The keyword fragment fetch-url-http-3A-2F-2F... suggests a JavaScript fetch() call or a similar HTTP client incorrectly encoding the URL. In Node.js, Python, or browser environments (though metadata server is accessible from browsers), encoding can break the request.

: It is commonly used to access deeper endpoints like:

Start exploring today – SSH into any GCE VM and run:

Every virtual machine (VM) instance running inside Google Compute Engine (GCE), Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), and serverless runtime platforms like Cloud Run or Cloud Functions has direct network access to a multi-tenant, localized metadata server. This server behaves like an internal REST API providing critical identity, runtime configuration, and environment details to applications.

Article structure:

Specifically, the decoded endpoint is:

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In Google Compute Engine, instances can be configured to have service accounts associated with them. These service accounts provide a way to authenticate and authorize access to Google Cloud resources. The metadata server provides a way for instances to fetch information about their environment and configuration, including details about the service accounts.

http://google.internal[AUDIENCE_URL] 3. Practical Usage Examples

If you’re working with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and managing workloads on Compute Engine, Kubernetes Engine, or Cloud Run, you’ve likely encountered the need to authenticate your application without manually handling service account keys. The solution lies in the – a magical internal endpoint that provides identity and access information to instances. The specific URL http://metadata.google.internal/computeMetadata/v1/instance/service-accounts/ (sometimes seen URL-encoded as fetch-url-http-3A-2F-2Fmetadata.google.internal-2FcomputeMetadata-2Fv1-2Finstance-2Fservice accounts-2F ) is the gateway to retrieving service account credentials and access tokens.

Google Cloud structures its metadata server to be accessible only from within the running virtual machine or container.

There are two main reasons you see this URL in a fetch-url context: