Instance metadata service

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.

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.

Quick start

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")

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

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.

Available fields

Field	Description
`instance_id`	Unique server identifier
`hostname`	Server hostname
`local_ipv4`	Private IPv4 address
`public_ipv4`	Public IPv4 address
`public_ipv6`	Public IPv6 address
`region`	Region code (e.g., `SAO`, `DAL`)
`plan`	Server plan slug
`operating_system`	Operating system slug
`userdata`	User data script content
`tags`	Tags attached to the server
`network`	Network interfaces and DNS configuration (see full schema)
`storage`	Disk information (see full schema)
`ssh_keys`	SSH public keys deployed to the server
`vendor`	Vendor-specific metadata such as project and team IDs (see full schema)

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.

Platform

Compute

Storage & data

Networking

Resource management

Platform settings

Usage & billing

Support

Legal

How it works

Quick start

Available fields

Common use cases

​How it works

​Quick start

​Available fields

​Common use cases

How it works

Quick start

Available fields

Common use cases