Tracking a virtual machine

A method for preventing a virtual machine from operating, the method comprising:

• determining an identifier and an address of a virtual machine being evaluated, and an identifier of a first hypervisor associated with the virtual machine being evaluated;
• determining whether the virtual machine being evaluated is a duplicate or clone of an existing virtual machine using the identifier of the first hypervisor, the identifier and address of the virtual machine being evaluated, an identifier of a second hypervisor associated with the existing virtual machine, and an identifier and address of the existing virtual machine;
• and
• if the virtual machine being evaluated is the duplicate or clone virtual machine, instructing a host machine having the first hypervisor on which the duplicate or clone virtual machine is running to prevent activity by the duplicate or clone virtual machine.

A system:

• a memory;
• and
• a processing device, coupled to the memory, to:
• establish one or more channels between one or more virtual machines and a host machine, wherein one of the one or more virtual machines has been derived from a parent virtual machine hosted by a different host machine;
• exchange messages between the one or more virtual machines and the host machine, the messages identifying a hypervisor to the one or more virtual machines and identifying the one or more virtual machines to the hypervisor, the messages comprising addresses of the one or more virtual machines and identifiers of the one or more virtual machines, wherein an identifier of each of the one or more virtual machines is to remain unchanged upon a change in a migration status of a respective virtual machine;
• compile information about the one or more virtual machines in a network, wherein the information about the one or more virtual machines comprises the identifiers of the one or more virtual machines and the addresses of the one or more virtual machines included in the messages, wherein an identifier of a derived virtual machine is associated with an identifier of the parent virtual machine;
• and
• send the information about the one or more virtual machines to an administrative console, the information about the derived virtual machine and other virtual machines of the one or more virtual machines being indicative of a migration status of the one or more virtual machines.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor device, cause the processing device to perform a method comprising:

• establishing one or more channels between one or more virtual machines and a host machine, wherein one of the one or more virtual machines has been derived from a parent virtual machine hosted by a different host machine;
• exchanging messages between the one or more virtual machines and the host machine, the messages identifying a hypervisor to the one or more virtual machines and identifying the one or more virtual machines to the hypervisor, the messages comprising addresses of the one or more virtual machines and identifiers of the one or more virtual machines, wherein an identifier of each of the one or more virtual machines is to remain unchanged upon a change in a migration status of a respective virtual machine;
• compiling information about the one or more virtual machines in a network, wherein the information about the one or more virtual machines comprises the identifiers of the one or more virtual machines and the addresses of the one or more virtual machines included in the messages, wherein an identifier of a derived virtual machine is associated with an identifier of the parent virtual machine;
• and
• sending the information about the one or more virtual machines to an administrative console, the information about the one or more virtual machines being indicative of a migration status of the derived virtual machine and other virtual machines of the one or more virtual machines.