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You can use Patch to apply operating system patches across a group of virtual machine (VM) instances.
To apply patches to your VMs, complete the following steps:
Before you beginSelect the tab for how you plan to use the samples on this page:
ConsoleWhen you use the Google Cloud console to access Google Cloud services and APIs, you don't need to set up authentication.
gcloudInstall the Google Cloud CLI. After installation, initialize the Google Cloud CLI by running the following command:
gcloud init
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
.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:
gcloud init
If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.
For more information, see Authenticate for using REST in the Google Cloud authentication documentation.
For the full list of operating systems and versions that support Patch, see Operating system details.
Set up your VMTo use the Patch feature, complete the following steps:
Owners of a Google Cloud project have full access to run and manage patch jobs. For all other users, you need to grant permissions. You can grant one of the following granular roles:
Caution: The Patch Job Executor role includes theosconfig.patchJobs.exec
permission that provides access to manage software packages on VMs. By granting this role, you risk granting users unintended access to run code on VMs. To mitigate this risk, we recommend that you follow the principle of least privilege and provide only the required access to each user and monitor the usage of this IAM permission by users.
roles/osconfig.patchJobExecutor
: Contains permissions to run, cancel, get, and list patch jobs. It also contains permissions to view instance details for a patch job.roles/osconfig.patchJobViewer
: Contains permissions for read-only access to get and list patch jobs. It also contains permissions to view instance details for a patch job.For example, to grant a user access to run patch jobs, use the following command:
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding project-id \ --member user:user-id@gmail.com \ --role roles/osconfig.patchJobExecutor
Replace the following:
project-id
: The project ID.user-id
: The user's Google Workspace username.You can run a patch job by using either the Google Cloud console, Google Cloud CLI, or REST.
When you run a patch job, the patching of the VMs starts simultaneously on all instances specified by the instance filter.
Note: You can patch a maximum of 500 VMs in a single patch job. All VMs targeted by a single patch job are patched simultaneously.After you have started a patch job, you can monitor your patches using the Patch dashboard. It takes approximately 30 minutes after a patch job starts before the data is populated on the dashboard.
Note: Targeting all VMs in a single patch deployment might cause a reduction in system availability. We recommend that you keep this in consideration when planning your maintenance window or that you use instance filters and patch VMs in small batches. ConsoleIn the Target VMs section, select the zone that contains the VMs that you want to patch. You can also choose to select all zones.
After you select the zones, you can then further filter the VMs within that zone.
Note: In the Google Cloud console, you can only filter by name prefix or label. If you need to apply other types of instance filters use either the Google Cloud CLI, or REST.For example, to patch specific VMs in the zones you selected, enter the name and label filters similar to the following:
test-
env=dev
and app=web
In the Patch configuration section, configure the patch.
In the Scheduling section, complete the following:
In the Rollout options section, configure the patch rollout options:
Optional: In the Advanced options section, you can complete the following tasks:
Click Deploy.
Use the os-config patch-jobs execute
command to run a patch job. Replace instance-filter
with the instance filter that you want. For more information about instance filters, see instance filters.
gcloud compute os-config patch-jobs execute instance-filter
For more information about what updates get applied, see what is included in an OS patch job. To customize your updates, use the optional flags.
Examples
Example 1 To run a patch job with the following configurations:
instance-1
us-east1-b
Description: patch for instance-1
You would run the following command:
gcloud compute os-config patch-jobs execute \ --instance-filter-names="zones/us-east1-b/instances/instance-1" \ --description "patch for instance-1"
Example 2 Suppose you want to run a patch job asynchronously with the following configurations:
apt dist-upgrade
.KB4339284
update.yum update-minimal --security
utility.You would run the following command:
gcloud compute os-config patch-jobs execute \ --instance-filter-all \ --duration="1h30m" --reboot-config="DEFAULT" \ --apt-dist --windows-exclusive-patches=4339284 \ --yum-minimal --yum-security \ --asyncREST
In the API, create a POST
request to run a new patch job. You must explicitly define all of the required configuration fields as described in the patchJobs.execute
API documentation.
For more information about what updates get applied, see what is included in an OS patch job. To customize your updates, use the PatchConfig
parameters.
For example, a patch job with only the required fields looks like the following.
POST https://osconfig.googleapis.com/v1/projects/project-id/patchJobs:execute { "instanceFilter": instance-filter }
Replace the following:
project-id
: Your project ID.instance-filter
: The filter parameters that you want. For more information about instance filters, see instance filters.Examples
Example 1 Suppose you want to run a patch job on an instance named instance1
located in us-east1-b
. In this example, we add a description and specify that the job runs for 1 hour 30 minutes. Replace project-id
with your project ID.
