Provided by: libvm-ec2-perl_1.28-4_all 
NAME
VM::EC2::Instance::Metadata - Object describing the metadata of a running instance
SYNOPSIS
# For use within a running EC2 instance only!
use VM::EC2::Instance::Metadata;
my $meta = VM::EC2::Instance::Metadata->new;
# alternatively...
my $meta = VM::EC2->instance_metadata;
my $meta = $instance->metadata;
# image information
$image_id = $meta->imageId;
$index = $meta->imageLaunchIndex;
$path = $meta->amiManifestPath;
$location = $meta->imageLocation; # same as previous
@ancestors = $meta->ancestorAmiIds;
@ancestors = $meta->imageAncestorIds; # same as previous
@codes = $meta->productCodes;
# launch and runtime information
$inst_id = $meta->instanceId;
$kern_id = $meta->kernelId;
$rd_id = $meta->ramdiskId;
$res_id = $meta->reservationId;
$type = $meta->instanceType;
$zone = $meta->availabilityZone;
$userdata = $meta->userData;
@groups = $meta->securityGroups;
@keys = $meta->publicKeys;
$block_dev = $meta->blockDeviceMapping; # a hashref
# Network information
$priv_name = $meta->localHostname;
$priv_name = $meta->privateDnsName; # same as previous
$priv_ip = $meta->localIpv4;
$priv_ip = $meta->privateIpAddress;
$mac = $meta->mac;
$pub_name = $meta->publicHostname;
$pub_name = $meta->dnsName; # same as previous
$pub_ip = $meta->publicIpv4;
$pub_ip = $meta->ipAddress;
$interfaces= $meta->interfaces; # a hashref
# IAM information
$iam_info = $metadata->iam_info; # a hashref
$iam_role = $metadata->iam_role; # name of the role
$credentials= $metadata->iam_credentials; # VM::EC2::Security::Credentials object
# Undocumented fields
$action = $meta->instanceAction;
$profile = $meta->profile;
DESCRIPTION
This is an interface to the metadata that is provided to a running instance via the
http://169.254.169.254/latest URL, as described in
http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/index.html?instancedata-data-categories.html.
Each metadata object caches its values, so there is no overhead in calling a method
repeatedly. Methods return scalar values, lists and hashrefs as appropriate.
The methods from this class should only be called within the context of a running EC2
instance. Attempts to call outside of this context will result in long delays as the
module attempts to connect to an invalid hostname.
METHODS
$meta = VM::EC2::Instance::Metadata->new()
$meta = $ec2->instance_metadata()
$meta = $instance->metadata()
You can create a new metadata object either using this class's new() constructor, or by
calling an VM::EC2 object's instance_metadata() method, or by calling a VM::EC2::Instance
object's metadata () method.
Methods that return scalar values
The following methods all return single-valued results:
Image information:
imageId -- ID of AMI used to launch this instance
imageLaunchIndex -- This index's launch index. If four instances
were launched by one $image->run_instances()
call, they will be numbered from 0 to 3.
amiManifestPath -- S3 path to the image
imageLocation -- Same as amiManifestPath(), for consistency with
VM::EC2::Image
Launch and runtime information:
instanceId -- ID of this instance
kernelId -- ID of this instance's kernel.
ramdiskId -- This instance's ramdisk ID
reservationId -- This instance's reservation ID
instanceType -- Machine type, e.g. "m1.small"
availabilityZone -- This instance's availability zone.
region -- This instance's region.
endpoint -- This instance's endpoint.
userData -- User data passed at launch time.
Network information:
localHostname -- The instance hostname corresponding to its
internal EC2 IP address.
privateDnsName -- Same as localHostname(), for consistency with
VM::EC2::Instance
localIpv4 -- The instance IP address on the internal EC2 network.
privateIpAddress -- Same as localIpv4(), for consistency with
VM::EC2::Instance.
mac -- This instance's MAC (ethernet) address.
publicHostname -- This instance's public hostname.
dnsName -- Same as publicHostname() for consistency with
VM::EC2::Instance.
publicIpv4 -- This instance's public IP address.
ipAddress -- Same as publicIpv4() for consistency with
VM::EC2::Instance.
