# Install and run Vagrant This post looks at how to install vagrant, and how to initialize a project and install a box. It also lists all needed commands and tricks to get started on local developing goodness. ## Terminology ### Box These are the virtual linux machines Vagrant runs on. It might be that only one box is needed, multiple dev environments can be run on the same Box. > Boxes are the package format for Vagrant environments. A box can be used by > anyone on any platform that Vagrant supports to bring up an identical working > environment. The vagrant box utility provides all the functionality for > managing boxes. You can read the > [documentation](http://docs.vagrantup.com/v2/cli/box.html) on the vagrant box > command for more information. ### Providers [VirtualBox](https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads) is a provider, [VMware](http://www.vmware.com/) is a provider. It's the application that is doing the actual work here. ### Provisioning This means installing all the needed components to the server programmatically, e.g. MySQL, NGINX, Node etc. These are specified in the `Vagrantfile`, in the project root and is usually done via provisioning tool like [Puppet](https://puphpet.com/) or [Chef](https://www.chef.io/). > Provisioners in Vagrant allow you to automatically install software, alter > configurations, and more on the machine as part of the vagrant up process. ### Vagrantfile A file called `Vagrantfile` lives in the project root. This is where all the Vagrant related configuration is (think Gemfile or Capfile). ## Install needed components There are two required components: 1. VirtualBox — Get it [here](https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads) and run the installer 2. Vagrant itself — Get it [here](http://www.vagrantup.com/downloads) and run the installer ## Spin it up Project directory is needed (of course): ``` $ mkdir vagrant_test && cd vagrant_test ``` Initialize Vagrant in a chosen directory: ``` $ vagrant init hashicorp/precise64 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. ``` Then, do as you were told: ``` $ vagrant up ``` We didn't have a box installed yet, Vagrant is now doing just that: installs 64 bit Ubuntu on the VirtualBox. It's about 374M in size, when installed it takes roughly 1GB. On a broadband the install take roughly ~5 minutes. Here's what the output of `vagrant up` should look like at this point: ``` Bringing machine 'default' up with 'virtualbox' provider... ==> default: Box 'hashicorp/precise64' could not be found. Attempting to find and install... default: Box Provider: virtualbox default: Box Version: >= 0 ==> default: Loading metadata for box 'hashicorp/precise64' default: URL: https://vagrantcloud.com/hashicorp/precise64 ==> default: Adding box 'hashicorp/precise64' (v1.1.0) for provider: virtualbox default: Downloading: https://vagrantcloud.com/hashicorp/precise64/version/2/provider/virtualbox.box default: Progress: 49% (Rate: 801k/s, Estimated time remaining: 0:07:08) default: Progress: 49% (Rate: 739k/s, Estimated time remaining: 0:07:06) ==> default: Successfully added box 'hashicorp/precise64' (v1.1.0) for 'virtualbox'! ==> default: Importing base box 'hashicorp/precise64'... ==> default: Matching MAC address for NAT networking... ==> default: Checking if box 'hashicorp/precise64' is up to date... ==> default: Setting the name of the VM: clubmatefi_default_1398865802619_53576 ==> default: Fixed port collision for 22 => 2222\. Now on port 2200. ==> default: Clearing any previously set network interfaces... ==> default: Preparing network interfaces based on configuration... default: Adapter 1: nat ==> default: Forwarding ports... default: 22 => 2200 (adapter 1) ==> default: Booting VM... ==> default: Waiting for machine to boot. This may take a few minutes... default: SSH address: 127.0.0.1:2200 default: SSH username: vagrant default: SSH auth method: private key default: Warning: Connection timeout. Retrying... ==> default: Machine booted and ready! ==> default: Checking for guest additions in VM... default: The guest additions on this VM do not match the installed version of default: VirtualBox! In most cases this is fine, but in rare cases it can default: prevent things such as shared folders from working properly. If you see default: shared folder errors, please make sure the guest additions within the default: virtual machine match the version of VirtualBox you have installed on default: your host and reload your VM. default: default: Guest Additions Version: 4.2.0 default: VirtualBox Version: 4.3 ==> default: Mounting shared folders... default: /vagrant => /Users/bob/web/vagrant_test ``` Now it's running (pump fist up and down). The newly created box can be seen in the VirtualBox. ![Screenshot 2015-01-15 11.41.13](/images/Screenshot-2015-01-15-11.41.13.png) Ssh into the box and look around: ``` $ vagrant ssh ``` ## It's running, now what? ### Configure Vagrant via Vagrantfile There's now `Vagrantfile` in the working directory, it's in Ruby, set syntax highlighting accordingly. Start by deleting all the commented lines, and you're left with the gist: ``` # -*- mode: ruby -*- # vi: set ft=ruby : # Vagrantfile API/syntax version. Don't touch unless you know what you're doing! VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2" Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config| config.vm.box = "hashicorp/precise64" end ``` IP can be set like this: ``` config.vm.network :private_network, ip: "192.168.33.101" ``` And the port: ``` config.vm.network :forwarded_port, guest: 80, host: 9090 ``` And the synced folder: ``` config.vm.synced_folder "./", "/vagrant" ``` Plus tons of other stuff, but for now we'll stick to the minimum settings. All in all the Vagrantfile should look something like this: ``` # -*- mode: ruby -*- # vi: set ft=ruby : # Vagrantfile API/syntax version. Don't touch unless you know what you're doing! VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2" Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config| config.vm.box = "hashicorp/precise64" config.vm.network :private_network, ip: "192.168.33.101" config.vm.network :forwarded_port, guest: 80, host: 9090 config.vm.synced_folder "./", "/vagrant" end ``` ### Reload Vagrant Issue the following command: ``` $ vagrant reload ``` Wait for it boot and `vagrant ssh` into it. Now, this is where we'd usually set up [Puppet](http://puppetlabs.com/) to do all the heavy lifting, but lets just play around with the VM a bit first to really understand what's going on (follow up post on Puppet is already brewing). Install NGINX via `apt-get` just to illustrate how things work here: ``` $ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get install nginx ``` Start it: ``` $ service nginx start ``` Go to `192.168.33.101` or `localhost:9090` and you shoud see the NGInx default page. We're getting somewhere here. Go to the server root and have a look: ``` $ cd /vagrant # This was defined in Vagrantfile $ ls # It's our project dir, voilà ``` So, this is indeed the directory on the host machine (that's your computer). Type `exit` in the prompt and you're out from the Vagrant VM. Go ahead and make a file called `index.html` in the project root. This can be done from the prompt (as well as from text editor or Finder): ``` $ sudo nano index.html ``` Nano will pop up, paste in a primitive `html` file: ``` Spoon dilemma

Hello world!

