When you call a Compute Engine API that mutates a resource, Compute Engine adds an entry
to the list of operations. For example, when you make an update to a VM that
mutates (alters) data, or when a [host event](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/host-maintenance-overview)
occurs that changes the state of a VM, operations are created. This page
describes how you can view a list of Compute Engine operations by
using the [Google Cloud console](https://console.cloud.google.com/), the [Google Cloud CLI](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/gcloud-compute),
or [REST](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/reference/rest/v1).
Remember that operations can take some time to complete, so you may find
incomplete operations while viewing. When you want to see the final status of
incomplete operations, repeatedly viewing operations is not recommended;
instead, you should [wait for operations to be done](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/api/best-practices#wait-for-operations).
## Before you begin
- If you haven't already, set up [authentication](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/authentication). 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](https://docs.cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/install) the Google Cloud CLI.
After installation,
[initialize](https://docs.cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/initializing) the Google Cloud CLI by running the following command:
```bash
gcloud init
```
If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first
[sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity](https://docs.cloud.google.com/iam/docs/workforce-log-in-gcloud).
> [!NOTE]
> **Note:** If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by running `gcloud components update`.
2. [Set a default region and zone](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/gcloud-compute#set_default_zone_and_region_in_your_local_client).
### 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.
1. [Install](https://docs.cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/install) the Google Cloud CLI.
2. If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first [sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity](https://docs.cloud.google.com/iam/docs/workforce-log-in-gcloud).
For more information, see
[Authenticate for using REST](https://docs.cloud.google.com/docs/authentication/rest)
in the Google Cloud authentication documentation.
## Operation Retention Period
While querying operations, keep in mind that completed operations are
automatically removed from the database after a certain period.
Compute Engine retains completed operations for at least the minimum
retention period of 1 hour, and up to the maximum retention period of 14 days.
Although projects often observe a retention period for completed operations that
is longer than the minimum of 1 hour, depending on the additional retention
period is not recommended.
Note that the retention periods don't apply to operations deleted by the users
through `Operations.delete` method.
## Viewing operations
To view a list of operations for your project, perform the following steps:
### Console
1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the **Operations** page.
[Go to Operations](https://console.cloud.google.com/compute/operations)
2. For more details on an operation, click the operation summary. For
example, to view the migration details for the `my-instance` VM,
click the **Automatically migrate an instance** operation.
### gcloud
To view a list of operations for your project
using `gcloud compute`, use the [`operations list`](https://docs.cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/compute/operations/list)
sub-command.
To view the list of operations in a specified zone, add the `--filter` flag.
```
gcloud compute operations list --filter="zone:(ZONE)"
```
Replace `ZONE` with the zone where you want to view a list of
operations. For example, to view the list of operations in `us-cental1-c`,
run the following command:
```
gcloud compute operations list --filter="zone:(us-central1-c)"
```
The output is similar to the following:
```
NAME TYPE TARGET HTTP_STATUS STATUS TIMESTAMP
systemevent-1543845145000... compute.instances.migrateOnHostMaintenance us-central1-c/instances/my-instance 200 DONE 2018-12-03T05:52:25.000-08:00
```
### REST
API requests for operations must be specified at either the [global](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/reference/rest/v1/globalOperations/list),
[region](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/reference/rest/v1/regionOperations/list), or [zone](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/reference/rest/v1/zoneOperations/list) level.
Live migration, VM stopping, and automatic restarts are all zone-level operations.
For zone operations, make a `GET` request to the [`zoneOperations.list`](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/reference/rest/v1/zoneOperations/list) method.
```
GET https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/operations
```
Replace the following:
- `PROJECT_ID`: the project ID for this request
- `ZONE`: the zone for this request
Leave the request body empty.
The following is a sample output for a zone operation request. In this
output, details for a host migration displays.
```
{
"kind": "compute#operation",
"id": "3216798767364213712",
"name": "systemevent-1543845145000-57c1e7574b840-a195b637-5ff74d9b",
"zone": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/my-project/zones/us-central1-c",
"operationType": "compute.instances.migrateOnHostMaintenance",
"targetLink": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/my-project/zones/us-central1-c/instances/my-instance",
"targetId": "3070988523247098025",
"status": "DONE",
"statusMessage": "Instance migrated during Compute Engine maintenance.",
"user": "system",
"progress": 100,
"insertTime": "2018-12-03T05:52:25.000-08:00",
"startTime": "2018-12-03T05:52:25.000-08:00",
"endTime": "2018-12-03T05:52:25.000-08:00",
"selfLink": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/my-project/zones/us-central1-c/operations/systemevent-1543845145000-57c1e7574b840-a195b637-5ff74d9b"
}
```