def get_metadata(self):
j, _ = self.datacenter.request('<STR_LIT:GET>', self.path + '<STR_LIT>')<EOL>self.metadata = j<EOL>return j<EOL>
::

    GET /:login/machines/:id/metadata

:Returns: machine metadata
:rtype: :py:class:`dict`

Fetch and return the metadata dict for the machine. The method 
refreshes the locally cached copy of the metadata kept in the 
:py:attr:`metadata` attribute and returns it.