Prepare a cloud-init Metadata File

Use the following information to prepare your cloud-init metadata file. The metadata file is required for cloud-init.
  • The metadata file is a plain-text file formatted as YAML or JSON.
  • The maximum file size is 512KB.
  • All standard
    v1
    keys are accepted, such as:
    • distro
    • local_hostname
    • platform
    • public_ssh_keys
  • The
    instance-id
    key is required. All other keys are optional.
  • For network configuration, both
    v1
    and
    v2
    keys are accepted.
This example shows a metadata file in YAML format that includes a minimal network configuration:
instance-id: cloud-vm-example-1 local hostname: cloud-vm network: version: 2 ethernets: nics: match: name: eth* dhcp4: yes
This example shows a metadata file in JSON format that specifies a fixed IP network configuration:
{ "instance-id": "cloud-vm-example-2", "local-hostname": "cloud-vm", "cloud-name": "vSphere", "distro": "ubuntu", "distro-version": "20.04", "distro-release": "focal", "network": { "version": 2, "ethernets": { "nics": { "match": { "name": "eth*" }, "nameservers": { "addresses": ["203.0.113.1"], "search": ["www.example.com", "example.com"] }, "gateway4": "192.0.2.253", "dhcp4": false, "addresses": [ "192.0.2.0/24" ] } } } }