For relaxing times, make it Linux time. For hardware, though, Macs are usually good choices (update: and the latest MacBook Pro M1 is a beast). If you see yourself in need of a bunch of Linux VMs with custom IP addresses, hostnames, and what not, Vagrant is your thing.

One Ubuntu Sunset Brew, please

To spin up one Ubuntu VM using Vagrant, the following Vagrantfile script is enough:

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.box = "lma/ubuntu-21.04"
  config.vm.hostname = "minikube.host"
  config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/vagrant"
  config.vm.network "private_network", ip: "10.10.10.210"
  config.vm.provider "vmware_fusion" do |v|
    v.vmx["memsize"] = "4096"
    v.gui = false
  end
end

Run vagrant up and you’ll end up with a VM that runs Ubuntu 21.04, can be pinged from your host and does not have any GUI. You’ll be also mounting your current folder in your host under /vagrant in the VM, effectively sharing your current folder with the VM (that’s very useful when you want to write code in your host using your favorite IDE, but you want to execute the code in the VM).

A threesome

When setting up a lab, you usually need more than one VM. With Vagrant that’s rather easy as well. Check this out:

HOSTNAME_SUFFIX = "mylab.local"
PRIV_NET = "10.10.10"
MACHINES = {
    :node1 => { :hostname => "node1.#{HOSTNAME_SUFFIX}", :ip => "#{PRIV_NET}.10" },
    :node2 => { :hostname => "node2.#{HOSTNAME_SUFFIX}", :ip => "#{PRIV_NET}.20" },
    :node3 => { :hostname => "node3.#{HOSTNAME_SUFFIX}", :ip => "#{PRIV_NET}.30" },
}

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
    MACHINES.each_with_index do |(name, machine), index|
        config.vm.define machine[:hostname] do |node|
            node.vm.hostname = machine[:hostname]
            node.vm.box = "lma/ubuntu-21.04"
            node.vm.synced_folder ".", "/vagrant", disabled: true
            node.vm.network "private_network", ip: machine[:ip]
            node.vm.provider "vmware_fusion" do |vf|
                vf.vmx["memsize"] = 1024
                vf.gui = false
            end

            node.vm.provision :shell, inline: <<-SHELL
                sudo apt-get update
            SHELL
        end
    end
end

Now we have 3 VMs, each with their own ip address (*.10.10.10), with custom hostnames (node{n}.mylab.local), and 1GB of RAM each. Shared folder is disabled, and apt-get update provisions each machine. To SSH’d into each machine you need to specify its name (e.g., vagrant ssh node1.mylab.local).

There are many patterns when setting up labs via Vagrant (e.g., setting up multiple machines mixing private and public networks, non-default SSH keys, port forwarding, etc.). Perhaps one day I write about them… stay tuned (or not)!

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