---
title: Add cloud metadata
description: The add_cloud_metadata processor enriches each event with instance metadata from the machine’s hosting provider. At startup the processor queries a list...
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/fleet/add-cloud-metadata-processor
products:
- Elastic Agent
- Fleet
applies_to:
- Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available
- Elastic Stack: Generally available
---
# Add cloud metadata
Inputs that collect logs and metrics use this processor by default, so you do not need to configure it explicitly.
The `add_cloud_metadata` processor enriches each event with instance metadata from the machine’s hosting provider. At startup the processor queries a list of hosting providers and caches the instance metadata.
The following providers are supported:
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Digital Ocean
- Google Compute Engine (GCE)
- [Tencent Cloud](https://www.qcloud.com/?lang=en) (QCloud)
- Alibaba Cloud (ECS)
- Huawei Cloud (ECS)
- Azure Virtual Machine
- Openstack Nova
The Alibaba Cloud and Tencent providers are disabled by default, because they require to access a remote host. Use the `providers` setting to select a list of default providers to query.
## Example
This configuration enables the processor:
```yaml
- add_cloud_metadata: ~
```
The metadata that is added to events varies by hosting provider. For examples, refer to [Provider-specific metadata examples](#provider-specific-examples).
## Configuration settings
Elastic Agent processors execute *before* ingest pipelines, which means that they process the raw event data rather than the final event sent to Elasticsearch. For related limitations, refer to [What are some limitations of using processors?](/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/fleet/agent-processors#limitations)
| Name | Required | Default | Description |
|-------------|----------|---------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `timeout` | No | `3s` | Maximum amount of time to wait for a successful response when detecting the hosting provider. If a timeout occurs, no instance metadata is added to the events. This makes it possible to enable this processor for all your deployments (in the cloud or on-premise). |
| `providers` | No | | List of provider names to use. If `providers` is not configured, all providers that do not access a remote endpoint are enabled by default. The list of providers may alternatively be configured with the environment variable `BEATS_ADD_CLOUD_METADATA_PROVIDERS`, by setting it to a comma-separated list of provider names.The list of supported provider names includes:* `alibaba` or `ecs` for the Alibaba Cloud provider (disabled by default).* `azure` for Azure Virtual Machine (enabled by default).* `digitalocean` for Digital Ocean (enabled by default).* `aws` or `ec2` for Amazon Web Services (enabled by default).* `gcp` for Google Compute Engine (enabled by default).* `openstack` or `nova` for Openstack Nova (enabled by default).* `openstack-ssl` or `nova-ssl` for Openstack Nova when SSL metadata APIs are enabled (enabled by default).* `tencent` or `qcloud` for Tencent Cloud (disabled by default).* `huawei` for Huawei Cloud (enabled by default). |
| `overwrite` | No | `false` | Whether to overwrite existing cloud fields. If `true`, the processor overwrites existing `cloud.*` fields. |
The `add_cloud_metadata` processor supports SSL options to configure the http client used to query cloud metadata.
For more information, refer to [SSL/TLS](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/fleet/elastic-agent-ssl-configuration), specifically the settings under [Table 7, Common configuration options](/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/fleet/elastic-agent-ssl-configuration#common-ssl-options) and [Table 8, Client configuration options](/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/fleet/elastic-agent-ssl-configuration#client-ssl-options).
## Provider-specific metadata examples
The following sections show examples for each of the supported providers.
### AWS
```json
{
"cloud": {
"account.id": "123456789012",
"availability_zone": "us-east-1c",
"instance.id": "i-4e123456",
"machine.type": "t2.medium",
"image.id": "ami-abcd1234",
"provider": "aws",
"region": "us-east-1"
}
}
```
### Digital Ocean
```json
{
"cloud": {
"instance.id": "1234567",
"provider": "digitalocean",
"region": "nyc2"
}
}
```
### GCP
```json
{
"cloud": {
"availability_zone": "us-east1-b",
"instance.id": "1234556778987654321",
"machine.type": "f1-micro",
"project.id": "my-dev",
"provider": "gcp"
}
}
```
### Tencent Cloud
```json
{
"cloud": {
"availability_zone": "gz-azone2",
"instance.id": "ins-qcloudv5",
"provider": "qcloud",
"region": "china-south-gz"
}
}
```
### Huawei Cloud
```json
{
"cloud": {
"availability_zone": "cn-east-2b",
"instance.id": "37da9890-8289-4c58-ba34-a8271c4a8216",
"provider": "huawei",
"region": "cn-east-2"
}
}
```
### Alibaba Cloud
This metadata is only available when VPC is selected as the network type of the ECS instance.
```json
{
"cloud": {
"availability_zone": "cn-shenzhen",
"instance.id": "i-wz9g2hqiikg0aliyun2b",
"provider": "ecs",
"region": "cn-shenzhen-a"
}
}
```
### Azure Virtual Machine
```json
{
"cloud": {
"provider": "azure",
"instance.id": "04ab04c3-63de-4709-a9f9-9ab8c0411d5e",
"instance.name": "test-az-vm",
"machine.type": "Standard_D3_v2",
"region": "eastus2"
}
}
```
### Openstack Nova
```json
{
"cloud": {
"instance.name": "test-998d932195.mycloud.tld",
"instance.id": "i-00011a84",
"availability_zone": "xxxx-az-c",
"provider": "openstack",
"machine.type": "m2.large"
}
}
```