Access Instance Metadata Service (IMDS) and user data in Lightsail
Instance metadata is data about your instance that you can use to configure or manage the running instance. Instance metadata is divided into categories, for example, hostname, events, and security groups. You can also use instance metadata to access user data that you specified when launching your instance. For example, you can specify parameters for configuring your instance, or include a simple script. Instances can also include dynamic data, such as an instance identity document that is generated when the instance is launched.
Important
Although you can only access instance metadata and user data from within the instance itself, the data is not protected by authentication or cryptographic methods. Anyone who has direct access to the instance, and potentially any software running on the instance, can view its metadata. Therefore, you should not store sensitive data, such as passwords or long-lived encryption keys, as user data.
Use the Instance Metadata Service
You can access instance metadata from a running instance in Lightsail by using one of the following methods:
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Instance Metadata Service Version 1 (IMDSv1) – a request/response method
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Instance Metadata Service Version 2 (IMDSv2) – a session-oriented method
Important
Not all instance blueprints in Lightsail support IMDSv2. Use the
MetadataNoTokeninstance metric to track the number of calls to the instance metadata service that are using IMDSv1. For more information, see View instance metrics.
For more information about using IMDS, see Configure the Instance Metadata Service (IMDS).
Additional IMDS documentation
The following IMDS documentation is available in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide for Linux Instances and the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide for Windows Instances:
Note
In Amazon EC2, instance blueprints are referred to as Amazon Machine Images (AMIs).
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For Linux instances:
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For Windows instances:
