VM metadata

VM instance metadata is metadata (additional data) about your VM instance.

The VM instance metadata service stores metadata in folders as key-value pairs.

You can use metadata to do the following:

• Enable the cloud-init process when creating a VM instance.
• Provide the required information in the user-data key to services or applications you run on the VM instance after it is created.
• Get data from inside the VM instance for authentication in Yandex Cloud.

Your VM instance ID, Cloud Marketplace image ID, and a number of other metadata values form a unique identity document for that VM instance.

VM instance metadata service parametersVM instance metadata service parameters

In Yandex Cloud, you can access VM instance metadata in Google Compute Engine format (not all fields are supported). This is the most secure and recommended format for working with metadata of a VM instance. You must use the Metadata-Flavor:Google HTTP header when accessing the metadata service.

Compute Cloud VMs support the following VM metadata service settings:

• gce-http-endpoint: Provides access to metadata using the Google Compute Engine format. It can be either enabled or disabled. If set to disabled, the metadata request will fail with error 400 (BadRequest). The default value is enabled.
• gce-http-token: Enables using Google Compute Engine metadata to get the IAM token for the service account connected to the VM. It can be either enabled or disabled. If set to disabled, the token request will fail with error 400 (BadRequest). The default value is enabled.

You can get the current VM instance metadata service parameters together with the VM information using the CLI and API.

You can configure the metadata service when creating or updating VMs. For more information on how to configure the metadata service, see this guide.

Use casesUse cases

• Secure password transmission to an initialization script
• Secure storage of GitLab CI passwords as Yandex Lockbox secrets

See alsoSee also

• Metadata folders
• Keys processed in public images Yandex Cloud
• Transferring metadata to VM instances
• Access to VM instance metadata
• Identity document
• Instance template