Organizing data in a cloud computing environment having a plurality of computing nodes is described. An authorization to service a request is received. The request may be from a user for launching an instance. In response to receiving the authorization and based on the request, an image list is determined. The image list includes information corresponding to a plurality of machine images. At least one machine image is identified from the image list associated with a functional requirement of the request. The instance is launched at the at least one computing node. The at least one machine image is updated after the instance has been launched.