IAM information
These routines return information about the instance's IAM role, if any. These calls
also provide a temporary security credentials for making EC2 calls, as described here:
http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/UsingIAM.html.
Note that these routines require installation of the perl JSON module, and will cause
a fatal error if this module cannot be loaded.
iam_info -- Returns a hash containing the fields 'LastUpdated',
'InstanceProfileArn', and 'InstanceProfileId'. These
provide information about the instance's IAM role.
iam_role -- Returns the IAM role name for the currently running
instance.
iam_credentials -- Returns a VM::EC2::Security::Credentials object that can
be passed to VM::EC2->new(-security_token=>$credentials).
Unknown information:
profile -- An undocumented field that contains the virtualization
type in the form "default-paravirtual".
instanceAction -- Undocumented metadata field named "instance-action"
Methods that return lists
The following methods all return lists.
Image information
ancestorAmiIds -- List of AMIs from which the current one was derived
imageAncestorIds -- Same as ancestorAmiIds() but easier to read.
productCodes -- List of product codes applying to the image from which
this instance was launched.
Launch and runtime information
securityGroups -- List of security groups to which this instance is assigned.
For non-VPC instances, this will be the security group
name. For VPC instances, this will be the security group ID.
publicKeys -- List of public key pair names attached to this instance.
Methods that return a hashref
The following methods return a hashref for representing complex data structures:
$devices = $meta->blockDeviceMapping
This returns a hashref in which the keys are the names of instance block devices, such
as "/dev/sda1", and the values are the EC2 virtual machine names. For example:
x $meta->blockDeviceMapping
0 HASH(0x9b4f2f8)
'/dev/sda1' => 'root'
'/dev/sda2' => 'ephemeral0'
'/dev/sdg' => 'ebs1'
'/dev/sdh' => 'ebs9'
'/dev/sdi' => 'ebs10'
'sda3' => 'swap'
For reasons that are not entirely clear, the swap device is reported as "sda3" rather
than as "/dev/sda3".
$interfaces = $meta->interfaces
Returns a mapping of all virtual ethernet devices owned by this instance. This is
primarily useful for VPC instances, which can have more than one device. The hash keys
are the MAC addresses of each ethernet device, and the values are hashes that have the
following keys:
mac
localHostname
localIpv4s (an array ref)
publicIpv4s (an array ref)
securityGroupIds (an array ref)
subnetId
subnetIpv4CidrBlock
vpcId
vpcIpv4CidrBlock
For example:
D
x $meta->interfaces
0 HASH(0x9b4f518)
'12:31:38:01:b8:97' => HASH(0x9eaa090)
'localHostname' => 'domU-12-31-38-01-B8-97.compute-1.internal'
'localIpv4s' => ARRAY(0x9b4f8a8)
0 '10.253.191.101'
'mac' => '12:31:38:01:b8:97'
'publicIpv4s' => ARRAY(0x9ea9e40)
0 '184.73.241.210'
'securityGroupIds' => ARRAY(0x9eaa490)
empty array
'subnetId' => undef
'subnetIpv4CidrBlock' => undef
'vpcId' => undef
'vpcIpv4CidrBlock' => undef
SEE ALSO
VM::EC2 VM::EC2::Generic VM::EC2::BlockDevice VM::EC2::State::Reason VM::EC2::State
VM::EC2::Instance VM::EC2::Tag
AUTHOR
Lincoln Stein <lincoln.stein@gmail.com>.
Copyright (c) 2011 Ontario Institute for Cancer Research
This package and its accompanying libraries is free software; you can redistribute it
and/or modify it under the terms of the GPL (either version 1, or at your option, any
later version) or the Artistic License 2.0. Refer to LICENSE for the full license text.
In addition, please see DISCLAIMER.txt for disclaimers of warranty.