This document explains how to manage licenses associated with a Compute Engineinstance. This includes how to append, remove, replace, and view the history oflicense updates. For more information about licenses on Compute EngineseeAbout licenses.

Restrictions for changing licenses

Only certain OS licenses are eligible to be appended, removed, or replaced. License changes are supported for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), RHEL for SAP, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), SLES for SAP, Ubuntu, and Ubuntu Pro. License changes are not supported for Windows or SQL Server licenses.

The allowed license changes are determined by the license owner and are subject to change. To validate the allowed license changes for your VM, seeReview license changes and restrictions.

For changing your RHEL or SLES licenses between pay-as-you-go (PAYG) and bring-your-own-subscription (BYOS), seeSwitch between PAYG and BYOS.

For Ubuntu LTS, to upgrade your license to Ubuntu Pro to enable ExtendedSecurity Maintenance (ESM), seeUpgrade from Ubuntu to Ubuntu Pro.

To update your on-demand RHEL license to include extended support,seeAppend the RHEL Extended lifecycle Support (ELS) Add-On to your license.

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:

  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.

Prepare to update a disk's license

• Stop the instance. Temporarily shuts down the instance before updating the disk's license.
• Detach the disk. This detaches the disk from the instance before updating the disk's license.

View the licenses associated with a VM

To view the licenses associated with a VM, use the Google Cloud console,gcloud CLI, or the Compute Engine API.

GET https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT/zones/ZONE/instancesVM_NAME

Append a license during an image import

To append a license during the image import process, use the followinggcloud compute images import command.

gcloud compute images importIMAGE_NAME \  --source-file=SOURCE_FILE  --os=OS

Replace the following:

• IMAGE_NAME: the name of the image to create.
• SOURCE_FILE: a local file or Cloud Storage URI ofthe virtual disk to import.
• OS: the OS of the disk image to import. The licensefor the OS is inferred from the value of this flag; there isn't an explicitflag to provide license information when importing. For a list of thesupported values, see--os flag.

For more information about importing images, seeImporting virtual disks.

Append licenses when creating an image

To append licenses when creating an image, use the followinggcloud compute images create command.

gcloud compute images createIMAGE_NAME \  --source-image=SOURCE_IMAGE \  --licenses=LICENSES

Replace the following:

• IMAGE_NAME: the name of the image to create.
• SOURCE_IMAGE: the name of the image to create the newimage from.
• LICENSES: a comma-separated list oflicense strings. For example,"license1","license2".

For more information about creating images, seeCreating, deleting, and deprecating custom images, andCreating a Windows image.

Append licenses to a disk

To append licenses associated with a VM, use the gcloud CLI or the Compute Engine API.

gcloud compute disks updateDISK_NAME \--append-licenses=LICENSES

PATCH https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT/zones/ZONE/disks/DISK_NAME?paths=licenses --data '{"name":"DISK_NAME", "licenses":["https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/LICENSES"]}'

Replace licenses on a disk

To replace licenses associated with a VM, use the gcloud CLI or the Compute Engine API.

gcloud compute disks updateDISK_NAME \--replace-license=PREVIOUS_LICENSE,NEW_LICENSE

PATCH https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT/zones/ZONE/disks/DISK_NAME?paths=licenses --data '{"name":"DISK_NAME", "licenses":["https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/NEW_LICENSE"]}'

Remove licenses from a disk

To remove individual licenses associated with a VM, use the gcloud CLI and Compute Engine API.

gcloud compute disks updateDISK_NAME \--remove-licenses=LICENSES

PATCH https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT/zones/ZONE/disks/DISK_NAME?paths=licenses --data '{"name":"DISK_NAME", "licenses":[]}'

View the history of license updates

View the history of license updates for VMs in a project by using the followingprocedure:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theLogs Explorer page.

   Go to Logs Explorer

2. In the toolbar, verify thatShow query is enabled.

3. Copy the following expression into the query editor:

   resource.type="gce_disk"logName="projects/PROJECT_NAME/logs/cloudaudit.googleapis.com%2Factivity"severity>=NOTICEprotoPayload.request.@type="type.googleapis.com/compute.disks.update"protoPayload.request.licenses:*

4. ReplacePROJECT_NAME with the name of the project.

5. ClickRun query.

What's next

• Troubleshoot licenses

• Learn about Microsoft licenses on Compute Engine

• Review license changes and restrictions

• Learn more about premium operating systems:

  • Consult the RHEL FAQ

  • Consult the SLES FAQ

  • Consult the Ubuntu Pro FAQ