Configure idle VM recommendations
Preview
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This page describes how to view and modify the configuration of your idle VMrecommendations. You might want to modify the configuration to increase thenumber of recommendations that you receive or to avoid misclassifyingVMs with intentionally small workloads as idle VMs.
- For more information on the parameters you can use to customize therecommendations, seeChoose the right configuration parameters.
- For more information on how to identify idle VMs and take action, seeView and apply idle VM recommendations.
Before you begin
- If you haven't already, set upauthentication. Authentication verifies your identity for access to Google Cloud services and APIs. To run code or samples from a local development environment, you can authenticate to Compute Engine by selecting one of the following options:
Select the tab for how you plan to use the samples on this page:
gcloud
Install the Google Cloud CLI. After installation,initialize the Google Cloud CLI by running the following command:
gcloudinit
If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.
Note: If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by runninggcloud components update.- Set a default region and zone.
REST
To use the REST API samples on this page in a local development environment, you use the credentials you provide to the gcloud CLI.
Install the Google Cloud CLI. After installation,initialize the Google Cloud CLI by running the following command:
gcloudinit
If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.
Note: If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by runninggcloud components update.For more information, seeAuthenticate for using REST in the Google Cloud authentication documentation.
Pricing
Configurable recommendations are available free of charge. Using recommendationsto reduce your resource usage can result in cost savings.
Configure your recommendations
To configure your idle VM recommendations, perform the following steps:
- Get the current configuration to obtainthe JSON file of the configuration.
- Edit the configuration file in JSON format.
- Upload the new configuration fileto apply the changes.
Get the current configuration
You can obtain the current configuration for idle VM recommendations for yourproject by using the Google Cloud CLI or REST.
Permissions required for this task
To perform this task, you must have the followingpermissions:
recommender.computeInstanceIdleResourceRecommenderConfig.geton the project.
gcloud
To get the current configuration parameters, use thegcloud recommender recommender-config describecommand and usegoogle.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender as theRecommender ID:
gcloud recommender recommender-config describe google.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender \ --project=PROJECT_ID \ --location=ZONE
Replace the following:
PROJECT_ID: the ID of your projectZONE: the zone for which you want to obtain thecurrent configuration
For example:
gcloud recommender recommender-config describe google.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender \ --project=my-project \ --location=us-central1-c
The command returns the recommender configuration, including the modifiablesubfieldparams.observation_period.
{ "name": "projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/ZONE/recommenders/google.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender/config", "recommenderGenerationConfig": { "params": { "observation_period": "1209600s" } }, "etag": "\"2f3c9b65cda6a4ba\"", "updateTime": "2021-02-03T04:41:15.330351Z"}REST
To retrieve the current configuration, use therecommenders.getConfigmethod and specifygoogle.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender as theRecommender ID:
GET https://recommender.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/ZONE/recommenders/google.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender/config
Replace the following:
PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project for which youwant to retrieve the recommender config.ZONE: the zone that contains your project.
From the command line, execute the following command to get the recommenderconfiguration for a project:
PROJECT_ID=PROJECT_IDZONE=ZONEcurl -X GET -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \-H "x-goog-user-project: ${PROJECT_ID}" \https://recommender.googleapis.com/v1/projects/$PROJECT_ID/locations/$ZONE/recommenders/google.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender/configThe command returns the recommender configuration, including the subfieldthat you can modify:params.observation_period.
{ "name": "projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/ZONE/recommenders/google.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender/config", "recommenderGenerationConfig": { "params": { "observation_period": "1209600s" } }, "etag": "\"2f3c9b65cda6a4ba\"", "updateTime": "2021-02-03T04:41:15.330351Z"}updateTimeparameter.Update the configuration for a project
To update the configuration of your idle VM recommendations, modify the valueforobservation_period and upload the new configuration for your project.
You can set the observation period to a value between 1 day and 14 days, usinga string with the total number of seconds, followed by the letters.
- For an observation period of 1 day, use
"86400s". - For an observation period of 14 days, use
"1209600s".
After you upload the new configuration, it takes approximately 48 hours for itto take effect. Until that time, any generated recommendations use the previousconfiguration.
Permissions required for this task
To perform this task, you must have the followingpermissions:
recommender.computeInstanceIdleResourceRecommenderConfig.geton the project to view the configuration.recommender.computeInstanceIdleResourceRecommenderConfig.updateon the project to modify the configuration.
gcloud
To update the configuration parameters, use thegcloud recommender recommender-config updatecommand and usegoogle.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender as theRecommender ID:
gcloud recommender recommender-config update google.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender\ --project=PROJECT_ID \ --location=ZONE \ --config-file=CONFIG_FILE_PATH \ --etag=ETAG
Replace the following:
PROJECT_ID: the ID of your projectZONE: the zone for which you want to obtain thecurrent configurationCONFIG_FILE_PATH: the path to the JSON file withthe current configurationETAG: the etag value of the current configuration
In your configuration file, specify only therecommenderGenerationConfigobject with the updated configuration parameters. For example, to specifyan observation period of five days, use the following configuration file:
{ "params": { "observation_period": "432000s" }}If the command is successful, it returns a response body similar to thefollowing, showing the new configuration with the parameters you justmodified.
{ "name": "projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/ZONE/recommenders/google.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender/config", "recommenderGenerationConfig": { "params": { "observation_period": "432000s" } }, "etag": "\"1245f9435cd01ea8\"", "updateTime": "2021-02-03T05:00:05Z"}etag value changes from the previous configuration. Youmust use the new value if you update the configuration again.REST
To update the configuration, use therecommenders.updateConfigmethod and specifygoogle.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender as theRecommender ID:
PATCH https://recommender.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/ZONE/recommenders/google.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender/config{ "name": "projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/ZONE/recommenders/google.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender/config", "recommenderGenerationConfig": { "params": { "observation_period": "1209600s" } }, "etag": "\"2f3c9b65cda6a4ba\""}Replace the following:
PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project for which youwant to modify the recommender configuration.ZONE: the zone that contains your project.
Save the request body in a file, for exampleconfig.json.You can then reference the file when you update the recommender configurationfor your project, using a command similar to the following:
curl -X PATCH \-H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \-H "Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8" \-H "x-goog-user-project: ${PROJECT_ID}" \-d @config.json \https://recommender.googleapis.com/v1/projects/$PROJECT_ID/locations/$ZONE/recommenders/google.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender/configThePOST command returns a response body similar to the following, showingthe new configuration with the parameters you just modified.
{ "name": "projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/ZONE/recommenders/google.compute.instance.IdleResourceRecommender/config", "recommenderGenerationConfig": { "params": { "observation_period": "432000s" } }, "etag": "\"1245f9435cd01ea8\"", "updateTime": "2021-02-03T05:00:05Z"}etag value changes from the previous configuration. Youmust use the new value if you update the configuration again.What's next
- Learn how toview and apply idle VM recommendations.
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Last updated 2026-02-18 UTC.