how vagrantfile stores the changes in vagrant machine? - vagrant

Question

I am developing an application with PhP and client asked me to set up a vagrant machine and install every needed extensions and modules, so that with just one Vagrant up command the client will have the same environment as I have,
I firstly installed a vagrant machine from one of the boxes lsit
vagrant box add ubuntu1 http://goo.gl/KwQSa2
Then I run these commands:
vagrant init ubuntu1
vagrant up
in the directory that I made this file there is only a vagranrfile
The Question:
I need to know if I make any changes to my server for example, installing php or mysql how it is going to saved in the setting so that if I just give this file to my client he will be able to have an identical machine to mine with everything installed?
I mean there will be any changes to vagrantfile or I made some mistake and I had to install a machine with puppet?
thanks in advance

Answer 1

No, the vagrant file is not going to change as you install things in the VM.
If you want your client to have the same machine as you, you'll have to avoid installing softwares through the VM's shell. You should only use the provisioner, for everything, even mysql tables, apache virtual hosts etc..
And don't use vagrant box add ubuntu1 http://goo.gl/KwQSa2, add the box's url to the vagrantfile with:
config.vm.box_url = "http://goo.gl/KwQSa2"
Example puppet provisioning for a mysql/php server:
group { 'puppet':
ensure => 'present',
}
#
# Apache configuration
#
class { 'apache' :
default_mods => false,
default_confd_files => false,
mpm_module => 'prefork',
default_vhost => false,
sendfile => 'Off'
}
class { 'apache::mod::php' : } # mod_php
class { 'apache::mod::rewrite' : } # mod_rewrite
# VHost configuration
apache::vhost { 'dev.XXX.fr' :
port => '80',
docroot => '/var/sites/myXXX/web',
access_log => true,
access_log_file => 'XXX_access.log',
error_log => true,
error_log_file => 'XXX_error.log',
aliases => [{alias => '/myXXX', path => '/var/sites/toto/web'}],
directories => [{path => '/var/sites/myXXX/web', 'allow_override' => ['FileInfo', 'Indexes']}, {path => '/var/sites/toto/web', 'allow_override' => ['FileInfo', 'Indexes']}]
}
#
# Mysql configuration
#
class { '::mysql::server' :
root_password => 'XXX',
databases => {
'XXX' => {
ensure => 'present',
charset => 'utf8'
}
},
users => {
'XXX#localhost' => {
ensure => 'present',
password_hash => 'XXX' # XXXmdp
}
},
grants => {
'XXX#localhost/XXX' => {
ensure => 'present',
options => ['GRANT'],
privileges => ['SELECT', 'INSERT', 'UPDATE', 'DELETE', 'CREATE'],
table => 'XXX.*',
user => 'XXX#localhost'
}
}
}
class { '::mysql::client' : }
package { 'php5-mysql' :
require => [Class['apache::mod::php'], Class['::mysql::server']],
ensure => 'present'
}
You will need the following modules:
apache
concat
mysql
stdlib
The puppet config above is just for the example, I highly encourage you to read there documentation which is really well done: http://docs.puppetlabs.com/learning/introduction.html
Honestly, puppet is a great tool, take the time to learn it.
One more thing, avoid using the shell provisionner, the commands are executed everytime you run "vagrant provision", puppet only executes changes. (I only use the shell provisionner for apt-get update and apt-get upgrade)

Answer 2

Vagrantfile is a recipe which tells Vagrant how to set up your machine. In a way, it serves as an installation automation tool (and of course does much more as well). If you do any changes to the machine after it was created, Vagrant would not know about that.
What I do is I create Vagrantfile and inside of it I specify a shell script which Vagrant will execute only once, after machine boots the first time.
VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2"
$bootstrap = <<SCRIPT
# Installing all dependencies and other required software.
# Add "-y" switch to make sure installation is fully automatic.
apt-get install -y python-software-properties
# Any other stuff I might want to do (like edit conf files)
...
SCRIPT
Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|
config.vm.box = "precise64"
config.vm.provision "shell", inline: $bootstrap
end
See the doc for config.vm.provision.
I do this inline for convienience, so all configuration is still kept in only one file.
Of course any configuration which is supported directly by Vagrant, is better kept out of this $bootstrap script.