My spoon is too big.

``` On an editor with Emmet enabled, just type `html:5` and hit tab, it'll barf that up for you. Now we need to make NGINX to point to the `vagrant` directory, `vagrant ssh` into the VM and issue the following: ``` $ sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default ``` Nano will pop up. Look up a line that says something like: ``` root /usr/share/nginx/www ``` That means NGINX is serving the site from there. Let's point NGINX to the `vagrant` dir. Change the line to: ``` root /vagrant ``` Restart NGINX: ``` $ sudo service nginx restart ``` Go to `192.168.33.101`, and there it is: **Hello world**. See, Vagrant and the host are going a bit like this: ![hands](/images/hands.png) ## Give it a nicer domain The local site doesn't have to be at `192.168.33.101` or `localhost:9090`, it can be a real domain, it can be whatver is specified in the `hosts` file. In OS X Mavericks the `hosts` file is at `/private/etc/hosts` (if the hidden files aren't enabled in Finder, the `private` dir won't show up). Just add the IP and domain pair in the end of the file: ``` 192.168.33.101 my-test-site.dev ``` ### Point NGINX to the domain Edit the `default` file again: ``` $ sudo nano /etc/ngingx/sites-available/default ``` Look up `server_name` and change it to: ``` server_name my-test-site.dev; ``` Restart as always: ``` $ sudo service nginx restart ``` Now the `index.php` can be viewed at my-test-site.dev. ## Take it down There comes a time when the VM is not desired to be running, the current state can be saved and the machine turned of with the `suspend` command: ``` $ vagrant suspend ``` Halt stops the machine gracefully. It's like pressing the power button on a computer: ``` $ vagrant halt ``` If the machines is wished to be destroyed, the aptly names `destroy` command is to be used: ``` $ vagrant destroy ``` ## Readily configured Vagrant environments If doing WordPress development, then the [VVV](https://github.com/Varying-Vagrant-Vagrants/VVV) (Varying Vagrant Vagrants) is the way to go. [PuPHPet](https://puphpet.com/) is also a really great tool for spinning up and provisioning complex Vagrant environments. ## Conclusion It might be tedious to install everything by hand every time, especially on more complex environments. In that case, [Puppet](http://puppetlabs.com/) or [Chef](https://www.chef.io/) are the way to go, but that's a subject for another post. ## Troubleshooting ### Vagrant loads sites very slow **Solutions #1:** See how the host machines `hosts` file looks like. Put all the localhost calls on a same line. **Solutions #2:** Vagrant has 360 MB memory by default, bump it up by putting this in the `Vagrantfile` and running `$ vagrant restart`: ``` config.vm.provider :virtualbox do |vb| vb.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--memory", "1024"] end ``` **Solutions #3:** Define `skip-name-resolve` in the VMs `my.cnf`. The file can be located in following directories, depending on the OS. - `/etc/my.cnf` - `/etc/mysql/my.cnf` - `$MYSQL_HOME/my.cnf` - `[datadir]/my.cnf` - `~/.my.cnf` On a Ubuntu precise64 it was in `/etc/mysql/my.cnf`, pop the file open with nano: ``` $ sudo nano /etc/mysql/my.cnf ``` And edit to look something like this: ``` [mysqld] skip-name-resolve ``` [Source](http://www.vionblog.com/skip-name-resolve-to-speed-up-mysql-and-avoid-problems/). These might help, or not. In my experience the slowness is usually due to MySQL. I had a machine that I ran WordPress dev sites on, and it just one day turned almost completely unresponsive and I wasn't able to fix it. I just switched to [VVV](https://github.com/Varying-Vagrant-Vagrants/VVV) and all works fine. [VVV](https://github.com/Varying-Vagrant-Vagrants/VVV) is really the best solution for running WP sites, IMHO.