POST https://osconfig.googleapis.com/v1/projects/project-id/patchJobs:execute { "description":"patch instance1 in us-east1-b", "duration":"5400s", "instanceFilter":{ "instances":[ "zones/us-east1-b/instances/instance1" ] } }
Example 2 The following patch job selects VMs that have the following configurations:
env=dev
and app=web
.asia-east1-b
or asia-east1-c
.test-
.In the following command, replace project-id
with your project ID.
POST https://osconfig.googleapis.com/v1/projects/project-id/patchJobs:execute { "instanceFilter":{ "groupLabels":[ { "labels":{ "env":"dev", "app":"web" } } ], "instanceNamePrefixes":[ "test-" ], "zones":[ "asia-east1-b", "asia-east1-c" ] } }
Example 3
Suppose you want to run a patch job with the following configurations:
apt dist-upgrade
.KB4339284
update.yum update-minimal --security
utility.You would create the following request:
In the following command, replace project-id
with your project ID.
POST https://osconfig.googleapis.com/v1/projects/project-id/patchJobs:execute { "duration":"5400s", "instanceFilter":{ "all":true }, "patchConfig":{ "rebootConfig":"DEFAULT", "apt":{ "type":"DIST" }, "yum":{ "security":true, "minimal":true }, "windowsUpdate":{ "exclusivePatches":"4339284" } } }Instance filters
You can specify the instances to be included in a patch job by using filters. The following filters are supported for patch jobs:
Filter by name: Limit patch job to instances with specific names. Instance names must be specified by using the full URI. Supported URI formats include the following:
zones/zone/instances/instance-name
projects/project-id/zones/zone/instances/instance-name
https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/project-id/zones/zone/instances/instance-name
Filter by name prefix: Limit patch job to instances with a specific prefix in their name.
Filter by zone: Limit patch job to instances in a specific zone.
Filter by label: Limit patch job to instances with specific labels.
You can also run patch jobs on all instances in a Google Cloud project by setting the all
field in instanceFilter
to true
. For more information, see example instance filters.
--instance-filter-all
{ "instanceFilter":{ "all":"true" } }An instance with the name
instance1
that is located in the zone us-east1-b
.
--instance-filter-names="zones/us-east1-b/instances/instance1"
{ "instanceFilter":{ "instances":[ "zones/us-east1-b/instances/instance1" ] } }Instances with the prefix
app-
--instance-filter-name-prefixes="app-"
{ "instanceFilter":{ "instanceNamePrefixes":[ "app-" ] } }Instances in zones
us-east1-b
or us-east1-c
--instance-filter-zones="us-east1-b","us-east1-c"
{ "instanceFilter":{ "zones":[ "us-east1-b", "us-east1-c" ] } }Instances with the combination label of
env=dev
and app=web
as well as instances with env=dev
and app=worker
.
--instance-filter-group-labels="env=dev,app=web" --instance-filter-group-labels="env=dev,app=worker"
{ "instanceFilter":{ "groupLabels":[ { "labels":{ "env":"dev", "app":"web" } }, { "labels":{ "env":"dev", "app":"worker" } } ] } }
Combining instance filters
Instance filters can also be combined. For example, to run a patch job for instances that have the prefix test-
, that are located in the zone us-east1-c
, and that have the labels env=dev
and app=web
, run the following command:
gcloud compute os-config patch-jobs execute \ --instance-filter-name-prefixes="test-" \ --instance-filter-zones="us-east1-c" \ --instance-filter-group-labels="env=prod,app=web"Patch configuration
When running a patch job, you can specify parameters to control the patches that are applied on the VM. The patch configuration parameters are platform dependent and are often passed through to the underlying system update tools. The actual patches are sourced from the package repositories (Linux) or the Windows Update server (Windows) that is configured on the VM.
You can specify the following patch configurations for your VMs:
Security
and Critical
) or target specific KBs to exclude. For more information about patch classification, see the Microsoft support documentation.For RHEL, Rocky Linux, and CentOS, the underlying system is yum
.
security
and minimal
packages.security
metadata in the CentOS yum
repository. Therefore, you need not specify the security
option when updating security packages. If you don't specify any package, the patch job updates all packages, including those with security updates.yum
man pages.For Debian & Ubuntu, the underlying system is apt
. For patches that target these VMs, you can specify dist-upgrade
or a standard upgrade. You can also exclude specific packages. For more information, see either the Debian man pages or Ubuntu man pages.
For SuSE, the underlying system is zypper
, specifically using zypper patches. For patches that target these VMs, you can specify options such as:
with update
: update all packages not covered by patcheswith optional
: optional patches are treated as neededYou can also exclude specific patches.
