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The metadata service is not yet available in the SAO and SAN3 regions. Support for these regions will be added in a future update.
The instance metadata service provides a way for your bare metal servers to access their own metadata — such as hostname, IP addresses, network configuration, storage layout, and tags — through a local HTTP endpoint. It is available from within any running Latitude.sh bare metal server.

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How it works

The metadata service runs on a link-local IP address (169.254.169.254) that is only reachable from within the server itself. Before querying metadata, you request a short-lived session token. You can then retrieve all metadata as a single JSON object or query individual fields by path.

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Quick start

1

Get a session token

Request a session token with a TTL (time-to-live) in seconds. The token is returned in the response body.
TOKEN=$(curl -s -X PUT "http://169.254.169.254/metadata/v1/api/token" \
  -H "X-Metadata-Token-TTL-Seconds: 3600")
2

Retrieve all metadata as JSON

Use the token to fetch the full metadata object:
curl -s "http://169.254.169.254/metadata/v1/metadata.json" \
  -H "X-Metadata-Token: $TOKEN" | jq
3

Query individual fields

You can also retrieve specific fields by path:
# Get the server hostname
curl -s "http://169.254.169.254/metadata/v1/hostname" \
  -H "X-Metadata-Token: $TOKEN"

# Get the public IPv4 address
curl -s "http://169.254.169.254/metadata/v1/public_ipv4" \
  -H "X-Metadata-Token: $TOKEN"

# Get the full network configuration
curl -s "http://169.254.169.254/metadata/v1/network" \
  -H "X-Metadata-Token: $TOKEN" | jq
The metadata service is only accessible from within the server. It cannot be reached from the public internet or from other servers.

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Available fields

FieldDescription
instance_idUnique server identifier
hostnameServer hostname
local_ipv4Private IPv4 address
public_ipv4Public IPv4 address
public_ipv6Public IPv6 address
regionRegion code (e.g., SAO, DAL)
planServer plan slug
operating_systemOperating system slug
userdataUser data script content
tagsTags attached to the server
networkNetwork interfaces and DNS configuration (see full schema)
storageDisk information (see full schema)
ssh_keysSSH public keys deployed to the server
vendorVendor-specific metadata such as project and team IDs (see full schema)

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Common use cases

  • Network configuration — read interface details and IPs to configure networking at boot
  • Dynamic inventory — register the server in Ansible, Consul, or other inventory systems using its own metadata
  • Cloud-init scripts — combine with user data to build dynamic configuration scripts that adapt to the server’s environment
  • Application configuration — inject region, hostname, or tags into your application’s runtime config
For the complete schema, all available paths, and authentication details, see the Instance Metadata Service API reference.