Looking to protect software on Linux Guest from cloning

[AnAdmin]

Hello,

I'd like to be able to create a VM that can't simply be cloned and shared ...

I've been researching this issue for some time; what I'm looking for is for a way to access host hardware properties from a guest machine. In other words, I'd like to ideally be able to capture things like motherboard serial number, real NIC mac address, etc... from inside the guest. I've looked at "VirtualBox Guest Additions" documentation to see if there are any commands to be able to do this, however I was not able to find anything so far.

Is there anyone that may have done this before that can point me in the right direction ?

Thanks in advance -

[noteirak]

It is not possible to do what you are asking - most of the elements you wish to check are not available to a VM because.... well, it's a VM!
Also, Virtualbox does not give any control on what user can and cannot do.

[AnAdmin]

It is not possible to do what you are asking - most of the elements you wish to check are not available to a VM because.... well, it's a VM!
Also, Virtualbox does not give any control on what user can and cannot do.

Hi noteirak,

Thanks for your reply,

I am aware of the limitations of a VM - which is why I brought up the "VirtualBox Guest Additions". Correct me if I'm wrong but these tools set up an open a communication API of sorts that allows guest to host and host to guest communication such as pasting clipboard content, etc... . This is the context in which I was asking my question - I'm simply looking to query the 'real' host hardware from the Guest.

I'm also not really concerned with user specific control on the Guest side, since this Guest will be locked down anyway (no direct user access).

Thanks -

[noteirak]

I am aware of the limitations of a VM - which is why I brought up the "VirtualBox Guest Additions". Correct me if I'm wrong but these tools set up an open a communication API of sorts that allows guest to host and host to guest communication such as pasting clipboard content, etc... . This is the context in which I was asking my question - I'm simply looking to query the 'real' host hardware from the Guest.

AFAIK, The guest additions only allow you to set/get guestproperties via the API. Therefore, to perform what you want, you would need to create a program on the host aswell (using the Virtualbox API) that will use get/set property as a communication "channel". But there is no way to perform what you want without a program on the guest AND on the host.

[AnAdmin]

I am aware of the limitations of a VM - which is why I brought up the "VirtualBox Guest Additions". Correct me if I'm wrong but these tools set up an open a communication API of sorts that allows guest to host and host to guest communication such as pasting clipboard content, etc... . This is the context in which I was asking my question - I'm simply looking to query the 'real' host hardware from the Guest.

AFAIK, The guest additions only allow you to set/get guestproperties via the API. Therefore, to perform what you want, you would need to create a program on the host aswell (using the Virtualbox API) that will use get/set property as a communication "channel". But there is no way to perform what you want without a program on the guest AND on the host.

Thanks noteirak -

Do you know of any way to get some working example code for doing this, or is there a different developer forum that I need to post this question on ?

One alternative that I thought of is to write a Java based RMI process that would need to run on the Host, that a guest process could query. The main question that appears to remain is what would be more efficient/expedient, writing the Java RMI processes, or the Virtuabox API code ... . This is why a working example would be helpful in determining the next logical step.

Thanks again - I appreciate it

[noteirak]

I am yet to use the guest properties and the according API for it, all I know is that on the guest side, there is only c++ to use and on the host side, any supported language of the API will do.
I do not have working example but the best place to start is the downloads section - simply get the API zip file, and all the doc is in there, included java api.
As for support, there is no forum for dev support but there is the dev mailing list and the irc channel

[AnAdmin]

Thanks for the info. and the links - I appreciate it -