How do I find out the distro of a server?

Question

I always wonder this, every time someone gives me access to their server, I always want to find out what distro it is. I figured it'd be more fun to actually type a command rather than asking the admin.

Possible duplicate of [Determining type of Linux machine](https://serverfault.com/questions/55834/determining-type-of-linux-machine) — Jenny D, Apr 14 '17 at 10:16

score 14 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 23 '09 at 15:00

14

On most modern distributions, you can query the Linux Standard Base system with

lsb_release -d

Sample output:

Description:    Debian GNU/Linux 5.0.2 (lenny)
Description:    Ubuntu 9.04

answered Aug 23 '09 at 15:00

Zanchey

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LSB toolset seems to always be available in modern distributions, but rarely installed by default... – freiheit Aug 23 '09 at 15:25
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@freiheit - I think that says all you need to know about LSB really :-) – Zanchey Aug 24 '09 at 04:12

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:04

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I answered a similar question on SuperUser.

For most of the popular distributions then,
cat /etc/*{release,version}

edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:04

Community

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answered Aug 23 '09 at 21:51

jtimberman

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 23 '09 at 13:44

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For distribution name...

cat /etc/issue

For platform...

uname -a

answered Aug 23 '09 at 13:44

Nick Bolton

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/etc/issue is commonly replaced with a banner about authorized access as best practice in a lot of security guides, and common practice in many organizations. – jtimberman Aug 23 '09 at 21:52
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yea i overwrite my /etc/issue with ascii art. – Roy Rico Sep 25 '09 at 21:09
haha, excellent :) – Nick Bolton Oct 22 '09 at 17:46

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 23 '09 at 15:21

The most reliable for figuring out which linux distribution:

ls -ld /etc/*release* /etc/*version*

Then cat whatever files look interesting from that.

But you probably (as mentioned in another comment already) always want to run uname -a first, in case it isn't even a linux distribution.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 23 '09 at 15:44

There is a routine in VBoxSysInfo.sh, that is part of VirtualBox that can be a good starting point.

However, I'd rather ask the sysadmin about this. Apart from the distribution, particular servers can have specific settings and it is frustrating to discover those right after breaking them (not to mention pissing off the sysadmin, that'll became hostile to you for being a smartass and breaking his server). I tend to treat all sysadmins as friends/teammates, there is plenty of other people to fight with: users, management etc :-)

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 24 '09 at 11:06

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You can also run nmap -A to let it guess the OS and version installed on a remote host

answered Aug 24 '09 at 11:06

dmityugov

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How do I find out the distro of a server?

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