virt-what(1)

1VIRT-WHAT(1)                Virtualization Support                VIRT-WHAT(1)
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NAME

6       virt-what - detect if we are running in a virtual machine
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SUMMARY

9       virt-what [options]
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DESCRIPTION

12       "virt-what" is a shell script which can be used to detect if the
13       program is running in a virtual machine.
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15       The program prints out a list of "facts" about the virtual machine,
16       derived from heuristics.  One fact is printed per line.
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18       If nothing is printed and the script exits with code 0 (no error), then
19       it can mean either that the program is running on bare-metal or the
20       program is running inside a type of virtual machine which we don't know
21       about or cannot detect.
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FACTS

24       openvz
25           The guest appears to be running inside an OpenVZ or Virtuozzo
26           container.
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28           Status: contributed by Evgeniy Sokolov
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30       kvm This is KVM.
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32           Status: confirmed by RWMJ.
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34       qemu
35           This is QEMU.
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37           Status: confirmed by RWMJ.
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39       uml This is a User-Mode Linux (UML) guest.
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41           Status: contributed by Laurent Leonard
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43       virtualbox
44           This is a VirtualBox guest.
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46           Status: contributed by Laurent Leonard
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48       virtualpc
49           The guest appears to be running on Microsoft VirtualPC.
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51           Status: not confirmed
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53       vmware
54           The guest appears to be running on VMware.
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56           Status: confirmed by RWMJ
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58       xen The guest appears to be running on Xen.
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60           Status: confirmed by RWMJ
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62       xen-dom0
63           This is the Xen dom0 (privileged domain).
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65           Status: confirmed by RWMJ
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67       xen-domU
68           This is a Xen domU (paravirtualized guest domain).
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70           Status: confirmed by RWMJ
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72       xen-hvm
73           This is a Xen guest fully virtualized (HVM).
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75           Status: confirmed by RWMJ
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IMPORTANT NOTE

78       Most of the time, using this program is the wrong thing to do.  Instead
79       you should detect the specific features you actually want to use.  (As
80       an example, if you wanted to issue Xen hypervisor commands you would
81       look for the "/proc/xen/privcmd" file).
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83       However people keep asking for this, so we provide it.  There are a few
84       legitimate uses:
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86       Bug reporting tool
87           If you think that virtualization could affect how your program
88           runs, then you might use "virt-what" to report this in a bug
89           reporting tool.
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91       Status display and monitoring tools
92           You might include this information in status and monitoring
93           programs.
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AUTHORS

103       Richard W.M. Jones <rjones @ redhat . com>
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COPYRIGHT

106       (C) Copyright 2008 Red Hat Inc., <http://libvirt.org/>
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108       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
109       under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
110       Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
111       option) any later version.
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113       This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
114       WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
115       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
116       General Public License for more details.
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118       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
119       with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
120       675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
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REPORTING BUGS

123       Bugs can be viewed on the Red Hat Bugzilla page:
124       <https://bugzilla.redhat.com/>.
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126       If you find a bug in virt-what, please follow these steps to report it:
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128       1. Check for existing bug reports
129           Go to <https://bugzilla.redhat.com/> and search for similar bugs.
130           Someone may already have reported the same bug, and they may even
131           have fixed it.
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133       2. Capture debug and error messages
134           Run
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136            virt-what > virt-what.log 2>&1
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138           and keep virt-what.log.  It may contain error messages which you
139           should submit with your bug report.
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141       3. Get version of virt-what and version of libvirt.
142           Run
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144            virt-what --version
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146       4. Submit a bug report.
147           Go to <https://bugzilla.redhat.com/> and enter a new bug.  Please
148           describe the problem in as much detail as possible.
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150           Remember to include the version numbers (step 3) and the debug
151           messages file (step 2).
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153       5. Assign the bug to rjones @ redhat.com
154           Assign or reassign the bug to rjones @ redhat.com (without the
155           spaces).  You can also send me an email with the bug number if you
156           want a faster response.
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160virt-what-1.3                     2010-10-18                      VIRT-WHAT(1)