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How to find a linux machine is a VM (Virtual Machine) or a Bare Metal

November 7, 2023

If you can SSH into a linux machine and want to find out if its baremetal or Virtual Machine

Motivation

You might be given access to a linux machine via SSH crendetials. But you are really curious, if this machine is actually a bare metal or a virtual machine

Commands to help out

There are many different commands that gives us the required information, lets see…

virt-what

virt-what command will give the information about any virtualization platform if relevant

Examples

Virtual Machines

VMWare VM

# virt-what
vmware

VirtualBox VM

# virt-what
virtualbox
kvm

Baremetal

# virt-what
#NOTHING - NO OUTPUT

systemd-detect-virt

systemd-detect-virt command would give the virtualization platform if relevant. Also the exit status from this command can be used as the check

Examples

Virtual Machines

VMWare VM

# systemd-detect-virt
vmware

# echo $?
0

VirtualBox VM

# systemd-detect-virt
kvm

# echo $?
0

Baremetal

# systemd-detect-virt
none

# echo $?
1

hostnamectl

hostnamectl | grep Chassis command would tell us if the machine is a VM or Baremetal

Examples

Virtual Machines

VMWare VM

# hostnamectl | grep Chassis
           Chassis: vm

VirtualBox VM

# hostnamectl | grep Chassis
           Chassis: vm

Baremetal

# hostnamectl | grep Chassis
           Chassis: desktop

dmidecode -s system-manufacturer

dmidecode -s system-manufacturer command would give the information about the system manufacturer

Examples

Virtual Machines

VMWare VM

# dmidecode -s system-manufacturer
VMware, Inc.

VirtualBox VM

# dmidecode -s system-manufacturer
innotek GmbH

Baremetal

# dmidecode -s system-manufacturer
Dell Inc.

dmesg

dmesg | grep -i virtual command would output the logs and there is typically indication about the Virtualization platform

Examples

Virtual Machines

VMWare VM

# dmesg | grep -i virtual
[    0.000000] DMI: VMware, Inc. VMware Virtual Platform/XXXX Desktop Reference Platform, BIOS X.00 MM/DD/YYYY
[    0.000000] Booting paravirtualized kernel on VMware hypervisor
[    0.613050] systemd[1]: Detected virtualization vmware.
[    0.634050] systemd[1]: Starting Setup Virtual Console...
[    0.734374] VMware vmxnet3 virtual NIC driver - version
.......
# Some more relevant messages

VirtualBox VM

# dmesg | grep -i virtual
[    0.000000] DMI: innotek GmbH VirtualBox/VirtualBox, BIOS VirtualBox 12/01/2006
[    0.000000] CPU MTRRs all blank - virtualized system.
[    0.000000] Booting paravirtualized kernel on KVM
[    2.180059] KVM setup paravirtual spinlock
[    2.183766] systemd[1]: Detected virtualization kvm.
[    2.255794] systemd[1]: Starting Setup Virtual Console...
[1802663.588585] Hardware name: innotek GmbH VirtualBox/VirtualBox, BIOS VirtualBox 12/01/2006
[2322595.919483] Hardware name: innotek GmbH VirtualBox/VirtualBox, BIOS VirtualBox 12/01/2006

Baremetal

# dmesg | grep -i virtual
#NOTHING - NO OUTPUT

facter

facter command needs to be installed from respective package managers on linux. For example sudo yum install facter -y

Examples

Virtual Machines

VMWare VM

# facter | grep -i virtual
blockdevice_sda_model => Virtual disk
is_virtual => true
productname => VMware Virtual Platform
virtual => vmware

VirtualBox VM

# facter | grep -i virtual
bios_version => VirtualBox
boardproductname => VirtualBox
is_virtual => true
productname => VirtualBox
virtual => kvm

Baremetal

# facter | grep virtual
is_virtual => false
virtual => physical

lshw

lshw command needs to be installed from respective package managers on linux. For example sudo yum install lshw -y

Examples

Virtual Machines

VMWare VM

# sudo lshw -short | grep -i vm
                                 system     VMware Virtual Platform
/0/100/11/0/1/1                  input      VMware Virtual USB Mouse
/0/100/11/0/1/2                  bus        VMware Virtual USB Hub

VirtualBox VM

# lshw -short | grep -i -e vm -e Virtual
                             system     VirtualBox
/0                           bus        VirtualBox
/0/100/2                     display    VirtualBox Graphics Adapter
/0/100/4                     generic    VirtualBox Guest Service
/0/100/d/0.0.0/2  /dev/sda2  volume     13GiB Linux LVM Physical Volume partition

Baremetal

# lshw -short | grep -i -e vm -e Virtual
# NOTHING SPECIFIC TO indicating that this is a Virtual Machine
/0/100/11                          bridge         C600/X79 series chipset PCI Express Virtual Root Port
/0/100/1a/1/1/3                    input          Virtual Keyboard and Mouse
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