    AIX::SysInfo - A Perl module for retrieving information about an AIX
    (RS/6000) system

SYNOPSIS
      use AIX::SysInfo;
  
      my %sysinfo = get_sysinfo;
  
DESCRIPTION
    This module provides a Perl interface for accessing information about an
    RS/6000 machine running the AIX operating system. It makes available a
    single function, get_sysinfo, which returns a hash containing the
    following keys:

    hostname
        The value of this key contains the hostname of the system.

    serial_num
        The value of this key contains the unique ID number for the system.

    num_procs
        The value of this key contains the number of processors in the
        system.

    total_ram
        The value of this key contains the total amount of RAM in the
        system, in megabytes.

    total_swap
        The value of this key contains the total amount of swap space in the
        system, in megabytes.

    aix_version
        The value of this key contains the version of AIX and the latest
        complete maintenance level on ths system, in the form "VRMF-ML".

    model_type
        The value of this key contains the RS/6000 model type of the system.
        See the NOTE below for more information.

    proc_speed
        The value of this key contains the speed of the processors in the
        system. See the NOTE below for more information.

    sys_arch
        The value of this key contains the type of processor architecture in
        the system. See the NOTE below for more information.

    The values for model_type, proc_speed, and sys_arch are obtained by
    parsing several system values, as described in the IBM TechDoc
    `Determining CPU Speed in AIX', available from
    *http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/rs6k/techbrowse/*. This article
    describes several methods for determining those pieces of information.
    Unfortunately, the methods provided by IBM do not include every RS/6000
    model ever made, and some of the methods result in ambiguous results
    (i.e., multiple values for each key.) All possible values for each item
    are returned as a single scalar, separated by the word "or".

VERSION
    1.0 (released 2000-07-03)

BUGS
    Since I do not have access to every combination of hardware and
    operating system, this module has been tested in only a small subset of
    possible environments. Therefor, there may be "unexpected behavior" in
    some of the environments where I have not been able to test.

    For that reason, I'd really appreciate it if people would e-mail me if
    any of the values produced by this module do not conform with their
    expectations.

    Also, because this is such an early release version, the functions and
    the types of values returned are subject to change, based on feedback
    from users. Don't depend on this module (yet!) for use in production
    code.

TO-DO
    * Find a more definitive way of obtaining some of the information
    returned by functions in this module.
    * Add an object-oriented interface.
    * Add many more functions.
    * Add features requested by AIX sysadmins (hint, hint!)
AUTHOR
      Sandor W. Sklar
      <mailto:ssklar@stanford.edu>
      <http://whippet.stanford.edu/~ssklar/>
  
COPYRIGHT/LICENSE
    Copyright (c) 2001, Sandor W. Sklar. This module is free software. It
    may be used, redistributed, and/or modified under the terms of the Perl
    Artistic License.

