When you create a virtual machine (VM) instance, you must specify a name. Aftercreating the VM, you can optionally rename it. Changing a VM name might beuseful in the following scenarios:

• To better represent the workload running on the VM.
• To refer to the operating system running on the VM.
• To adhere to any naming conventions required by your organization.

VM uniform resource identifiers (URIs)

Changing the name of a VM might affect your projects. Instead of referencing VMresources by their name, you can reference them by their URI, which ispermanent. The URI has the following format:

projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_ID

The URI includes the following values:

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project where the VM islocated.

• ZONE: the zone where the VM is located.

• VM_ID: the ID of an existing VM. To view the ID of anexisting VM,view the details of the VM andthen view the value of theid field.

Pricing

Renaming a VM does not change the amount that you are billed. Also, because yourbill shows VMs according to their stock keeping units (SKUs) and not theirnames, you won't see the names of your VMs on your bill.

Limitations

Limitations on the following apply when renaming a VM:

• Automatically named resources:

  • When you rename a VM, the names of any resources that were based on theoriginal VM name are not updated. For example, when you create a VM, thename of the boot disk is the same as the name of the VM. If you rename theVM, the name of the boot disk does not change.

• DHCP server:

  • After renaming a VM, the DHCP server responds to DHCP requests with theupdated hostname with the formatHOSTNAME.c.PROJECT_ID.internalfor global DNS andHOSTNAME.ZONE.c.PROJECT_ID.internalfor zonal DNS. For more information, seeTypes of internal DNSnames.

• Google Cloud console:

  • You must refresh your browser for the Google Cloud console to update thename of the VM.

• Hostnames:

  • Hostnames are modified on Linux when you change the name of the instance. OnWindows, the hostname is not updated, even after you restart the instance.

  • VMs that havecustomhostnames are not updated.

  • Changing the hostname directly on the host does not affect the name of theVM resource.

• Instance groups:

  • You can't rename instances that are part of an unmanaged or managed instance group (MIG).

• Naming conventions:

  • You can't rename a VM with a name that is already in use by another VM inthe project.

  • VM names must adhere to theresource namingconventions.

• VM states:

  • Stop the instance beforerenaming it because you can only rename VMs that are in theTERMINATEDstate. You can't, for example, rename a VM that is in theSUSPENDED state.

Before you begin

• Review, and if applicable, update the following:
  • Cloud Monitoring groups, charts, and alerts: Monitoring matches strings, and when you rename a VM, these strings are not updated. If you rename a VM, update your Monitoring rules to include the renamed VMs in your reports.
  • Console URLs: Renaming a VM changes its console URL. If you rename a VM, you must update links, such as browser bookmarks that reference the VM's console URL.
  • Identity and Access Management (IAM) conditional role bindings: Conditional role bindings support granting permissions on the name of the resource. For example, IAM might grant a role to a user if the name of a VM begins with a particular string. These bindings are not updated when you change the name of a VM, so a user's access to the VM resource might be affected because you are changing the set of VMs that the prefixed name applies to. If you rename a VM, update these bindings.
  • Internal DNS service cache: The internal DNS service assigns internal DNS names to VMs, in which the hostname is of the formatHOSTNAME.c.PROJECT_ID.internal for global DNS andHOSTNAME.ZONE.c.PROJECT_ID.internal for zonal DNS. After renaming a VM, these hostnames change. Then, the internal DNS service begins resolving to the new hostname, and requests to the previous DNS name fail. If you rename a VM, you might need to update your DNS cache to update the hostname. For more information about global DNS and zonal DNS hostnames, seeTypes of internal DNS names.
  • Metadata queries: After renaming a VM, the metadata server reports the new name. If you rename a VM, update any scripts or programs that query the metadata server so they query for the VM's new name.
  • Organization policies restricting external IP addresses: Constraints against VMs that have an external IP address reference the VM name. When you rename a VM, this constraint is not updated. If you rename a VM, update the external IP organization policy with the VM's new name.
  • SQL Server host names: If you rename a VM that hosts SQL Server, you must update the SQL server VM name. For more information, seeRename a computer that hosts a stand-alone instance of SQL Server.
• 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:

  Console

  When you use the Google Cloud console to access Google Cloud services and APIs, you don't need to set up authentication.

  gcloud

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

Required roles

To get the permission that you need to rename a VM, ask your administrator to grant you theCompute Instance Admin (v1) (roles/compute.instanceAdmin.v1) IAM role on the project. For more information about granting roles, seeManage access to projects, folders, and organizations.

This predefined role contains the compute.instances.setName permission, which is required to rename a VM.

You might also be able to get this permission withcustom roles or otherpredefined roles.

Rename a VM

You can only rename stopped VMs that are in theTERMINATED state.

What's next

• Learn how toview the details of the VM.

• Learn how tostop or restart a VM.

• Learn how tosuspend or resume a VM.

• Learn more aboutVMs lifecycle.