Compare OS policy versions
This document compares the OS policy feature of VM Manager with the legacy
guest policy feature.
Comparison table
Both the OS policy and guest policy (legacy) features are part of the
VM Manager suite, and can be enabled by setting up VM Manager.
For more information, see Set up VM Manager.
However, there are a few differences between the two options. These differences
are summarized in the following table.
|
Guest policy (legacy) |
OS policy |
| OS Config agent version |
Any |
Version dated 20210427 or later 1 |
| Resource type2 |
Global |
Zonal |
| Policy enforcement and compliance supported |
Enforcement only |
|
| Rollout supported 3 |
|
|
| Compliance reports available |
|
|
| Single policy can be defined for multiple operating systems |
|
|
| Exclusion filters available when selecting target VMs |
|
|
| Supported resources |
- Packages
- Package repository
- Software recipes4
|
- Packages
- Package repository
- Executable
- File
|
1To view agent version, see
View OS Config agent version.
2For information about resource types, see
Global, regional, and zonal resources.
3For information about rollouts, see
Understanding rollouts.
4A software recipe only runs when a guest policy is first created.
To rerun a software recipe, you would need to delete and recreate the guest policy.
For this reason, OS policy uses an executable that can be
continuously checked and enforced.
What's next?
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"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-07 UTC."],[[["This document contrasts VM Manager's OS policy feature with the legacy guest policy feature."],["Both features are part of the VM Manager suite, but the OS policy requires a specific agent version (`20210427` or later), while the legacy guest policy works with any version."],["OS policy is zonal, whereas legacy guest policy is global."],["The legacy guest policy only supports enforcement, while OS Policy is also able to provide policy compliance and rollout features."],["OS policies allow for more diverse use cases compared to legacy guest policies as they offer exclusion filters when selecting target VMs, as well as the ability to define a single policy for multiple operating systems."]]],[]]
