Viewing your server's software versions

This article explains how to view the versions of different types of software on your server. The following topics are covered:

• Security, Vulnerabilities, Patches, Updates
• Operating system
• Linux kernel
• Apache
• Nginx
• Various software
• Package versions

DreamHost only uses 'Long Term Support' (LTS) versions of Ubuntu. This means that while the version does not change, your server is always protected since Ubuntu is continually adding security patches to mitigate any vulnerabilities that are discovered. View the following page for more information about Ubuntu releases and their lifecycle:

• The Ubuntu lifecycle and release cadence

The following two commands display the server's operating system version.

The lsb_release command

Run the LSB (Linux Standard Base) command with the -a flag to view your server's operating system version.

[server]$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS
Release: 22.04
Codename: jammy

View the /etc/issue file

Run the following command to view the contents of the /etc/issue file, which displays your server's operating system version.

[server]$ cat /etc/issue
Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS

The uname command

Run the uname command with the -a flag to view all kernel information.

[server]$ uname -a

View the /proc/version file

The /proc/version file displays the kernel version as well as information about the GCC compiler used to build the kernel.

[server]$ cat /proc/version

Run the following to view the version of Apache installed.

[server]$ /usr/sbin/apache2 -v

Check if Apache is running on a VPS or Dedicated Server

VPS and Dedicated Servers can run Apache or Nginx. Run the following command to check if Apache is running.

• If Apache is running you will see the following output.
• If there is no output, Apache is not running. Run the Nginx command below to confirm it is running instead.

[server]$ ps -acx | grep apache
17513 ?        Ss    1:06 apache2
24668 ?        S     0:00 apache2
24769 ?        Sl    0:16 apache2

View the version of Nginx installed

Run the following to view the version of Nginx installed.

[server]$ /usr/sbin/nginx -v

Check if Nginx is running

Run the following command to check if Nginx is running.

• If Nginx is running, you will see the following output.
• If there is no output, Nginx is not running. Run the Apache command above to confirm it is running instead.

[server]$ ps -acx | grep nginx
12708 ?        Ss     0:02 nginx
26797 ?        S      0:00 nginx
26798 ?        S      0:00 nginx

Run the following commands to view the versions of the following software.

[server]$ curl --version

[server]$ gcc --version

[server]$ git --version

[server]$ java -version

[server]$ select version();

[server]$ node -v

[server]$ openssl version

[server]$ perl -v

[server]$ php -v

[server]$ python -V

[server]$ ruby -v

[server]$ ssh -V

[server]$ sqlite
SQLite version 2.8.17
Enter ".help" for instructions
sqlite> .quit

[server]$ sqlite3 --version