peters@cubsvax.UUCP (01/04/84)
Does anyone out there know how to access the serial number of a
VAX from UNIX? (For the purpose of maintaining security of proprietary
software.) Please reply by mail, since I don't subscribe to this
newsgroup. (Don't consider myself a wizard!)
By the way, some people claim that **every** cpu has such a facility
as a machine instruction. Is this a myth?
{philabs,cmcl2!rocky2}!cubsvax!peters
(Peter S Shenkin; Dept of Biol Sci; Columbia Univ; NY, NY 10027; 212-280-5517)dmmartindale@watcgl.UUCP (Dave Martindale) (01/06/84)
I believe all VAXes have a CPU serial number register which can be read by the priviledged Move From Processor Register instruction. If the proprietary software you are distributing is a UNIX kernel you can get at it, but I don't know of any of the "standard" versions of UNIX which let you get at it. And it's not entirely secure anyway - someone can always change the serial number if they want (it's a simple job to move the backplane jumpers on a 780, at least.) There are many processors which provide no such features. The PDP11 didn't. Microprocessors don't provide one on chip and the people who build systems around them often don't include any hardware to give you a serial number.
paul@masscomp.UUCP (Paul Cantrell) (01/07/84)
Sorry, but the CPU serial number on the 750 is rather useless, because DEC changed the fields to be revision levels of the hardware/firmware. While at DEC we had several software houses complain because their programs would check the serial number on a given machine, DEC would upgrade the machine, and the program would now miscompare on the serial number register. I talked with a friend who is a VAX microcoder, and together we realized that the only serial number on the 750 is the label in the back of the cabinet. Alas, we could devise no method to read this from a program. PC @ MASSCOMP
jla@houxt.UUCP (J.ALBERI) (01/14/84)
I dont have a VAX hardware manual to hand, but as far as I remember, the CPU ID register is broken up into several fields. One of these fields is the real serial number - the rest can be changed by HW and firmware ECOs. If this is REALLY the case, it should be possible to select only the correct part of the field to do a serial number check.