#Vagrant software how to#

A Vagrantfile can describe a box with a single server, like MariaDB, but it can also contain a whole environment, like LAMP. For example, one can create a MariaDB Vagrantfile based on the ubuntu/trusty64 box. Vagrantfiles use the Ruby language, as well as objects provided by Vagrant itself.Ī Vagrantfile is often based on a box, which is usually an operating system in which we are going to install our software.

#Vagrant software how to#

The following diagram should make the example clear:Ī Vagrantfile is a file that describes how to create one or more Vagrant machines. Once we finish this Vagrantfile, we can run a Vagrant command to start a Vagrant machine, which is actually a VirtualBox VM running MariaDB on Ubuntu. And we use the Ansible provisioner to install and configure MariaDB. In the Vagrantfile we specify VirtualBox as a provider. So we write a Vagrantfile for this purpose. We can use an Ubuntu box as a base to build a Vagrant machine with MariaDB. The above concepts are probably easier to understand with an example. The base boxes are usually operating system boxes downloaded from .Ī provider is responsible for providing the virtualization technology that will run our machine.Ī provisioner is responsible for installing and configuring the necessary software on a newly created Vagrant machine. A box can be used as a base for another box. We can download boxes from, or we can build a new box from a Vagrantfile. It can be a virtual machine, a container or a remote server from a cloud service.Ī box is a package that can be used to create Vagrant machines. A Vagrant machine is compiled from a box.