cloud-init operations

Install

emisar pack install fetches this pack, re-validates it, and verifies its content hash against the --hash below — the exact bytes this page was rendered against, so a tampered copy is rejected — before copying it into the runner's packs dir. The command reloads a running daemon itself; no manual restart.

sudo emisar pack install cloud-init --hash sha256:23d59aa9d36715216add51ace9f5b9d4fd6f68ebb4158dc81de18ab78ec5290d

• cloud-init.analyze_blame exec low

  cloud-init analyze blame

  List modules ranked by duration. The single fastest answer to "why did cloud-init take 90 seconds?" — the slow module is at the top.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.analyze_dump exec low

  cloud-init analyze dump

  Dump raw event records from cloud-init.log as JSON. Useful for downstream tooling that wants structured timing data.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.analyze_show exec low

  cloud-init analyze show

  Show per-stage timing for the most recent boot — when each stage started, duration, and which records contributed. Read-only.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.clean exec critical

  cloud-init clean

  Wipe ALL cloud-init state — /var/lib/cloud/, logs, instance-id, module-run records. NEXT BOOT cloud-init treats the host as a brand-new instance and re-runs every module from scratch. Combine with a reboot to genuinely re-bootstrap the host. Catastrophic on a long-lived host where users have been added outside cloud-init — those won't be re-added.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.clean_logs exec medium

  cloud-init clean --logs

  Truncate cloud-init logs without resetting instance state. Use to clear noisy stale errors before re-running a stage to confirm a fix worked.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.cloud_config_dump exec medium

  cat /var/lib/cloud/instance/cloud-config.txt

  Dump the final merged cloud-config (user-data + vendor-data + system defaults) as cloud-init evaluated it. The source of truth for "what did cloud-init actually try to do?".

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.collect_logs exec medium

  cloud-init collect-logs

  Bundle /var/log/cloud-init* + journals + config into a tarball under /tmp/cloud-init.tar.gz. Use when you need to share state with cloud-init upstream or attach to a support ticket.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.init exec high

  cloud-init init

  Run the (non-local) init stage — fetch user-data + vendor-data, merge cloud-config, populate /var/lib/cloud/instance/. Without `cloud-init clean` first, an unchanged instance-id is a no-op.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.init_local exec high

  cloud-init init --local

  Run the init-local stage — datasource detection, fallback networking, early disk setup. Normally only runs at boot. Re-running mid-life rarely useful except for testing a datasource fix.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.instance_id exec low

  cat /var/lib/cloud/data/instance-id

  Show the instance ID cloud-init currently tracks. If this differs from the cloud's idea, cloud-init thinks the machine is "new" and may re-run all modules at next boot.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.journal_tail exec low

  journalctl -u cloud-init -n <lines>

  Tail systemd journal entries for the four cloud-init units (cloud-init, cloud-init-local, cloud-config, cloud-final). Use when boot failed before /var/log/cloud-init.log was even written.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.log_tail exec low

  tail /var/log/cloud-init.log

  Tail the main cloud-init log (last N lines). Contains module execution, errors, and per-stage timing.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.modules_config exec high

  cloud-init modules --mode=config

  Re-run every module in the `config` stage (locale, users-groups, ssh, set-passwords, apt-pipelining, package-update-upgrade-install, etc.). Mutates the host the same way boot does. Use after fixing a buggy cloud-config — no need to reboot.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.modules_final exec high

  cloud-init modules --mode=final

  Re-run every module in the `final` stage (runcmd, scripts-user, phone-home, power-state-change, etc.). Anything that was scripted to run "after first boot" runs again. Power-state modules can reboot/shutdown — make sure your cloud-config has no power-state directive before invoking.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.output_log_tail exec low

  tail /var/log/cloud-init-output.log

  Tail captured stdout/stderr from every command cloud-init ran during boot (`runcmd`, `bootcmd`, package install, etc.). Where to look when a shell command in cloud-config silently failed.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.query_metadata exec low

  cloud-init query <key>

  Pull one key out of cloud-init's runtime metadata (instance-id, hostname, region, availability_zone, …). Pass `--all` to dump everything. Sensitive fields are redacted by cloud-init itself.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.schema_validate exec low

  cloud-init schema --system

  Validate the rendered cloud-config against the cloud-init schema. Use to catch typos / deprecated keys before they cause a silent no-op on next boot.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.single_module exec high

  cloud-init single --name=<module>

  Run one named cloud-init module out-of-band (e.g. `users-groups`, `ssh`, `runcmd`, `set_hostname`). The module is invoked with its current configuration; effects depend entirely on which module.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.status exec low

  cloud-init status

  Show the current overall cloud-init state — `running`, `done`, `error`, `disabled`, or `not run`. Use as the first answer to "did boot finish?".

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.status_long exec low

  cloud-init status --long [--wait]

  Show detailed status — per-stage state, last update, recoverable + last errors, datasource detected. With `block: true`, blocks until cloud-init finishes (useful right after boot).

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.userdata_dump exec medium

  cat /var/lib/cloud/instance/user-data.txt

  Dump raw user-data as cloud-init received it (after MIME decoding, before cloud-config merging). Compare against what you set in the launch config to confirm delivery.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.vendor_data_dump exec medium

  cat /var/lib/cloud/instance/vendor-data.txt

  Dump vendor-data the cloud provider injected (AWS / GCE / Azure provider defaults that ran before user-data). Useful when "why is X installed that I didn't ask for?" leads back to a vendor module.

  View source on GitHub
• cloud-init.version exec low

  cloud-init --version

  Show the build + version string for the cloud-init on this host.

  View source on GitHub