<s>
Vital	B-Operating_System
Product	I-Operating_System
Data	I-Operating_System
(	O
VPD	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
collection	O
of	O
configuration	O
and	O
informational	O
data	O
associated	O
with	O
a	O
particular	O
set	O
of	O
hardware	O
or	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Not	O
all	O
devices	O
attached	O
to	O
a	O
system	O
will	O
provide	O
VPD	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
is	O
often	O
available	O
from	O
PCI	B-Protocol
and	O
SCSI	B-Architecture
devices	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Parallel	B-Protocol
ATA	I-Protocol
and	O
USB	B-Protocol
devices	O
also	O
provide	O
similar	O
data	O
,	O
but	O
do	O
not	O
refer	O
to	O
it	O
as	O
VPD	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VPD	O
data	O
is	O
typically	O
burned	O
onto	O
EEPROMs	B-General_Concept
associated	O
with	O
various	O
hardware	O
components	O
,	O
or	O
can	O
be	O
queried	O
through	O
attached	O
I2C	O
buses	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
used	O
by	O
firmware	B-Application
(	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
OpenFirmware	B-Architecture
)	O
to	O
determine	O
the	O
nature	O
of	O
the	O
system	O
hardware	O
,	O
and	O
to	O
shield	O
the	O
operation	O
of	O
the	O
firmware	B-Application
from	O
minor	O
changes	O
and	O
variations	O
of	O
hardware	O
implementations	O
within	O
a	O
given	O
machine	O
model	O
number	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
IBM	O
's	O
AIX	B-Application
operating	I-Application
system	I-Application
,	O
VPD	O
also	O
refers	O
to	O
a	O
subset	O
of	O
database	O
tables	O
in	O
the	O
Object	O
Data	O
Manager	O
(	O
ODM	O
)	O
obtained	O
from	O
either	O
the	O
Customized	O
VPD	O
object	O
class	O
or	O
platform	O
specific	O
areas	O
,	O
therefore	O
the	O
VPD	O
and	O
ODM	O
terms	O
are	O
sometimes	O
referred	O
to	O
interchangeably	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
command	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
in	O
AIX	B-Application
to	O
get	O
the	O
VPD	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Package	O
dmidecode	O
provides	O
commands	O
vpddecode	O
,	O
biosdecode	O
,	O
and	O
dmidecode	O
,	O
which	O
can	O
display	O
hardware	O
Vital	B-Operating_System
Product	I-Operating_System
Data	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
