7

Is there a way to check a server (without opening it up and physically looking) at the amount of ram that is in the box in terms of how many slots are free. Also I need to know how much ram it could possibly take?

I know I can check /proc/meminfo for the RAM but I'm really more concerned with the type of ram how many slots are free/taken. i.e. I need to know how much ram I can add and what type to add to a particular but have no idea how to go about doing so.

3
  • cat /proc/meminfo
    – Anonymous
    Oct 25, 2011 at 21:15
  • 1
    You can run free -m, it shows total memory, used memory, free memory in megabytes.
    – Anonymous
    Oct 25, 2011 at 21:23
  • sudo apt-get update hwinfo then hwinfo --memory
    – Anonymous
    Oct 25, 2011 at 21:24

3 Answers 3

12

One nice tool (in addition to dmidecode) is lshw.

E.g.,

$ sudo lshw -short -C memory
H/W path               Device       Class      Description
==========================================================
/0/0                                memory     64KiB BIOS
/0/400/700                          memory     16KiB L1 cache
/0/400/701                          memory     1MiB L2 cache
/0/1000                             memory     2GiB System Memory
/0/1000/0                           memory     512MiB DIMM SDRAM Synchronous 400 MHz (2.5 
/0/1000/1                           memory     512MiB DIMM SDRAM Synchronous 400 MHz (2.5 
/0/1000/2                           memory     512MiB DIMM SDRAM Synchronous 400 MHz (2.5 
/0/1000/3                           memory     512MiB DIMM SDRAM Synchronous 400 MHz (2.5 

Or

$ sudo lshw -C memory
[...]

      *-cache:0
           description: L1 cache
           physical id: 700
           size: 16KiB
           capacity: 16KiB
           capabilities: internal write-back data
[...]
      *-memory
           description: System Memory
           physical id: 1000
           slot: System board or motherboard
           size: 2GiB
         *-bank:0
              description: DIMM SDRAM Synchronous 400 MHz (2.5 ns)
              physical id: 0
              slot: DIMM_1
              size: 512MiB
              width: 64 bits
              clock: 400MHz (2.5ns)
         *-bank:1
              description: DIMM SDRAM Synchronous 400 MHz (2.5 ns)
              physical id: 1
              slot: DIMM_3
              size: 512MiB
              width: 64 bits
              clock: 400MHz (2.5ns)
         *-bank:2
[...]
0
5

Another option is the lshw command (man page) - it gives output about lots of things including the RAM slots. The full output is very long, but sudo lshw -short gives a summary including one line per RAM slot, whether or not there is any RAM in the slot. Or for the full info on RAM, but omitting everything else you could do sudo lshw -class memory.

The output I get from sudo lshw -short is:

H/W path               Device      Class          Description
=============================================================
                                   system         ESPRIMO E ()
/0                                 bus            D2348-A2
/0/0                               memory         109KiB BIOS
/0/4                               processor      Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU          6300  @ 1.86GHz
/0/4/6                             memory         2MiB L2 cache
/0/7                               memory         2MiB L3 cache
/0/25                              memory         6GiB System Memory
/0/25/0                            memory         2GiB DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 533 MHz (1.9 ns)
/0/25/1                            memory         1GiB DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 533 MHz (1.9 ns)
/0/25/2                            memory         2GiB DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 533 MHz (1.9 ns)
/0/25/3                            memory         1GiB DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 533 MHz (1.9 ns)
/0/100                             bridge         82Q963/Q965 Memory Controller Hub
/0/100/2                           display        82Q963/Q965 Integrated Graphics Controller
/0/100/3                           communication  82Q963/Q965 HECI Controller
/0/100/3.2                         storage        82Q963/Q965 PT IDER Controller
/0/100/3.3                         communication  82Q963/Q965 KT Controller
/0/100/19              eth0        network        82566DM Gigabit Network Connection
/0/100/1a                          bus            82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4
/0/100/1a.1                        bus            82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5
/0/100/1a.7                        bus            82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2
/0/100/1b                          multimedia     82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
/0/100/1d                          bus            82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1
/0/100/1d.1                        bus            82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2
/0/100/1d.2                        bus            82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3
/0/100/1d.7                        bus            82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1
/0/100/1e                          bridge         82801 PCI Bridge
/0/100/1f                          bridge         82801HO (ICH8DO) LPC Interface Controller
/0/100/1f.2            scsi0       storage        82801H (ICH8 Family) 4 port SATA IDE Controller
/0/100/1f.2/0          /dev/sda    disk           160GB ST3160812AS
/0/100/1f.2/0/1        /dev/sda1   volume         149GiB EXT4 volume
/0/100/1f.2/1          /dev/cdrom  disk           DVD-RAM GSA-H30N
/0/100/1f.3                        bus            82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller
/0/100/1f.5            scsi2       storage        82801H (ICH8 Family) 2 port SATA IDE Controller
/0/100/1f.5/0.0.0      /dev/sdb    disk           40GB KINGSTON SSDNow
/0/100/1f.5/0.0.0/1    /dev/sdb1   volume         31GiB EXT4 volume
/0/100/1f.5/0.0.0/2    /dev/sdb2   volume         5867MiB Extended partition
/0/100/1f.5/0.0.0/2/5  /dev/sdb5   volume         5867MiB Linux swap / Solaris partition
/1                                 power          S26113-E505-V80
/2                     wlan0       network        Wireless interface

