can be extremely useful when writing shell programs that have to run on different UNIX versions. It provides a method for automatic detection of the operating system type.