View OS policy reports

After VM Manager applies an OS policy assignment to a virtual machine (VM) instance, an OS policy assignment report is generated. The report contains the compliance status of all the OS policies that are applied to a specific VM for a given OS policy assignment.

This document describes the following tasks:

Before you begin

  • Review OS Config quotas.
  • If you haven't already, then set up authentication. Authentication is the process by which your identity is verified 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, then initialize it by running the following command: 

      gcloud init
    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, then initialize it by running the following command: 

      gcloud init

    For more information, see Authenticate for using REST in the Google Cloud authentication documentation.

Required roles and permissions

To get the permissions that you need to view OS policy compliance data, ask your administrator to grant you the following IAM roles:

For more information about granting roles, see Manage access to projects, folders, and organizations.

These predefined roles contain the permissions required to view OS policy compliance data. To see the exact permissions that are required, expand the Required permissions section:

Required permissions

The following permissions are required to view OS policy compliance data:

  • View OS policy compliance summary for VMs in an organization or folder:
    • osconfig.osPolicyAssignmentReports.searchSummaries
    • osconfig.osPolicyAssignments.searchPolicies
    • resourcemanager.projects.get
    • resourcemanager.projects.list

You might also be able to get these permissions with custom roles or other predefined roles.

View OS policy compliance summary for all VMs in an organization or folder

You can view the OS policy compliance summary for all VMs in an organization or folder by using the Google Cloud console.

VM Manager displays OS policy compliance summary only for those projects that meet one of the following requirements:

  • Contains one or more VMs on which VM Manager is enabled and running.
  • Contains one or more VMs on which VM Manager was running in the past 7 days and OS policy compliance data is available.

To view OS policy compliance data, do the following:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Compute Engine > VM Manager > OS policies page.

    Go to OS policies

  2. In the project drop-down list at the top of the Google Cloud console, select the organization or folder for which you want to see the OS policy compliance summary.

  3. Use the following options to view the OS policy compliance data:

    1. To view OS policy compliance summary per project, click the Projects tab.
    2. To view OS policy compliance summary per policy, click the OS policies tab.

  4. Optional: Specify the criteria for computing the OS policy compliance summary by using the query builder.

  5. Review OS policy compliance summary for VMs. The table in the Projects tab includes a row for each project as shown in the following figure:

    OS policies summary for all projects.

    The table lists the following information that meets the criteria you've specified in the query builder:

    • Project: The name of projects in the organization that contain at least one VM and have VM Manager enabled.
    • Total VMs: Total number of VMs in each project.
    • Monitored VMs: Number of VMs in the project that have VM Manager agent enabled and are being scanned for policy compliance.
    • VMs with policy: Number of VMs with at least one policy assigned.
    • Compliant: Number of VMs with all their assigned policies reported as COMPLIANT.
    • Non compliant: Number of VMs with at least one assigned policy reported as NON-COMPLIANT.
    • Unknown: Number of VMs with at least one assigned policy reported as UNKNOWN, and no policy reported as NON-COMPLIANT. The UNKNOWN state is due to one of the following reasons:
      • The VM is not running.
      • VM Manager agent is not enabled for the VM.
      • An error occurred during the process.
    • No report: Number of VMs with assigned policies, but no policy compliance report was found due to one of the following reasons:
      • VM Manager agent is not enabled for the VM.
      • Compliance scan is in progress. The report is not ready yet.

  6. Optional: Apply table filters if you want to view specific rows in the OS policy compliance summary table.

    Table filter in the policy summary table.

    For example, if you want to see OS policy compliance summary for projects that have more than 10 VMs, then set the filter option Total VMs to >= 10.

  7. Optional: Click the number of VMs to view more details about the VMs in a particular state. For example, clicking the number of VMs for a given project in the Unknown column opens the VM instances tab with a list of unknown OS policies for each VM in that project.

    VM instances tab with unknown OS policies.

    For more information, see View OS policy assignment reports.

Use query builder to filter OS policy compliance data

Based on the criteria that you specified in the query builder, VM Manager displays the OS policy compliance data for VMs in the projects in your organization or folder. You can then use the table filters in the OS policy compliance table to filter the displayed data.

For example, when you set the OS attribute in the Query builder as Debian, VM Manager displays OS policy compliance data for VMs with Debian OS. If you want to view the compliance data for a specific project, use the table filter to specify the project ID.

Query builder with one attribute.