Optionally, for all the supported operating systems, you can select to install approved patches only by specifying these updates. This lets you enter a list of approved packages or patches. When you select these approved patches, only the approved packages or patches are installed. All other patch configuration parameters are skipped during the update.
Examples ConsoleFor example, to run a patch job on all instances in the zone northamerica-northeast1-a
with specific patch configurations for different operating systems, run the gcloud compute os-config patch-jobs execute
command:
gcloud compute os-config patch-jobs execute \ --instance-filter-zones="northamerica-northeast1-a" \ --apt-dist \ --yum-security \ --yum-minimal \ --zypper-categories=security \ --windows-classifications=critical,security \ --reboot-config=default
To learn more about the supported options, run the following command:
gcloud compute os-config patch-jobs execute --helpREST
For example, to run a patch job on all instances in the zone northamerica-northeast1-a
with specific patch configurations for different operating systems, run the following command:
POST https://osconfig.googleapis.com/v1/projects/project-id/patchJobs:execute { "instanceFilter":{ "zones":[ "northamerica-northeast1-a" ] }, "patchConfig":{ "apt": { "type": "dist-upgrade" }, "yum": { "security": true, "minimal": true }, "zypper": { "categories": ["security"] }, "windowsUpdate": { "classifications": ["CRITICAL", "SECURITY"] }, "rebootConfig": "DEFAULT" } }
To learn more about the supported parameters, review the PatchConfig API
documentation.
A maintenance window is the total length of time that you allow a patch job to run. Patch jobs will timeout if they don't complete within the specified maintenance window.
For example, if you set a maintenance window of 60 minutes
, then no new patch jobs will be initiated 60 minutes after the start time. Some processes such as downloading a file or rebooting might occur outside of this maintenance window, however no new patch jobs will be initiated.
When running a patch job, you can specify the reboot options for the patch. The following options are available:
When running a patch job, you can specify scripts to be run as part of the patching process. These scripts are useful for performing tasks such as shutting down an application and performing health checks.
A patch job accepts one pre-patch and one post-patch script for Linux, and one pre-patch and one post-patch script for Windows. Linux and Windows scripts must be provided using the appropriate flags, parameters, or sections when specified from the Google Cloud CLI, REST, or the Google Cloud console respectively. Linux scripts run on Linux VMs only and Windows scripts run on Windows VMs only.
Note: Linux scripts must begin with a shebang line to specify which shell should execute the script. For example, add#!/bin/bash
to specify the Bash shell.
These script files can either be stored on the VM or in a versioned Cloud Storage bucket.
Store patch scripts in Cloud Storage bucketsIf you want to use a Cloud Storage bucket to store your scripts, create a Cloud Storage bucket and upload your scripts to the bucket. When using a Cloud Storage bucket, consider the following:
If your organization enforces the Resource Location Restriction constraint, then you must store your scripts in Cloud Storage buckets in regions and zones that your org policy permits.
For example, to run a patch job on all instances in the zone northamerica-northeast1-a
with both pre and post patch script for Linux and Windows instances, run the following command:
gcloud compute os-config patch-jobs execute \ --instance-filter-zones="northamerica-northeast1-a" \ --async \ --pre-patch-linux-executable="/tmp/pre_patch_script.sh" \ --post-patch-linux-executable="gs://my-patch-scripts/linux/post_patch_script#1523477886880" \ --pre-patch-windows-executable="C:\\Users\\user\\pre-patch-script.cmd" \ --post-patch-windows-executable="gs://my-patch-scripts/windows/post_patch_script.ps1#135920493447"
To learn more about acceptable file formats, run the following command:
gcloud compute os-config patch-jobs execute --helpREST
For example, to run a patch job on all instances in the zone northamerica-northeast1-a
with both pre and post patch script for Linux and Windows instances, run the following command:
POST https://osconfig.googleapis.com/v1/projects/project-id/patchJobs:execute { "instanceFilter":{ "zones":[ "northamerica-northeast1-a" ] }, "patchConfig":{ "preStep":{ "linuxExecStepConfig":{ "localPath":"/tmp/pre_patch_script.sh" }, "windowsExecStepConfig":{ "interpreter":"SHELL", "localPath":"C:\\Users\\user\\pre-patch-script.cmd" } }, "postStep":{ "linuxExecStepConfig":{ "gcsObject":{ "bucket":"my-patch-scripts", "generationNumber":"1523477886880", "object":"linux/post_patch_script" } }, "windowsExecStepConfig":{ "gcsObject":{ "bucket":"my-patch-scripts", "generationNumber":"135920493447", "object":"windows/post_patch_script.ps1" }, "interpreter":"POWERSHELL" } } } }
To learn more about acceptable file formats, review the ExecStepConfig
section of the PatchConfig
API documentation.
