Vagrant OEL 8 DevOps · Parallels · Files

Vagrant — Synced Folders with Parallels

Configure synced folders for OEL 8 VMs with Parallels provider. Parallels Tools shared folders, rsync alternative, and database script workflow setup.

Synced Folders with Parallels

Synced folders with the Parallels provider work differently from VirtualBox. Parallels uses its own shared folder mechanism (Parallels Tools) which is significantly faster than VirtualBox shared folders. No need for NFS — Parallels shared folders are already fast.

Default Synced Folder (Parallels Tools)

Ruby — Synced Folders (Parallels)

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.box = "generic/oracle8"

  # Default: current dir → /vagrant in VM
  # Parallels uses its own high-speed shared folder mechanism
  config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/vagrant"

  # Share SQL scripts
  config.vm.synced_folder "./sql",     "/home/vagrant/sql"

  # Share configs
  config.vm.synced_folder "./configs", "/home/vagrant/configs"

  # Share backups
  config.vm.synced_folder "./backups", "/home/vagrant/backups"

  config.vm.provider "parallels" do |prl|
    prl.name   = "OEL8-SharedFolders"
    prl.memory = 2048
    prl.cpus   = 2
    prl.update_guest_tools = false
  end
end

Parallels Tools — Required for Shared Folders

Parallels shared folders require Parallels Tools to be installed inside the OEL 8 VM. If tools are not installed, shared folders will fail or fall back to a slower method.

BASH — Check Parallels Tools

# Check if Parallels Tools are installed inside OEL 8 VM
vagrant ssh
rpm -qa | grep parallels-tools

# If not installed — install from Parallels Desktop menu:
# Actions → Install Parallels Tools

# Or install via CLI inside VM:
sudo mount /dev/cdrom /mnt
sudo /mnt/install

# Check mount points after tools installed
mount | grep prl_fs

rsync as Alternative

If Parallels Tools are unavailable or you prefer rsync for one-way sync:

Ruby — rsync with Parallels

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.box = "generic/oracle8"

  # rsync — one-way, host to VM
  config.vm.synced_folder "./scripts", "/home/vagrant/scripts",
    type: "rsync",
    rsync__exclude: [".git/", "*.log"],
    rsync__args:    ["--archive", "--delete", "--compress"]

  config.vm.provider "parallels" do |prl|
    prl.name   = "OEL8-rsync"
    prl.memory = 2048
    prl.cpus   = 2
  end
end

BASH — rsync Commands

# Manually trigger rsync
vagrant rsync

# Watch and auto-sync on file changes
vagrant rsync-auto

Database Workflow with Shared Folders

Ruby — Database Workflow

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.box = "generic/oracle8"
  config.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.56.10"

  # SQL scripts available inside VM
  config.vm.synced_folder "./sql",      "/home/vagrant/sql"

  # MySQL config files
  config.vm.synced_folder "./my-cnf",   "/home/vagrant/my-cnf"

  # Backup destination — dumps appear on host
  config.vm.synced_folder "./backups",  "/home/vagrant/backups"

  # Ansible playbooks
  config.vm.synced_folder "./ansible",  "/home/vagrant/ansible"

  config.vm.provider "parallels" do |prl|
    prl.name   = "MySQL-Lab"
    prl.memory = 4096
    prl.cpus   = 2
    prl.update_guest_tools = false
  end

  # Run SQL scripts after provisioning
  config.vm.provision "shell", inline: <<-SHELL
    mysql -u root -pRoot@123! < /home/vagrant/sql/create_schema.sql
    echo "Schema created"
  SHELL
end

💡 Note: Parallels shared folder performance is comparable to NFS and much faster than VirtualBox default shared folders. You generally do NOT need NFS with Parallels — the default shared folder is already fast enough for database scripts and configs.