But, I think that IPMI is Intel only. This won't work with Sparcs. But I could be wrong... do the new Sun4v Sparcs support IPMI?
no ipmi is for x86 systems only (afaik). but you can use "sneep".
Well... Thats wrong!
-bash-3.00# uname -a
SunOS biatch 5.10 Generic_137137-09 sun4v sparc SUNW,SPARC-Enterprise-T5120
-bash-3.00# more /etc/release
Solaris 10 10/08 s10s_u6wos_07b SPARC
Copyright 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Use is subject to license terms.
Assembled 27 October 2008
-bash-3.00# /usr/local/bin/ipmitool -V
ipmitool version 1.8.9.4
-bash-3.00# /usr/local/bin/ipmitool -I bmc fru
FRU Device Description : Builtin FRU Device (LUN 0, ID 0)
Chassis Type : Rack Mount Chassis
Chassis Serial : 0721XXXXXX
Board Serial : 0721XXXXXX
Product Manufacturer : SUN MICROSYSTEMS
Product Name : SPARC-Enterprise-T5120
Product Serial : 0721XXXXXX
[...] output turncated [...]
cheers
+1
you can only get MAC address and host id, but not serial number. I remember there's a way like hostid is combination of MAC and serial number, but not sure though, you have to check the machine physically.
I was talking to Sun support recently troubleshooting Netra T5220 and asked for the serial number. I asked if there is a command to find that out and the answer was NO. I know you can get the Chassis Serial Number from the LOM (showplatform -v) but obviously the server serial number is different.
if the server is installed from a sun engineer who knows his job well, "sneep" will be installed and you can read the platform serialnumber with the command "sneep". but the number has to be entred manualy during installation. you can download sneep on the sun website and use the tool... but you have to enter the number manualy... it's always the same 
Just for the record:
On a T2000, the aLOM command showplatform will display the correct chassis serial number. In iLOM on a T5**0, ls /SYS (or you can use the aLOM emulation shell and use showplatform).
Off the top of my head, I don't remember the command in XSCF.
The T5220 is one of the recent machines which does provide its chassis/product serial number in the output of prtdiag -v .
Unless we have a terminology problem here , the Chassis Serial Number from the ILOM and the "server serial number" are the same thing on this platform. There were some very early T5220 systems which did not provide the serial, but if the system firmware and software is current, this should no longer be an issue.
If you have a T5220 which has a physical serial tag with a different number than what is reported in prtdiag -v, I would like to know, and would like to get an explorer from the system.
Unfortunately, no one is an expert in everything, and those who have no practical use for the serial number are unlikely to know how to find it on any given machine.
It is a particular problem because there are upwards of a dozen different ways to find it, depending on the hardware platform. There is work underway at Sun right now to get the many product teams to settle on one or two standard mechanisms, but right now, it can take some hunting.
That is what sneep is attempting to do for you - to provide a single, simple interface to a complex (or at least tedious) search for the serial. More methods for automatic detection are being added all the time.
For platforms which either do not yet have a detector or are not capable of providing the serial, sneep can fall back to allowing you to to enter it manually .