SMBIOS(4D) Devices SMBIOS(4D)

NAME

smbios - System Management BIOS image

SYNOPSIS

/dev/smbios

DESCRIPTION

The smbios device is a character special file that provides access to a
snapshot of the System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) image exported by the
current system. SMBIOS is an industry-standard mechanism that enables
low-level system software to export hardware configuration information to
higher-level system management software. The SMBIOS data format is
defined by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF). For more
information on SMBIOS and to obtain a copy of the SMBIOS specification
and implementation guidelines, refer to http://www.dmtf.org.


The SMBIOS image consists of a table of structures, each describing some
aspect of the system software or hardware configuration. The content of
the image varies widely by platform and BIOS vendor and may not exist on
some systems. You can use the smbios(8) utility to inspect the contents
of the SMBIOS image and copy it to a file.

ATTRIBUTES

See attributes(7) for a description of the following attributes:


+--------------------+-----------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+--------------------+-----------------+
|Interface Stability | Stable |
+--------------------+-----------------+

SEE ALSO

attributes(7), prtdiag(8), smbios(8)


System Management BIOS Reference Specification, Version 2, Release 4 --
2005

NOTES

The implementation of a System Management BIOS image is entirely at the
discretion of the system and BIOS vendors. Not all systems export a
SMBIOS. The SMBIOS structure content varies widely between systems and
BIOS vendors and frequently does not comply with the guidelines included
in the specification. For example, some structure fields may not be
filled in by the BIOS, while others may be filled in with non-conforming
values.

August 26, 2005 SMBIOS(4D)