[Sunhelp] finding out serial #

[Bjrn Ramqvist]

That's right. It's not the NIC-part (MAC) that holds the address, it's
the system-ID serial number, although perfectly formatted the same way.
:-)
08:00:69:xx:xx:xx
The machine reads the system-ID, and feed the primary ethernet adaptor
with that number.

Even on old models like the 4D-series (Personal IRIS and such), there
was a special "system-ID" ribbon cable connected to the E-module to hold
NVRAM and serial numbers. So, in this case you could always exchange the
E-module on the machine, and still have your old NVRAM values left.

On todays systems it's pretty much the same.
On the Octane the identifier is sitting on the backplane. Exchangeable.
The Origin 200 is somewhat alike, having the entire "system-ID module"
in the front, behind misc plastic fronts and stuff. I believe the Origin
2000 is built somewhat the same.

The Indigo 2, as you said, is built the same way. Although there is no
ribbon cable coming from somewhere inside the machine. Instead, it's
built more like the Octane, having a small "backplane" on the back of
the machine. If you look careful enough you can see this little
backplane providing serial/mouse/keyboard connectors, and the
machine-ID.

I believe the only exception of this excellent way of handling system-ID
must be the Indy.
So far it seems to be the NVRAM itself that needs to be moved, to keep
track of system-ID.

George Munk wrote:
> 
> Not quite. I have exchanged motherboards only and the serial number has stayed
> the same. A good example was when we upgraded several Indigo2's from R4400
> processors to R10000. The upgrade involved exchanging the entire motherboard.
> The serial numbers of the upgraded systems stayed the same. I believe that
> NVRAM parameters were also maintained. This makes me think that the MAC
> address/serial number is burned into a ROM that along with the NVRAM, is
> attached to the case, not the motherboard. It would also imply that the NIC
> doesn't get its MAC address from itself, but from the ROM (or where ever). On
> an O2, the MAC address/serial number is maintained in the PCI expansion tray
> which attaches to the motherboard.
> 
> All of this information comes from observation only so it may not be exactly
> correct. Is anyone aware of official documentation from SGI on how this works?
> Other SGI models may have different methods of maintaining the same serial
> number. But SGI does seem to understand that keeping the same system identifier
> is important since licensed software frequently uses it. A good is example is
> the popular FlexLM license manager. The "lmhostid" returned comes from the MAC
> address/serial number.
> 
> % nvram eaddr
> 08:00:69:uv:wx:yz                  (u,v,w,x,y,z are hexadecimal characters)
> % ./lmhostid
> lmhostid - Copyright (C) 1989-1994 Globetrotter Software, Inc.
> The FLEXlm host ID of this machine is "69uvwxyz"
> 
> I agree, SGI and SUN have taken different approaches that can not be compared.
> 
> Regards,
> George Munk
> 
> On 20-Jul-2000 dhansen at zebra.net wrote:
> >
> >
> >>Octane but not Indigo), the system serial number is the Ethernet MAC
> >>address.
> >>When hardware has been exchanged due to failure, the replacement system
> >>has had the original's MAC address/serial number.
> >> % nvram eaddr
> >> 08:00:69:uv:wx:yz
> >> Serial number = 080069uvwxyz
> >>George Munk
> >
> >   I didn't check into the relationship between the system serial number and
> > the
> > MAC address of a system's original/primary NIC, but I was able to verify that
> > any
> > attempt to compare SGI's method with SUN's is unfair. SGI uses the serial
> > number for the motherboard as the serial number for the entire system and
> > SUN provides a means of grabbing the serial number from the mainboard. The
> > serial number for the motherboard is where amsysinfo and nvram are getting
> > their information (not from a NIC or the MSC). This means that anytime you
> > change just the motherboard and nothing else, then your system's serial
> > number
> > will be changed as well and should be noted as such in your inventory.
> >
> >  -david
> 
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