I could be wrong about this, but I think it's pretty hard to tell [i]remotely[/i] if a machine is virtual. Without having actual access to the machine, I don't think there's any reliable way to tell. But yeah, once you log in and start poking around in device manager or look at running services or processes, it's pretty simply to tell.

Like I said, there are things that it doesn't make sense to virtualize. My friend works for a medical software company that uses SQL servers with 96 gigs of RAM each (yes, really). I wouldn't even begin to think about running that virtually. We also once virtualized our vSphere server which turned out to be a bad idea (when the SAN went down we couldn't log in to fix anything... oops). But pretty much anything else... like I said, it's less about it not working and more about them not supporting it if it doesn't work.

I was told specifically from Trend Micro that we couldn't virtualize our OfficeScan antivirus servers. They suggested we buy 11 physical servers, one for each logical region of our network. Instead we stood up 3 VMs (west, central, east) and managed 60,000 clients just fine with it. On the few times we had to call technical support, when they asked if it was running on physical hardware I just lied to them. Never once was the problem the fact that the server was virtual. We ran this setup for 6 years until we migrated to a new antivirus solution.

One of the kids where I work asked them why it had to be on a physical machine and their reply was that it had to be on a physical machine.

So there ya go!

Fair enough on ways to detect. I mean, without knowing how the software works or why it does what it does or almost anything about the situation in general my guess is that they don't want people running a million unlicensed versions of their program but instead get paid for them so they can support a company. Which, since I'm not 23, makes sense.

I've heard lots and lots and lots of programs and companies say that their software must be run on a physical server. What they typically mean is, it'll probably run on a VM but they won't support it.

I sat in a class one time and listened to a guy explain how you can't virtual domain controllers. I didn't have the heart to tell him I had 120 virtual domain controllers all around the country. I have virtual SQL servers, virtual everything. Yes, there are times when physical makes sense over virtual, but a license server probably isn't one of them.

They can check the BIOS ID strings, as well as the names of the paravirtualized drivers for the network interfaces, I/O controllers, mouse drivers, video drivers, etc. In the case of VMWare, most of them have "vmware" as a prefix in their name.

It's dead-easy to detect (otherwise the Ubuntu auto-detection of VMs wouldn't be possible; they automatically load paravirtualized drivers when booting inside a VM.)

Tons of low-level ways, much like you can tell an emu isn't an arcade board. Too tired to really get into details, sorry. Ask Caltrops, maybe it'll set off ES.

SmartBear has a program that requires a license server. They say the license server has to be on a "physical machine."

Is there any process a company can use to determine if a machine is a VM or real physical thing?