The lsb_release command provides certain LSB (Linux Standard Base) and
distribution-specific information.  The command has flags to display some or all of the information.

[user@centos-server ~]$ lsb_release --help
FSG lsb_release v2.0 prints certain LSB (Linux Standard Base) and
Distribution information.

Usage: lsb_release [OPTION]...
With no OPTION specified defaults to -v.

Options:
  -v, --version
    Display the version of the LSB specification against which the distribution is compliant.
  -i, --id
    Display the string id of the distributor.
  -d, --description
    Display the single line text description of the distribution.
  -r, --release
    Display the release number of the distribution.
  -c, --codename
    Display the codename according to the distribution release.
  -a, --all
    Display all of the above information.
  -s, --short
    Use short output format for information requested by other options (or version if none).
  -h, --help
    Display this message.

To install lsb_release on CentOS, simply  use the following yum command:

sudo yum install redhat-lsb

Once installation is complete, simply use the command with one of the flags above.

[user@centos-server ~]$ lsb_release -a
LSB Version: :core-4.1-amd64:core-4.1-noarch:cxx-4.1-amd64:cxx-4.1-noarch:desktop-
4.1-amd64:desktop-4.1-noarch:languages-4.1-amd64:languages-4.1-noarch:printing-4.1-
amd64:printing-4.1-noarch
Distributor ID: CentOS
Description: CentOS Linux release 7.4.1708 (Core) 
Release: 7.4.1708
Codename: Core

For installation on Ubuntu, you can similarly use the following command:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install lsb-release

The output of this command will look like the following:

user@ubuntu:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS
Release: 16.04
Codename: xenial

This should be all that is needed!