[Yandex Cloud documentation](../../../index.md) > [Yandex Compute Cloud](../../index.md) > [Step-by-step guides](../index.md) > Creating a VM > Creating a VM with metadata from environment variables # Creating a VM with metadata from environment variables With the [Yandex Cloud CLI](../../../cli/index.md), you can create a [VM](../../concepts/vm.md) whose [metadata](../../concepts/vm-metadata.md) will contain values set in [environment variables](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment_variable). The [cloud-init](https://cloudinit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) agent running on the VM will process the metadata configuration you set in the `user-data` key. This use case demonstrates creating a VM on [Ubuntu 22.04 LTS](https://yandex.cloud/en/marketplace/products/yc/ubuntu-22-04-lts) with a preinstalled [Nginx](https://nginx.org/) web server. When executing the CLI command, the local user name and SSH key values will be provided to the VM metadata through substitution from the `USER_NAME` and `SSH_KEY` variables of the environment the command is executed in. Also, these two variables from the `data` configuration section will be provided to the VM metadata: `var1` set to `value1` and `var2` set to `value2`. These variables and their values will be available in the `user-data` [folder](../../concepts/metadata/directories.md#dir-user) of the metadata service from inside the VM after you create it. {% note info %} To create, modify, and edit a [VM](../../concepts/vm.md), you need the `compute.editor` _minimum_ [role](../../security/index.md#compute-editor) for the [folder](../../../resource-manager/concepts/resources-hierarchy.md#folder). To create a VM with a licensed image, you will additionally need the `license-manager.viewer` [role](../../../marketplace/security/index.md#license-manager-viewer). To create a VM with a [public IP address](../../../vpc/concepts/address.md#public-addresses), you will additionally need the `vpc.publicAdmin` [role](../../../vpc/security/index.md#vpc-public-admin). {% endnote %} To create a VM with metadata from environment variables: 1. Specify the environment variables containing the VM local user's name and SSH key; these will be substituted into the VM metadata when the Yandex Cloud CLI command is executed later on: ```bash export USER_NAME="" export SSH_KEY="" ``` 1. Create a file named `metadata.yaml` and paste into it the following metadata configuration for the new VM: **metadata.yaml** ```yaml #cloud-config datasource: Ec2: strict_id: false data: var1: value1 var2: value2 ssh_pwauth: no users: - name: $USER_NAME sudo: 'ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL' shell: /bin/bash ssh_authorized_keys: - $SSH_KEY write_files: - path: "/usr/local/etc/startup.sh" permissions: "755" content: | #!/bin/bash apt-get update apt-get install -y nginx service nginx start sed -i -- "s/ nginx/ Yandex Cloud - $$HOSTNAME/" /var/www/html/index.nginx-debian.html defer: true runcmd: - ["/usr/local/etc/startup.sh"] packages: - yq ``` 1. Create a virtual machine: {% list tabs group=instructions %} - CLI {#cli} If you do not have the Yandex Cloud CLI yet, [install and initialize it](../../../cli/quickstart.md#install). The folder used by default is the one specified when [creating](../../../cli/operations/profile/profile-create.md) the CLI profile. To change the default folder, use the `yc config set folder-id ` command. You can also specify a different folder for any command using `--folder-name` or `--folder-id`. If you access a resource by its name, the search will be limited to the default folder. If you access a resource by its ID, the search will be global, i.e., through all folders based on access permissions. ```bash yc compute instance create \ --name my-vm \ --hostname \ --zone \ --network-interface subnet-name=,nat-ip-version=ipv4,security-group-ids= \ --create-boot-disk image-folder-id=standard-images,image-family=ubuntu-2204-lts \ --metadata-from-file user-data="" ``` Where: * `--name`: Name of the new VM, e.g., `my-vm`. * `--hostname`: Host name for the new VM. This is an optional setting. If omitted, the VM ID will be used as the host name. * `--zone`: [Availability zone](../../../overview/concepts/geo-scope.md) the new VM will reside in. * `--network-interface`: [Network interface](../../concepts/network.md) settings for the new VM: * `subnet-name`: Name of the [subnet](../../../vpc/concepts/network.md#subnet) in the availability zone specified in the `--zone` parameter. * `security-group-ids`: [Security group](../../../vpc/concepts/security-groups.md) ID. * `--metadata-from-file`: The `user-data` key with the path to the `cloud-config` YAML configuration file for value. e.g., `--metadata-from-file user-data="/home/user/metadata.yaml"`. {% note info %} Note that the CLI command for the `HOSTNAME` variable will not substitute its value into the metadata. Instead, the `$HOSTNAME` variable name will be provided to the `cloud-init` configuration when executing the CLI command; the hostname value of the new VM will be substituted in place of that variable later what creating the VM. This is why the `HOSTNAME` variable is specified using the two-dollar syntax in the `user-data` key: `$$HOSTNAME`. To learn more, see [Specifics of providing environment variables in metadata via the CLI](../../concepts/metadata/sending-metadata.md#environment-variables). {% endnote %} {% cut "Result" %} ```text done (36s) id: epd8m0fqvkuu******** folder_id: b1gt6g8ht345******** created_at: "2025-01-01T14:24:37Z" name: my-vm zone_id: ru-central1-b platform_id: standard-v2 resources: memory: "2147483648" cores: "2" core_fraction: "100" status: RUNNING metadata_options: gce_http_endpoint: ENABLED aws_v1_http_endpoint: ENABLED gce_http_token: ENABLED aws_v1_http_token: DISABLED boot_disk: mode: READ_WRITE device_name: epd60hoo48qj******** auto_delete: true disk_id: epd60hoo48qj******** network_interfaces: - index: "0" mac_address: d0:0d:8b:01:fa:fd subnet_id: e2lqsms4cdl3******** primary_v4_address: address: 192.168.15.14 one_to_one_nat: address: 51.250.**.** ip_version: IPV4 security_group_ids: - enpbtvidu0g0******** serial_port_settings: ssh_authorization: OS_LOGIN gpu_settings: {} fqdn: my-web-server.ru-central1.internal scheduling_policy: {} network_settings: type: STANDARD placement_policy: {} hardware_generation: legacy_features: pci_topology: PCI_TOPOLOGY_V1 ``` {% endcut %} For more information about the `yc compute instance create` command, see the [CLI reference](../../../cli/cli-ref/compute/cli-ref/instance/create.md). {% endlist %} 1. Save the [public IP address](../../concepts/network.md#public-ip) of the VM you created into the `EXT_IP` variable. ```bash EXT_IP=$(yc compute instance get my-vm --jq '.network_interfaces[0].primary_v4_address.one_to_one_nat.address') ``` 1. Connect to the VM over SSH: ```bash ssh $USER_NAME@$EXT_IP ``` 1. Get the values of the variables you previously provided to the metadata from inside the VM. To do this, run the following requests in the VM terminal: ```bash export var1=$(curl -sf -H Metadata-Flavor:Google 169.254.169.254/latest/user-data | yq .datasource.data.var1) export var2=$(curl -sf -H Metadata-Flavor:Google 169.254.169.254/latest/user-data | yq .datasource.data.var2) echo $var1 $var2 ``` Result: ```text value1 value2 ``` For more `user-data` configuration examples, see [Examples](create-with-cloud-init-scripts.md#examples). #### See also {#see-also} * [VM metadata](../../concepts/vm-metadata.md) * [Creating a VM with access to a Yandex Lockbox secret](create-with-lockbox-secret.md) * [Creating a VM with a custom configuration script](create-with-cloud-init-scripts.md)