System serial number
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I just noticed a cool new feature – the display of an overall system serial number in the main status dashboard. Unless I missed it earlier, it first showed up in 2.3.2-p1.
For people running real pfSense Store hardware, a real serial number will be displayed, I expect. :) On my generic system, the serial is a generic one:
(if the remote image is ever removed, that serial is currently GXXXX301XXXXX).
This new feature isn't currently mentioned in the release notes for 2.3.2-p1. I assume that different characters in the string will denote different models, etc.?
I'm curious about what will the different possible codes be, and what we can learn from them.
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On my system it shows the exact value of kern.hostuuid sysctl which is a UUID that gets randomly generated on first boot after installation.
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Interesting. Is your system from the pfSense store?
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I just checked and my kern.hostuuid sysctl is populated like yours, but that is unrelated to what I'm seeing on the dashboard.
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It's a self-built machine so there's no real H/W serialnumber on it.
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This new feature isn't currently mentioned in the release notes for 2.3.2-p1. I assume that different characters in the string will denote different models, etc.?
I'm just going to quote from the page you listed:
The hardware serial number is now displayed in the system information widget, or a host UUID if a serial number is not found. This is for display purposes and facilitates users seeking support in identifying their hardware.
Fourth major bullet point.
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The wiki was updated after I started this thread. I used the phrase "isn't currently mentioned" on purpose. :)
Wikis are fluid, and I appreciate the add. I'd still be interested in knowing more about how the serial numbers are detected and used. I am definitely not using pfSense-supplied hardware, but instead of showing a UUID as I would expect, I'm getting a generic-ish serial number.
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A bit more info is here: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=118859.msg658363#msg658363
It uses:
/bin/kenv smbios.system.serial
Try that command on your system, if it returns something then that is what will be displayed, otherwise it moves on to get and display the UUID.
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Ah, it's the SMBIOS serial? OK, that makes sense now. My pfSense serial does indeed match the underlying SMBIOS for the board.
Thanks - very informative!
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Well, one of my test systems now shows:
Netgate APU Serial: 655dc6...
While the APU part is correct, this device has never seen Netgate.
Technically correct would be: PC Engines, APU