So far we\u2019ve gotten our heads around some important things. First and foremost, vim. Our editor and companion for creating great code and ways to see our code in action and be able to determine at a glance whether our syntax is correct. Also, we\u2019ve looked at revision control. The single largest \u201cCYA\u201d ohmygodimgladivegotanoldercopytorestoreto sort of paradigm where you can roll yourself back to previously \u201cknown good\u201d revisions to save that day\u2026besides that, it\u2019s just darned good practice to keep your code externally saved, revision controlled, and accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve also talked about importance of workflow clarity and quality. If you implement a poor workflow, you just have an automated poor <\/em>workflow. Key word here is \u201cpoor\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next up on our browse through the \u201ctoolbox\u201d is \u201cVagrant\u201d. What is this Vagrant, you ask?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Virtualization is paramount in today\u2019s world in a number of ways and for a number of reasons. For extending your server farms to handle even more application expression, to expand your own desktop machines to test\/try different operating systems, and even just rolling up an ad-hoc VM so you can try something without touching a \u201creal\u201d machine in your environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some may disagree, but I\u2019ve found virtualization to be one of the most powerful tools added to the toolbox in years. Not only can you prototype systems or applications, but you can prototype entire environments. This is where Vagrant shines, and especially in the context of Puppet (master + clients), allows you to create a fully functioning Puppet environment upon which to develop, prototype, and test without ever jeopardizing even the least important system of your infrastructure. I count that as a \u201cwin\u201d. Let\u2019s see what this tool can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is<\/em> Vagrant?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n According to its website:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vagrant provides easy to configure, reproducible, and portable work environments built on top of industry-standard technology and controlled by a single consistent workflow to help maximize the productivity and flexibility of you and your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve its magic, Vagrant stands on the shoulders of giants. Machines are provisioned on top of VirtualBox, VMware, AWS, or any other provider. Then, industry-standard provisioning tools such as shell scripts, Chef, or Puppet, can be used to automatically install and configure software on the machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a lot there, but it\u2019s just a fancy way of saying exactly what I said before. Vagrant is essentially a framework system that wraps your virtualization engine to manage environments <\/em>of VMs. Here is where Vagrant will hold the power for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Virtualization<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n If Vagrant is the framework, then Virtualization is the foundation. Now, I\u2019ve chosen to use \u201cVirtualbox\u201d for my virtualization technology, but VMWare works every bit as well. I am doing all my testing over Virtualbox, however, so YMMV. Virtualbox is freely available from oracle, and you can download the appropriate version from Virtualbox at https:\/\/www.virtualbox.org.<\/a> I am running the latest version at 4.3.12 (as of this writing) and it serves the Vagrant system extremely well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vagrant<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, you\u2019ll need to install Vagrant on your system. You can find all the right packages at http:\/\/www.vagrantup.com.<\/a> I am currently running version 1.6.3 without errors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [warning]I want to make a disclaimer here since I\u2019ve had an issue or two with Vagrant on a platform I don\u2019t use-Windows. I am a Mac & Linux user, and have had no issues using the Vagrant\/Virtualbox combo on either of these. However, literally every time I\u2019ve used Vagrant over Windows, it\u2019s just been a mess. I\u2019ve known one person (ONE!) who has gotten Vagrant to work over Windows, and it required his getting into the product, editing code, etc. As such, I wouldn\u2019t recommend it for those new to the platform.[\/warning]<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the Mac platform, you get a .dmg file and can extract it run the installer. Linux versions are available as RPM installs and Debian Packages. Once you\u2019re installed, let\u2019s mess around a bit with Vagrant to see what we can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Getting Started<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Vagrant is a unique tool in that it allows you to manage all these varied VMs, but adds a twist. The big twist is that you don\u2019t have to have the source <\/em>materials for the VMs you\u2019re installing. In fact, the simplicity of turning up a new VM is astounding. Take the following series of commands:<\/p>\n\n\n\n cd If your Vagrant is installed correctly, a number of things start to happen. First, Vagrant places a file in your cwd called \u201cVagrantfile\u201d. Your vagrant file (indie) looks like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note that this is a long file with a lot of explanatory documentation. In actuality, the most important part of your Vagrantfile can be summed up here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
mkdir precise32
cd precise32
vagrant init hashicorp\/precise32
vagrant up<\/p>\n\n\n\n-*- 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 = “hashicorp\/precise32”
# Disable automatic box update checking. If you disable this, then
# boxes will only be checked for updates when the user runs
# vagrant box outdated<\/code>. 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
# apt-get update
# apt-get install -y apache2
# SHELL
end<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n