How to get started with Vagrant

Today I will install Vagrant which provides an easy way to configure reproducible and portable virtual environments. It is just a first step towards this new direction, so stay tuned for more details soon.

Initial setup

Install VirtualBox an x86 virtualization solution.

$ sudo apt-get install virtualbox

Download Vagrant package for Debian from downloads page.

Install downloaded package.

$ sudo dpkg -i vagrant_1.8.1_x86_64.deb

Verify installation process.

$ vagrant -v
Vagrant 1.8.1

Download base box

Download Vanilla Debian base box for VirtualBox.

$ vagrant box add https://atlas.hashicorp.com/debian/boxes/jessie64/ --provider virtualbox

==> box: Loading metadata for box 'https://atlas.hashicorp.com/debian/boxes/jessie64/'
==> box: Adding box 'debian/jessie64' (v8.5.0) for provider: virtualbox
    box: Downloading: https://vagrantcloud.com/debian/boxes/jessie64/versions/8.5.0/providers/virtualbox.box
==> box: Successfully added box 'debian/jessie64' (v8.5.0) for 'virtualbox'!

List downloaded boxes.

$ vagrant box list

debian/jessie64 (virtualbox, 8.5.0)

Create and configure Vagrant environment

Create vagrant_learning directory to store environment configuration.

$ mkdir vagrant_learning

Change working directory to vagrant_learning.

$ cd vagrant_learning

Initialize default virtual environment.

vagrant_learning$ vagrant init debian/jessie64

A `Vagrantfile` has been placed in this directory. You are now
ready to `vagrant up` your first virtual environment! Please read
the comments in the Vagrantfile as well as documentation on
`vagrantup.com` for more information on using Vagrant.

Inspect default configuration stored inside created Vagrantfile.

# -*- mode: ruby -*-
# vi: set ft=ruby :

# All Vagrant configuration is done below. The "2" in Vagrant.configure
# configures the configuration version (we support older styles for
# backwards compatibility). Please don't change it unless you know what
# you're doing.
Vagrant.configure(2) do |config|
  # The most common configuration options are documented and commented below.
  # For a complete reference, please see the online documentation at
  # https://docs.vagrantup.com.

  # Every Vagrant development environment requires a box. You can search for
  # boxes at https://atlas.hashicorp.com/search.
  config.vm.box = "debian/jessie64"

  # Disable automatic box update checking. If you disable this, then
  # boxes will only be checked for updates when the user runs
  # `vagrant box outdated`. This is not recommended.
  # config.vm.box_check_update = false

  # Create a forwarded port mapping which allows access to a specific port
  # within the machine from a port on the host machine. In the example below,
  # accessing "localhost:8080" will access port 80 on the guest machine.
  # config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest: 80, host: 8080

  # Create a private network, which allows host-only access to the machine
  # using a specific IP.
  # config.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.33.10"

  # Create a public network, which generally matched to bridged network.
  # Bridged networks make the machine appear as another physical device on
  # your network.
  # config.vm.network "public_network"

  # Share an additional folder to the guest VM. The first argument is
  # the path on the host to the actual folder. The second argument is
  # the path on the guest to mount the folder. And the optional third
  # argument is a set of non-required options.
  # config.vm.synced_folder "../data", "/vagrant_data"

  # Provider-specific configuration so you can fine-tune various
  # backing providers for Vagrant. These expose provider-specific options.
  # Example for VirtualBox:
  #
  # config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
  #   # Display the VirtualBox GUI when booting the machine
  #   vb.gui = true
  #
  #   # Customize the amount of memory on the VM:
  #   vb.memory = "1024"
  # end
  #
  # View the documentation for the provider you are using for more
  # information on available options.

  # Define a Vagrant Push strategy for pushing to Atlas. Other push strategies
  # such as FTP and Heroku are also available. See the documentation at
  # https://docs.vagrantup.com/v2/push/atlas.html for more information.
  # config.push.define "atlas" do |push|
  #   push.app = "YOUR_ATLAS_USERNAME/YOUR_APPLICATION_NAME"
  # end

  # Enable provisioning with a shell script. Additional provisioners such as
  # Puppet, Chef, Ansible, Salt, and Docker are also available. Please see the
  # documentation for more information about their specific syntax and use.
  # config.vm.provision "shell", inline: <<-SHELL
  #   sudo apt-get update
  #   sudo apt-get install -y apache2
  # SHELL
end

Create virtual environment

Create and start virtual environment.

vagrant_learning$ vagrant up

==> default: Importing base box 'debian/jessie64'...
==> default: Matching MAC address for NAT networking...
==> default: Checking if box 'debian/jessie64' is up to date...
==> default: Setting the name of the VM: vagrant_learning_default_1465340058365_37671
==> default: Clearing any previously set network interfaces...
==> default: Preparing network interfaces based on configuration...
    default: Adapter 1: nat
==> default: Forwarding ports...
    default: 22 (guest) => 2222 (host) (adapter 1)
==> default: Booting VM...
==> default: Waiting for machine to boot. This may take a few minutes...
    default: SSH address: 127.0.0.1:2222
    default: SSH username: vagrant
    default: SSH auth method: private key
    default:
    default: Vagrant insecure key detected. Vagrant will automatically replace
    default: this with a newly generated keypair for better security.
    default:
    default: Inserting generated public key within guest...
    default: Removing insecure key from the guest if it's present...
    default: Key inserted! Disconnecting and reconnecting using new SSH key...
==> default: Machine booted and ready!
==> default: Checking for guest additions in VM...
    default: No guest additions were detected on the base box for this VM! Guest
    default: additions are required for forwarded ports, shared folders, host only
    default: networking, and more. If SSH fails on this machine, please install
    default: the guest additions and repackage the box to continue.
    default:
    default: This is not an error message; everything may continue to work properly,
    default: in which case you may ignore this message.
==> default: Installing rsync to the VM...
==> default: Rsyncing folder: /home/milosz/Projekty/vagrant_learning/ => /vagrant

