Hello,
I am going to ask the community on this one but I have a feeling I know the answer. Hopefully someone has a creative way.
In the API, there is a VirtaulMachineGuestSummary.FullGuestName. I believe this pulls from the section under VM Options -> General Options -> Guest OS and Version.
For a corporate environment, that is fine. You should set that correctly. The problem I have is in a multi-tenant service provider environment, that is not the best solution. Here are the reasons:
- In a Service provider model, any Windows based system within the vDC needs to be on a Microsoft SPLA license. And the Service Provider is responsible for reporting this
- Customers have the ability to spin up or tear down VMs as they see fit within their vDC
- The can actually go manually set/change the Guest OS and Version
I have a workflow that pulls the Guest OS info but how do I audit that to ensure customers did not change the Guest OS filed to Linux to circumvent the Windows license?
I was thinking the only real way would be through VMtools but there is no API option to call through the VMtools to capture that information.
Any help or ideas?