• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

UnixArena

  • Home
  • kubernetes
  • DevOps
    • Terraform
    • Jenkins
    • Docker
    • Openshift
      • OKD
    • Ansible engine
    • Ansible Tower
      • AWX
    • Puppet
  • Cloud
    • Azure
    • AWS
    • Openstack
    • Docker
  • VMware
    • vCloud Director
    • VMware-Guests
    • Vcenter Appliance 5.5
    • vC OPS
    • VMware SDDC
    • VMware vSphere 5.x
      • vSphere Network
      • vSphere DS
      • vShield Suite
    • VMware vSphere 6.0
    • VSAN
    • VMware Free Tools
  • Backup
    • Vembu BDR
    • Veeam
    • Nakivo
    • Azure Backup
    • Altaro VMBackup
    • Spinbackup
  • Tutorials
    • Openstack Tutorial
    • Openstack Beginner’s Guide
    • VXVM-Training
    • ZFS-Tutorials
    • NetApp cDot
    • LVM
    • Cisco UCS
    • LDOM
    • Oracle VM for x86
  • Linux
    • How to Articles
    • Q&A
    • Networking
    • RHEL7
  • DevOps Instructor-led Training
  • Contact

How to find the Redhat Linux version & Release details ?

December 12, 2014 By Cloud_Devops Leave a Comment

Are you new to Redhat Enterprise Linux ?  If yes, this article is going to help you to identify the Redhat Linux version, code name, release name and kernel version. You may require those details to check the application compatibility or future Operating system update. By viewing “/etc/redhat-release” file, you can identify the Redhat version. “unmae -r”  command will provide the kernel version of the running operating system. Let’s that what are the other alternate method to identify those information.

 

1.To know the current version of Redhat Linux, view the /etc/redhat-release.

[root@UA-HA ~]# cat /etc/redhat-release
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.0 (Maipo)
[root@UA-HA ~]#

 

2.You can also check “/etc/issue” to know the Redhat Linux version information. (In RHEL 7 , this file is not updated with version information)

[root@UA-HA 6.5 ~]# cat /etc/issue
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.5 (Santiago)
Kernel \r on an \m
[root@UA-HA ~]#

 

3.Another alternate method is to check the installed package version details. “/etc/issue” & “/etc/redhat-release” files are part of same rpm package.

[root@UA-HA ~]# rpm -q --whatprovides /etc/issue
redhat-release-server-7.0-1.el7.x86_64
[root@UA-HA ~]# rpm -q --whatprovides /etc/redhat-release
redhat-release-server-7.0-1.el7.x86_64
[root@UA-HA ~]#

 

4. lsb_release is very useful command to view the all the Operating system details in one shot. Most of the Linux distributions are shipping with lsb_release package.

[root@UA-HA ~]# lsb_release  --h
FSG lsb_release v2.0 prints certain LSB (Linux Standard Base) and
Distribution information.

Usage: lsb_release [OPTION]...
With no OPTION specified defaults to -v.

Options:
  -v, --version
    Display the version of the LSB specification against which the distribution is compliant.
  -i, --id
    Display the string id of the distributor.
  -d, --description
    Display the single line text description of the distribution.
  -r, --release
    Display the release number of the distribution.
  -c, --codename
    Display the codename according to the distribution release.
  -a, --all
    Display all of the above information.
  -s, --short
    Use short output format for information requested by other options (or version if none).
  -h, --help
    Display this message.
[root@UA-HA ~]#

Let’s execute lsb_release with “-a” option.

[root@UA-HA ~]# lsb_release -a
LSB Version:    :core-4.1-amd64:core-4.1-noarch
Distributor ID: RedHatEnterpriseServer
Description:    Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.0 (Maipo)
Release:        7.0
Codename:       Maipo
[root@UA-HA ~]#

If you couldn’t find the “lsb_release” command in your system, install the lsb package using the following command.

[root@UA-HA ~]# yum install redhat-lsb-core
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, subscription-manager
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package redhat-lsb-core.x86_64 0:4.1-24.el7 will be installed

 

5. check the “/proc/version” file to know the kernel version.

[root@UA-HA ~]# cat /proc/version
Linux version 3.10.0-123.el7.x86_64 (mockbuild@x86-017.build.eng.bos.redhat.com) (gcc version 4.8.2 20140120 (Red Hat 4.8.2-16) (GCC) ) #1 SMP Mon May 5 11:16:57 EDT 2014
[root@UA-HA ~]#

 

6. One of the most common method to check the Linux kernel version. Guess what ? “uname -r” command.

[root@UA-HA ~]# uname -r
3.10.0-123.el7.x86_64
[root@UA-HA ~]#

 

7. How do you know whether you are running on 32-bit kernel or 64-bit. ? Use “uname -m” command.

[root@UA-HA ~]# uname -m
x86_64
[root@UA-HA ~]#

As per the above output, you are running on 64-bit kernel . If you get output “i386 or i686”, that resembles to 32-Bit kernel.

 

8.Use the following command to get the kernel bits.

[root@UA-HA ~]# getconf LONG_BIT
64
[root@UA-HA ~]#

 

Hope this article is informative to you. Share it ! Comment it !! Be Sociable !!!

Filed Under: NetApp Clustered ONTAP Tagged With: Redhat Linux, RHEL7

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow UnixArena

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2025 · UnixArena ·

Go to mobile version