Control virtual machine state

Display current virtual machine state.

vagrant_learning$ vagrant status

Current machine states:

default                   running (virtualbox)

The VM is running. To stop this VM, you can run `vagrant halt` to
shut it down forcefully, or you can run `vagrant suspend` to simply
suspend the virtual machine. In either case, to restart it again,
simply run `vagrant up`.

Start the virtual machine.

vagrant_learning$ vagrant up

==> default: Checking if box 'debian/jessie64' is up to date...
==> default: Clearing any previously set forwarded ports...
==> default: Clearing any previously set network interfaces...
==> default: Preparing network interfaces based on configuration...
    default: Adapter 1: nat
==> default: Forwarding ports...
    default: 22 (guest) => 2222 (host) (adapter 1)
==> default: Booting VM...
==> default: Waiting for machine to boot. This may take a few minutes...
    default: SSH address: 127.0.0.1:2222
    default: SSH username: vagrant
    default: SSH auth method: private key
==> default: Machine booted and ready!
==> default: Checking for guest additions in VM...
    default: No guest additions were detected on the base box for this VM! Guest
    default: additions are required for forwarded ports, shared folders, host only
    default: networking, and more. If SSH fails on this machine, please install
    default: the guest additions and repackage the box to continue.
    default:
    default: This is not an error message; everything may continue to work properly,
    default: in which case you may ignore this message.
==> default: Rsyncing folder: /home/milosz/Projekty/vagrant_learning/ => /vagrant
==> default: Machine already provisioned. Run `vagrant provision` or use the `--provision`
==> default: flag to force provisioning. Provisioners marked to run always will still run.

Stop the virtual machine.

vagrant_learning$ vagrant halt

==> default: Attempting graceful shutdown of VM...

Restart the virtual machine.

vagrant_learning$ vagrant reload

==> default: Attempting graceful shutdown of VM...
==> default: Checking if box 'debian/jessie64' is up to date...
==> default: Clearing any previously set forwarded ports...
==> default: Clearing any previously set network interfaces...
==> default: Preparing network interfaces based on configuration...
    default: Adapter 1: nat
==> default: Forwarding ports...
    default: 22 (guest) => 2222 (host) (adapter 1)
==> default: Booting VM...
==> default: Waiting for machine to boot. This may take a few minutes...
    default: SSH address: 127.0.0.1:2222
    default: SSH username: vagrant
    default: SSH auth method: private key
==> default: Machine booted and ready!
==> default: Checking for guest additions in VM...
    default: No guest additions were detected on the base box for this VM! Guest
    default: additions are required for forwarded ports, shared folders, host only
    default: networking, and more. If SSH fails on this machine, please install
    default: the guest additions and repackage the box to continue.
    default:
    default: This is not an error message; everything may continue to work properly,
    default: in which case you may ignore this message.
==> default: Rsyncing folder: /home/milosz/Projekty/vagrant_learning/ => /vagrant
==> default: Machine already provisioned. Run `vagrant provision` or use the `--provision`
==> default: flag to force provisioning. Provisioners marked to run always will still run.

Suspend the virtual machine.

vagrant_learning$ vagrant suspend

==> default: Saving VM state and suspending execution...

Resume the virtual machine.

vagrant_learning$ vagrant resume

==> default: Resuming suspended VM...
==> default: Booting VM...
==> default: Waiting for machine to boot. This may take a few minutes...
    default: SSH address: 127.0.0.1:2222
    default: SSH username: vagrant
    default: SSH auth method: private key
==> default: Machine booted and ready!

Access virtual machine

Generate configuration for SSH client.

vagrant_learning$ vagrant ssh-config

Host default
  HostName 127.0.0.1
  User vagrant
  Port 2222
  UserKnownHostsFile /dev/null
  StrictHostKeyChecking no
  PasswordAuthentication no
  IdentityFile "/home/milosz/Projekty/vagrant_learning/.vagrant/machines/default/virtualbox/private_key"
  IdentitiesOnly yes
  LogLevel FATAL

Connect to the virtual machine using SSH.

vagrant_learning$ vagrant ssh

The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.
Last login: Tue Jun  7 23:05:34 2016 from 10.0.2.2
vagrant@debian-jessie:~$

Delete virtual machine

Shutdown and delete virtual machine.

vagrant_learning$ vagrant destroy

    default: Are you sure you want to destroy the 'default' VM? [y/N] Y
==> default: Forcing shutdown of VM...
==> default: Destroying VM and associated drives...

Additional notes

These steps are more than sufficient to start using Vagrant. Be sure to read the official documentation for Vagrant.