You can choose to either patch VMs one zone at a time (zone by zone), or to patch all zones at once (concurrent zones).
Along with making a selection for the zone roll out, you can also specify a zone disruption budget for your VMs.
Zone disruption budgetA disruption budget is the maximum number (or percentage) of VMs per zone to disrupt at any given moment.
What is considered a disrupted VM?During patching, a VM is considered disrupted from the time the OS Config agent is notified to begin until patching has completed. This disruption time includes the time to complete reboot and any post-patch steps.
A VM is also counted as a part of the disruption budget if it meets any of the following conditions:
For zone-by-zone rollouts, if the disruption budget in a zone is exceeded, the patch job stops. This happens because continuing to the next zone requires completion of the patch process in the previous zone.
For example, if the disruption budget has a value of 10, and 8 VMs fail to patch in the current zone, the patch job continues to patch 2 VMs at a time until the zone is completed. When that zone is completed successfully, patching begins with 10 VMs at a time in the next zone. If 10 VMs in the next zone fail to patch, the patch job stops.
Examples ConsoleExample 1
This example shows the os-config patch-jobs execute
command for running a patch job with the following specifications:
gcloud compute os-config patch-jobs execute \ --instance-filter-all \ --rollout-mode=zone-by-zone \ --rollout-disruption-budget=10
Example 2
This example shows the os-config patch-jobs execute
command for running a patch job with the following specifications:
gcloud compute os-config patch-jobs execute \ --instance-filter-all \ --rollout-mode=concurrent-zones \ --rollout-disruption-budget-percent=50REST
This example shows the patchJobs.execute
method for running a patch job with the following specifications:
us-central1-a
, us-central1-c
, and us-central1-f
POST https://osconfig.googleapis.com/v1/projects/project-id/patchJobs:execute { "instanceFilter":{ "zones":[ "us-central1-a", "us-central1-c", "us-central1-f" ] }, "rollout": { "disruptionBudget": { "percent": 25 }, "mode": "CONCURRENT_ZONES" } }
To learn more about patch rollout, review the PatchRollout
API documentation.
When you run a patch job on Windows VMs, by default, Patch applies only the patches for the Windows operating system.
You can apply updates for Microsoft software such as Microsoft SQL Server, SharePoint Server, or .NET framework running on your Windows VMs when you run a patch job. By default, patching these applications is disabled to avoid disruption of service and to separate planned updates for these software. To enable patching Microsoft software automatically, you can either use the Windows UI or the PowerShell.
Windows UI$service_manager = New-Object -ComObject 'Microsoft.Update.ServiceManager' $service_manager.AddService2("7971f918-a847-4430-9279-4a52d1efe18d",7,"")Debug a patch job
If your patch fails, you can use the following steps to help find and resolve the issues.
Review the instance details for the affected patch job. This helps you to identify which instances failed or what state they are stuck in. The instance details list also contains a brief error message for each instance.
If a patch fails with a status of NO_AGENT_DETECTED
or TIMED_OUT
, this usually means that the service sent a request to the agent to begin patching but never heard back from the agent. Review the following possible causes and fixes:
If the instance details don't provide enough information, review the Cloud Logging logs or serial port console. The OS Config agent writes its log entries to both locations. In Cloud Logging, you can filter using the patch job ID to see all log entries related to that patch job. You can also enable debug logging by setting the osconfig-log-level=debug
metadata value at the VM or Google Cloud project level.
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-08-07 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-07 UTC."],[[["Patch can be used to apply operating system updates to virtual machines (VMs) in a single Google Cloud project, but not across multiple projects, even in Shared VPCs."],["To use Patch, you need to set up VM Manager and optionally disable automatic updates on Windows VMs to avoid conflicts, and project owners have full access to patch jobs, while other users need specific granular roles assigned."],["Patch jobs can be run using the Google Cloud console, CLI, or REST API, and they allow filtering of target instances by name, name prefix, zone, or label, and have a maximum of 500 VMs in a single job."],["Patch configurations can be customized based on the operating system, including options for Windows, RHEL, Rocky Linux, CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu, and SuSE, with features like specifying patch classifications, security updates, or approved patches only."],["Patch jobs support maintenance windows, reboot options, pre-patch and post-patch scripts, and rollout options, including zone-by-zone or concurrent patching, and also allow for specifying a disruption budget to control the number of VMs affected simultaneously."]]],[]]
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