Unique VPS ID?

[jeronymite]

Virtual Private Servers (VPS) are becoming more popular as a host for running trading applications, and NinjaTrader 8 in particular.

Various other Forum threads have discussed the issue that sometimes arises of specific VPS hosts generating NinjaTrader 8 Machine IDs that are not unique. This question here is not about Machine IDs, but it is related to the same issue.

Question: Is there a way to uniquely identify any specific VPS instance from the VPS alone?

The question is independent of any applications in the VPS, and is quite separate from any presence or absence of NinjaTrader 8 on the VPS.

Essentially, if there is VPS instance and one wants to uniquely identify it as distinct from every other VPS instance, what might one be able to check?

The desirable simplest answer would be something along the conceptual lines of "GetVirtualSerialNumber", where some unique serial number was generated at the initiation of each and every VPS. I doubt that something like that exists as such, so is there some "hybrid" of available VPS information that could act as a proxy for such a unique ID?

There are actually two use cases too: the case of the specific instantiation of a VPS, and the case of the "subscribed" entity of the VPS that would have a unique ID that is constant for that VPS across individual instantiations. Both are of interest, but especially the "subscribed" identity.

Obviously, there are endless varieties of VPS available, created by a range of operating systems and other products, so there is almost certainly no single consistent approach; but any ideas would be welcome.

The non-unique Machine ID is really just a particular example of the more general case, and I'm seeking thoughts on how to overcome the general case from VPS-only information.

Thanks.

[QuantKey_Bruce]

I would suggest the MAC address as a starting point. Different VPSs on the same physical server must have different MAC addresses in order for routing to function.

String firstMacAddress = NetworkInterface
.GetAllNetworkInterfaces()
.Where( nic => nic.OperationalStatus == OperationalStatus.Up && nic.NetworkInterfaceType != NetworkInterfaceType.Loopback )
.Select( nic => nic.GetPhysicalAddress().ToString() )
.FirstOrDefault();​

[jeronymite]

Thanks, QuantKey_Bruce. That had occurred to me, but some have suggested that MAC addresses may not be reliably persistent for any individual VPS subscription.

Depending on policy, some VPS providers may maintain "permanent" MAC or static IP addresses per subscription, but unless it is explicit, it's subject to change.

Appreciate the suggestion though. Further ideas (from anyone) always welcome.

Thanks.

[QuantKey_Bruce]

Maybe you are looking for something like this: https://www.nuget.org/packages/DeviceId

Or, if you have some time to blow, you can make your own using this approach: https://www.codeproject.com/Articles...ID-MainBoard-I

[jeronymite]

Many thanks, QuantKey_Bruce. Very helpful. I was aware of many of the items in those packages, but some were new to me. The one that caught my eye and may prove useful is the Registry key for MachineGuid. I'll be testing that to see if it can be relied on.

Thanks.