UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi

Is there any native commands or somewhere in the /proc files to get the machine's power consumption? I googled for a while and cannot really find this information

Thanks for your help.

What kind of machine is it?

SunOS 5.10 Generic_144488-02 sun4u sparc SUNW,Sun-Fire-280R

and

Linux 2.6.18-194.11.4.el5 #1 SMP Fri Sep 17 04:57:05 EDT 2010 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

they could be running on HP-Proliants, but it seems I need to install a WBEM client in order to access the WBEM?

I'd be surprised if this was possible with software.

If you need accurate ambient figures, get an engineer to use a non-intrusive current meter on each mains lead.
However, beware of start-up current which can be much higher just after you power the computer on. This is why we have a designated power-up sequence (with delays) should there be a power-down of a computer room.

The manufacturer's maximum figures should be on the plate near the mains lead of each component.

Only equipment I've been able to get its own power usage from has been telecom carrier equipment (SS7 switches to be exact) - it is certainly not standard on most unix machines I've used, though some rack setups have active/managed power supplies that could possibly give this info.

I wouldn't expect to do this with a desktop machine. Some laptops can do it.

New Sun/Oracle servers (T4) can do it too.