Vagrant project

A Vagrant project is a directory structure that uses Vagrant to define and manage virtual development environments. It includes a Vagrantfile for declarative configuration of virtual machines, networks, and provisioning steps. The Ansible mirror inventory project is a prime example of a Vagrant project.

In the C2 Platform context, a Vagrant project integrates with Ansible automation to simulate real-world infrastructure locally. It is designed for testing Ansible content ( Ansible collections, Ansible roles, etc.) and mirror inventory projects. This promotes consistency and repeatability in development environments, enabling Ansible engineers to prototype and validate automation. The Ansible content is then published to Ansible Galaxy for use in automation across Dutch government domains and data centers.

In the C2 Platform approach, a Vagrant project is always also an Ansible mirror inventory project. It uses a generic Vagrantfile complemented by a Vagrantfile.yml YAML file, which defines the development environment’s nodes, networks, and other configurations. The YAML file is used to abstract away some of the complexity associated with configuring a Vagrantfile for systems consisting of many nodes, including multiple LXD containers and some VirtualBox VMs. This approach simplifies management by separating configuration data from the core Vagrant logic, making it easier to maintain and scale the environment.

For an example of a Vagrant project, see the inventory project RWS GIS Platform Ansible Mirror Inventory Project ( c2platform/rws/ansible-gis). This project contains a Vagrantfile that is accompanied by a YAML configuration file Vagrantfile.yml.

Creating a new node is as simple as copying and modifying a bit of YAML code. In the snippet below, node gsd-fme-core is defined. So creating a new node in your environment is as simple as copying those lines and making some changes, giving a unique name, unique IP, etc., and choosing a Vagrant box. For example, note that the box for this node is configured as win2022.

 Vagrantfile.yml

191  - name: fme-core
192    description: FME
193    box: win2022
194    ip-address: 1.1.8.106
195    memory: 4500
196    aliases:
197      - share.internal.c2platform.org
198      - gsd-fme-core.internal.c2platform.org
199      - gsd-fme-core.apps.c2platform.org
200    plays:
201      - gis/fme

In the snippet below, we see some of the available Vagrant boxes. For instance, gsd-fme-core uses win2022, which is configured for sysprep (via the key sysprep: true) and uses WinRM for communication (via the key vm-communicator: winrm). RHEL 8 and 9 boxes are also defined, with registration: true ensuring automatic registration with Red Hat upon creation and deregistration upon destruction.

 Vagrantfile.yml

299boxes:  # https://app.vagrantup.com/c2platform/
300  ubuntu22-lxd:
301    name: c2platform/ubuntu-jammy
302    version: 0.1.0
303    provider: lxd
304  win2022:
305    name: c2platform/win2022
306    version: 0.1.0
307    sysprep: true
308    vm-communicator: winrm
309  rhel8:
310    name: generic/rhel8
311    version: 4.3.12
312    registration: true
313  rhel9:
314    name: generic/rhel9
315    version: 4.3.12
316    registration: true

Numerous optimizations and enhancements have been made to the C2 Vagrant project setup over the years.

Additional Information

• Ansible Mirror Inventory Project: An open-source specialized Ansible inventory project that integrates Vagrant functionality to simulate real-world infrastructure locally for development and testing.
• Automating RHEL Registration and Subscription: Automate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) registration and subscription in C2 Platform development environments using Vagrant for seamless access to Red Hat resources.
• Install Vagrant and Vagrant Plugins: Install Vagrant, Vagrant plugin vagrant-lxd, vagrant-windows-sysprep and enable Vagrant autocomplete.