Summary: How to get the type and serial number of a Netapp Filer.
Date: Around 2015
Refactor: 7 March 2025: Checked links and formatting.

If you have access to the filer it's quite easy to determine the type and serial number of the filer.

With the command “sysconfig -a” you get a lot of information so make sure you got a big enough buffer in your telnet/ssh session client, and you only need the upper part:

filer01> sysconfig -a
        Data ONTAP Release 7.3.4: Thu May 27 18:22:11 PDT 2010 (IBM)
        System ID: 0123456789 (filer01); partner ID: 9876543210 (filer02)
        System Serial Number: 2858123456711 (filer01)
        System Rev: A0
        System Storage Configuration: Mixed-Path HA
        System ACP Connectivity: NA
        slot 0: System Board 2.6 GHz (System Board XV A3)
                Model Name:         N6060
                Machine Type:       IBM-2858-A22
                Part Number:        110-00119
                Revision:           A3
                Serial Number:      709361
                BIOS version:       4.3.0
                Loader version:     1.7
                Agent FW version:   3
                Processors:         4
                Processor ID:       0x40f12
                Microcode Version:  0x62
                Memory Size:        8192 MB
                Memory Attributes:  Node Interleaving
                                    Bank Interleaving
                                    Hoisting
                                    Chipkill ECC
                CMOS RAM Status:    OK
                Controller:         A
...<cut>...

Now you got the following information:

• System ID
• Partner System ID
• System Serial Number
  • The first 4 characters are the machine type: 2858
  • The next 7 characters are the real serial number: 1234567
  • The last 2 characters are dependent on which (filer)head you are:
    • 00: This is the main unit as used in metro clusters
    • 11: This is head one
    • 22: This is head two
• Model Name
• Machine Type
  • Note that the serial machine type starts with IBM. This is a Nseries, which is a rebranded NetApp.

If you can't access the console you can always use FilerView. Log into filerview and navigate to Filer → Report. Scroll down to System Configuration. Here you have the output of what the “sysconfig” command gives you. This includes the system IDs and the serial number but will not tell you the exact model name and machine type, although the machine type can partly be concluded from the serial number. If you really need the complete information you could navigate to Filer → Use Command Line. This will start a java applet which will give the possibility to issue the “sysconfig -a” command.

If you don't have access at all to the filer (anymore) you can always check the filer itself. At the front bezel the type is shown and at the back is a sticker with the full serial number again:

Note: This is a Nseries which is just a rebranded NetApp

Note: See the 00 where the serial number ends with? That means it's a metro cluster filer.