Identifying Your Linux Kernel with "uname"

When using a Linux dedicated server, it can be very helpful to know exactly what distribution and kernel version you are running. While there are a few ways to accomplish this, using the command “uname” is the easiest. To identify the kernel type just enter: uname with no flags.

To find out the kernel release, enter:

uname -r

To find out everything you can possibly know about your kernel with uname, enter:

uname -a
It should print something like:

Linux hostname 2.6.27-8-eeepc #1 SMP Sun Nov 16 12:02:12 MST 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

To find out more about “uname”, type “man uname”.

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