Vagrant: Working with Reproducible Development Environments

In this section:

• Vagrant: Working with Reproducible Development Environments
  • Prerequisites
  • Basics
  • Vagrant support
  • Preparing to work with Vagrant
  • Initializing the Vagrantfile
  • Creating and launching an instance (virtual machine)
  • Stopping, suspending, resuming, reloading, and destroying an instance (virtual machine)
• Creating and Removing Vagrant Boxes
• Initializing Vagrant Boxes

Prerequisites

Before you start working with Vagrant, make sure that the Vagrant plugin is enabled. The plugin is bundled with PyCharm and is activated by default. If it is not, enable the plugin as described in Enabling and Disabling Plugins.

Besides that, make sure that the following prerequisites are met (outside of PyCharm):

• Oracle's VirtualBox is installed on your computer.
• Vagrant is installed on your computer, and all the necessary infrastructure is created.
• The parent folders of the following executable files are added to the system PATH variable:
  • vagrant.bat or vagrant from your Vagrant installation. This should be done automatically by the installer.
  • VBoxManage.exe or VBoxManage from your Oracle's VirtualBox installation.
• The required virtual boxes are created.

Basics

Integration with Vagrant helps you create reproducible development environments defined by VagrantFile configuration files. To have the same environment set up on the machines of all the team members you only need to put the VagrantFile under your team version control. Any team member can set up the required environment by running the vagrant up command with the relevant VagrantFile. Vagrant support in PyCharm is provided through the Vagrant plugin that comes bundled with PyCharm .

In the context of PyCharm, the following terms are used to denote Vagrant-specific notions:

• A Vagrant box in the PyCharm user interface or Vagrant base box in the current documentation is a box in the native Vagrant terminology. It denotes a pure image, a skeleton, on the base of which a specific environment is customized, provisioned, and deployed on your machine.
• An instance is a virtual machine. In other words, it is a specific environment customized, provisioned, and deployed on your machine on the base of a Vagrant base box and in accordance with a VagrantFile. In other similar products and documentation, an instance can be referred to as virtual machine.
• An instance folder is the folder where the relevant VagrantFile is stored after initialization and where PyCharm will look for it. By default, it is the project root folder.

Vagrant support

Once the Vagrant plugin is enabled, the following changes are made to the PyCharm UI:

• A Vagrant page is added to the Settings dialog.
• A Vagrant node is added to the Tools menu. The node contains the following commands that correspond to the standard Vagrant actions:

  

Vagrant support in PyCharm features:

• capability to create new virtual boxes, and delete the unnecessary ones.
• capability to configure remote interpreters by reading settings from the Vagrant configuration file.
• capability to initialize Vagrant boxes, and execute other Vagrant commands without leaving the IDE.
• Multiple Vagrant configuration: when performing the vagrant up command, you are suggested to select the desired virtual box.

Preparing to work with Vagrant

1. Open the Settings / Preferences Dialog by pressing Ctrl+Alt+S or by choosing File | Settings for Windows and Linux or PyCharm | Preferences for OS X, and click Vagrant under Tools. The Vagrant page opens.
2. Specify the Vagrant executable file. Because the parent folder of the executable file has been already added to the system PATH variable, type just the name of the executable.
3. In the Instance Folder field, specify the fully qualified path to the directory where the VagrantFile is initialized and stored. A VagrantFile is a configuration file that defines the instance (virtual machine) you need. The file contains the virtual IP address, port mappings, and the memory size to assign. The file can specify which folders are shared and which third-party software should be installed. According to the VagrantFile your instance (virtual machine) is configured, provisioned against the relevant Vagrant base box, and deployed on your computer. A VagrantFile is created through the vagrant init command.

   When creation of an instance (virtual machine) is invoked either through the vagrant up command or through the Tools | Vagrant | Up menu option, PyCharm looks for the VagrantFile in the directory specified in the Instance folder field. For more information, see http://docs.vagrantup.com/v2/vagrantfile/.

   You can create a VagrantFile in any directory and appoint it as instance folder. If the field is empty, PyCharm will treat the project root as the instance folder and look for a VagrantFile in it.

4. In the Vagrant Boxes area, configure a list of the predefined Vagrant base boxes available in PyCharm. Each item presents a Vagrant base box on which Vagrant configures and launches its instances (virtual machines). The entries of this list correspond to the output of the command vagrant box list.
   • To download a new base box, click the Add button . In the dialog box that opens, specify the URL address to access the base box and the name to refer to it in PyCharm. By default, PyCharm suggests the URL to the lucid32 box.

     This command corresponds to vagrant box add <name> <URL>. As a result, the specified base box is downloaded to your machine.

   • To remove a base box, select it in the list and click the Remove button . The base box and the nested files are physically deleted from the disk. This command corresponds to vagrant box remove <name>.

Initializing the Vagrantfile

A VagrantFile is a configuration file that defines the instance (virtual machine) you need. The file contains the virtual IP address, port mappings, and the memory size to assign. The file can specify which folders are shared and which third-party software should be installed. According to the VagrantFile your instance (virtual machine) is configured, provisioned against the relevant Vagrant base box, and deployed on your computer. A VagrantFile is created through the vagrant init command.

You can initialize the Vagrantfile in any folder, just keep in mind that this folder should be specified as the instance folder on the Vagrant page of the Settings dialog box. Otherwise PyCharm will be unable to find the relevant VagrantFile during the instance (virtual machine) creation.

To initialize the VagrantFile, do one of the following:

Once the VagrantFile initialization is successfully completed, you are ready to import the base box, provision and deploy it according to the VagrantFile, thus creating your own instance (virtual machine).

Creating and launching an instance (virtual machine)

Creating an instance (virtual machine) means importing and provisioning a base box according to the VagrantFile located in the instance folder.

Stopping, suspending, resuming, reloading, and destroying an instance (virtual machine)