Many times you get access to a Unix or Linux box via terminal. Before start using the terminal, you may want to know the Unix flavor. This article will help you with command to check Unix OS version using putty session.

Since Linux is an open source operating system and comes free unless using enterprise one. There are many variants of Linux available. They are typically called Linux distribution. Suse, OpenSUSE, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Arch, Fedora, RHEL all are common Linux distribution names. Knowing your os version and name can be very useful for security patches.

Steps To find OS Name & Linux Version

1. Open the terminal application (bash shell)
2. For remote server login using the ssh:ssh user@server-name
3. Type any one of the following command to find os name and version in Linux:
   cat /etc/os-release
   
   
4. Type the following command to find Linux kernel version:
   uname -r

lsb_release command

The lsb_release command gives LSB (Linux Standard Base) and distribution-specific information on the CLI. The syntax is:

hostnamectl command

Use hostnamectl command to query and change the system hostname and related settings. Just type the hostnamectl command to check OS name and Linux kernel version. This command also tell what kind of virtualization is used like vmware or kvm.