To set a query in the query builder in the Projects tab, do the following:

  1. Select an Attribute. The query builder supports the following attributes:

    • OS: Specify the short names of the operating systems such as Windows or Debian.
    • OS version: Specify the version of the operating system. For example, 21.04 or 10.0.22000. You can specify a single asterisk (*) at the end of the OS version string to denote partial match, for example 10*.
    • VM running: Specify whether you want to view patch summary for VMs that are in the RUNNING state.
    • Policy fingerprint: Specify the unique policy fingerprint for the OS policy. When you set this attribute, VM Manager computes compliance summary only for those OS policies with the specified fingerprint.
    • Compliance state: Specify one of the compliance states for the policy:
      • COMPLIANT: VMs with all assigned policies reported as COMPLIANT
      • NON-COMPLIANT: VMs with at least one assigned policy reported as NON-COMPLIANT
      • UNKNOWN: VMs with at least one assigned policy reported as UNKNOWN

  2. Choose one of the attributes and specify a value for the attribute. For example, if you want to see patch summary for VMs with a specific operating system, then select OS. You then get a list of comparison operators to choose from.

    1. Select an Operator, for example, ==.
    2. In the Value field, specify the comparison value. For example Debian.

  3. To add another attribute, click Add condition.

  4. Click Search.

View OS policy assignment reports

To view the OS policy assignment reports, you can use either Google Cloud console, the Google Cloud CLI, or REST.

Use this procedure to view a list of OS policy assignment reports for a specified location.

Console

  1. If you use VPC Service Controls to protect your services, add the Cloud Asset Inventory service to your list of allowed services. For more information, see VPC accessible services.

  2. In the Google Cloud console, go to the OS policies > VM instances page.

    Go to VM instances

    View VM compliance.

gcloud

To view a list of OS policy assignment reports, use the os-config os-policy-assignment-reports list command.

To view all OS policy assignment reports for a specific location, run the following command. Replace ZONE with the zone where the VMs are located.

gcloud compute os-config os-policy-assignment-reports list --location=ZONE

Example command and output (all VMs)

gcloud compute os-config os-policy-assignment-reports list --location=us-central1-a

INSTANCE                   ASSIGNMENT_ID                   LOCATION       UPDATE_TIME                  SUMMARY
centos7                    my-test-assignment1             us-central1-a  2021-11-02T18:14:03.908341Z  0/1 policies compliant
centos7                    my-test-assignment2             us-central1-a  2021-11-02T18:14:03.908341Z  0/1 policies compliant
rhel-8                     my-test-assignment1             us-central1-a  2021-11-02T19:13:28.468290Z  0/1 policies compliant
rhel-8                     my-test-assignment2             us-central1-a  2021-11-02T19:13:28.468290Z  0/1 policies compliant
my-centos                  my-test-assignment1             us-central1-a  2021-11-02T18:14:37.418883Z  1/1 policies compliant
my-centos                  my-test-assignment2             us-central1-a  2021-11-02T18:14:37.418883Z  0/1 policies compliant
deb-10                     my-test-assignment2             us-central1-a  2021-11-02T19:00:11.777748Z  0/1 policies compliant
windows                    my-test-assignment2             us-central1-a  2021-11-02T18:24:07.935711Z  0/1 policies compliant
windows                    my-test-assignment3             us-central1-a  2021-11-02T18:24:07.935711Z  0/1 policies compliant
sles15                     my-test-assignment2             us-central1-a  2021-11-02T18:38:07.335276Z  0/1 policies compliant

You can also use optional flags such as --instance or --assignment-id to filter the results.

gcloud compute os-config os-policy-assignment-reports list --location=ZONE \
    [--instance=VM_NAME | --assignment-id=ASSIGNMENT_ID]

Replace the following:

  • ZONE: the zone where the VM is located
  • Optional: provide one of the following:
    • VM_NAME: the name or ID of the VM that you want to view OS policy assignment reports for
    • ASSIGNMENT_ID: the ID of the OS policy assignment that you want to view OS policy assignment reports for

Example command and output (specific VM)

gcloud compute os-config os-policy-assignment-reports list --location=us-central1-a \
    --instance=my-centos

INSTANCE                ASSIGNMENT_ID               LOCATION       UPDATE_TIME                  SUMMARY
my-centos               my-test-assignment1         us-central1-a  2021-11-02T18:14:37.418883Z  1/1 policies compliant
my-centos               my-test-assignment2         us-central1-a  2021-11-02T18:14:37.418883Z  0/1 policies compliant

Example command and output (specific assignment)

gcloud compute os-config os-policy-assignment-reports list --location=us-central1-a \
    --assignment-id=my-test-assignment1

INSTANCE                ASSIGNMENT_ID               LOCATION       UPDATE_TIME                  SUMMARY
centos7                 my-test-assignment1         us-central1-a  2021-11-02T18:14:03.908341Z  0/1 policies compliant
rhel-8                  my-test-assignment1         us-central1-a  2021-11-02T19:13:28.468290Z  0/1 policies compliant
my-centos               my-test-assignment1         us-central1-a  2021-11-02T18:14:37.418883Z  1/1 policies compliant

REST

In the API, create a GET request to the projects.locations.osPolicyAssignments.reports.list method.