The output I get from sudo lshw -class memory is:

  *-firmware              
       description: BIOS
       vendor: FUJITSU SIEMENS // Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       version: 6.00 R1.02.2348.A2
       date: 09/18/2006
       size: 109KiB
       capacity: 448KiB
       capabilities: pci pnp upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect int13floppynec int13floppytoshiba int13floppy360 int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb ls120boot zipboot biosbootspecification
  *-cache
       description: L2 cache
       physical id: 6
       slot: L2 Cache
       size: 2MiB
       capacity: 2MiB
       capabilities: burst internal write-back unified
  *-cache
       description: L3 cache
       physical id: 7
       slot: L3 Cache
       size: 2MiB
       capacity: 16MiB
       capabilities: burst internal write-back unified
  *-memory
       description: System Memory
       physical id: 25
       slot: System board or motherboard
       size: 6GiB
     *-bank:0
          description: DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 533 MHz (1.9 ns)
          physical id: 0
          slot: Slot-1
          size: 2GiB
          width: 40968 bits
          clock: 533MHz (1.9ns)
     *-bank:1
          description: DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 533 MHz (1.9 ns)
          physical id: 1
          slot: Slot-3
          size: 1GiB
          width: 41480 bits
          clock: 533MHz (1.9ns)
     *-bank:2
          description: DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 533 MHz (1.9 ns)
          physical id: 2
          slot: Slot-2
              size: 2GiB
          width: 41992 bits
          clock: 533MHz (1.9ns)
     *-bank:3
          description: DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 533 MHz (1.9 ns)
          physical id: 3
          slot: Slot-4
          size: 1GiB
          width: 42504 bits
          clock: 533MHz (1.9ns)
3

Try

sudo dmidecode --type 17

# dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.4 present.
Handle 0x0018, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x0017
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: 64 bits
        Data Width: 64 bits
        Size: 2048 MB
        Form Factor: DIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: J6H1
        Bank Locator: CHAN A DIMM 0
        Type: DDR2
        Type Detail: Synchronous
        Speed: 800 MHz (1.2 ns)
        Manufacturer: 0x2CFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
        Serial Number: 0x00000000
        Asset Tag: Unknown
        Part Number: 0x5A494F4E203830302D3247422D413131382D
Handle 0x001A, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x0017
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: Unknown
        Data Width: Unknown
        Size: No Module Installed
        Form Factor: DIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: J6H2
        Bank Locator: CHAN A DIMM 1
        Type: DDR2
        Type Detail: None
        Speed: Unknown
        Manufacturer: NO DIMM
        Serial Number: NO DIMM
        Asset Tag: NO DIMM
        Part Number: NO DIMM

If type 17 doesn't do it for you, you could try one of the other memory types listed here, e.g. 6 or 37.

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