GET https://osconfig.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME/osPolicyAssignments/OS_POLICY_ASSIGNMENT_ID/report

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: your project ID
  • ZONE: the zone where the VMs are located
  • Optional. Provide one of the following:
    • VM_NAME: the name or ID of the VM that you want to view OS policy assignment reports for. If not required, use a - for the value.
    • ASSIGNMENT_ID: the ID of the OS policy assignment that you want to view OS policy assignment reports for. If not required, use a - for the value.

Examples:

  • To view reports for all VMs in the project my-project-12345 and zone us-central1-a, use the following URI: 
    projects/my-project-12345/locations/us-central1-a/instances/-/osPolicyAssignments/-/report
  • To view reports for the VM my-test-vm in the project my-project-12345 and located in zone us-central1-a, use the following URI: 
    projects/my-project-12345/locations/us-central1-a/instances/my-test-vm/osPolicyAssignments/-/report
  • To view reports for all VMs in the project my-project-12345 and zone us-central1-a that have the my-test-assignment OS policy assignment, use the following URI: 
    projects/my-project-12345/locations/us-central1-a/instances/-/osPolicyAssignments/my-test-assignment/report

Review an OS policy assignment report

Use this procedure to get a detailed view of an OS policy assignment report associated with a specific VM.

Console

  1. If you use VPC Service Controls to protect your services, add the Cloud Asset Inventory service to your list of allowed services. For more information, see VPC accessible services.

  2. In the Google Cloud console, go to the OS policies > VM instances page.

    Go to Google Cloud console

  3. To view the OS policy assignment report for a specific VM, click the name of the VM.

    View VM compliance.

  4. Review the State, State reason, and Logs fields. The Logs field provides a link to the Cloud Logging dashboard where you can access debug logs for the OS Config agent running on the VM.

    To fix these issues, you can also review the logs for the OS policy and make the required updates. To check the logs, see Troubleshooting VM Manager.

gcloud

  1. To view the OS policy assignment report for a specific VM, use the os-config os-policy-assignment-reports describe command.

    gcloud compute os-config os-policy-assignment-reports describe OS_POLICY_ASSIGNMENT_ID \
    --instance=VM_NAME \
    --location=ZONE

    Replace the following:

    • OS_POLICY_ASSIGNMENT_ID: the ID of the OS policy assignment that you want to review for the specified VM
    • VM_NAME: the name or ID of the VM that you want to view OS policy assignment report for
    • ZONE: the zone where the VM is located

    Example

    gcloud compute os-config os-policy-assignment-reports describe my-test-assignment1 \
    --instance=centos7 \
    --location=us-central1-a

    Output

    instance: centos7
lastRunId: 96a61b92-3e14-4155-a3e8-dd66520f49ae
name: projects/1234578882888/locations/us-central1-a/instances/29255009728795105/osPolicyAssignments/my-test-assignment1/report
osPolicyAssignment: projects/1234578882888/locations/us-central1-a/osPolicyAssignments/my-test-assignment1t@3428384d-fa61-478e-b7e2-3d5fae74bea3
osPolicyCompliances:
– complianceState: UNKNOWN
  complianceStateReason: os-policies-not-supported-by-agent
  osPolicyId: setup-repo-and-install-package-policy
  osPolicyResourceCompliances:
  – complianceState: UNKNOWN
    complianceStateReason: os-policy-execution-attempt-failed
    osPolicyResourceId: setup-repo
  – complianceState: UNKNOWN
    complianceStateReason: os-policy-execution-attempt-failed
    osPolicyResourceId: install-pkg
updateTime: '2021-11-02T19:14:34.314831Z'

  2. Review the complianceState and complianceStateReason.

    To fix these issues, you can also review the logs for the OS policy and make the required updates. To check the logs, see Troubleshooting VM Manager.

REST

  1. In the API, create a GET request to the projects.locations.osPolicyAssignments.reports.get method.

    GET https://osconfig.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME/osPolicyAssignments/OS_POLICY_ASSIGNMENT_ID/report

    Replace the following:

    • PROJECT_ID: your project ID
    • ZONE: the zone where the VM is located
    • VM_NAME: the name or ID of the VM that you want to view OS policy assignment report for
    • OS_POLICY_ASSIGNMENT_ID: the ID of the OS policy assignment that you want to view OS policy assignment report for

  2. Review the complianceState and complianceStateReason.

    To fix these issues, you can also review the logs for the OS policy and make the required updates. To check the logs, see Troubleshooting VM Manager.

What's next?