Vagrant OEL 8 DevOps · VirtualBox · Parallels · Configuration

Vagrant — Vagrantfile Complete Deep Dive

Master the Vagrantfile — box settings, networking, synced folders, VirtualBox and Parallels provider config, provisioners and environment variables.

Vagrantfile — Overview

The Vagrantfile is the heart of every Vagrant project. It is written in Ruby DSL and defines everything about your VM — the base box, CPU, memory, networking, shared folders, and provisioning scripts. It lives in the root of your project directory and is meant to be committed to version control.

Full Vagrantfile Structure

Ruby — Full Vagrantfile

# -*- mode: ruby -*-
# vi: set ft=ruby :

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|

  # ── BOX ──────────────────────────────────────────────
  config.vm.box         = "generic/oracle8"
  config.vm.box_version = ">= 4.0.0"
  config.vm.hostname    = "oel8-db"

  # ── NETWORK ──────────────────────────────────────────
  # Port forwarding (host:guest)
  config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest: 3306, host: 13306, id: "mysql"
  config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest: 22,   host: 2222,  id: "ssh"

  # Private network (host-only)
  config.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.56.10"

  # Public network (bridged)
  # config.vm.network "public_network"

  # ── SYNCED FOLDERS ───────────────────────────────────
  config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/vagrant"
  config.vm.synced_folder "./scripts", "/home/vagrant/scripts"
  config.vm.synced_folder "./data", "/data", owner: "mysql", group: "mysql"

  # Disable default synced folder
  # config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/vagrant", disabled: true

  # ── VIRTUALBOX PROVIDER ──────────────────────────────
  config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
    vb.name   = "OEL8-Database"
    vb.memory = 4096
    vb.cpus   = 2
    vb.gui    = false

    # Performance tuning
    vb.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--ioapic", "on"]
    vb.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--natdnshostresolver1", "on"]
    vb.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--natdnsproxy1", "on"]
  end

  # ── PARALLELS PROVIDER ───────────────────────────────
  config.vm.provider "parallels" do |prl|
    prl.name   = "OEL8-Database"
    prl.memory = 4096
    prl.cpus   = 2
    prl.update_guest_tools = false
    prl.optimize_power_consumption = false
  end

  # ── PROVISIONING ─────────────────────────────────────
  # Inline shell
  config.vm.provision "shell", inline: <<-SHELL
    dnf update -y
    dnf install -y wget curl vim
  SHELL

  # External shell script
  config.vm.provision "shell", path: "scripts/install_mysql.sh"

  # Shell with arguments
  config.vm.provision "shell",
    path: "scripts/setup.sh",
    args: ["mysql", "root", "password"]

  # Run provisioner every time (not just first boot)
  config.vm.provision "shell",
    inline: "echo 'VM is up'",
    run: "always"

end

Key Vagrantfile Settings

Box Settings

Setting	Description	Example
config.vm.box	Box name to use	"generic/oracle8"
config.vm.box_version	Box version constraint	">= 4.0.0"
config.vm.box_url	Custom box URL	"https://example.com/box"
config.vm.hostname	VM hostname	"oel8-db"
config.vm.box_check_update	Check for box updates	false

SSH Settings

Ruby — SSH Settings

# Custom SSH settings
config.ssh.username         = "vagrant"
config.ssh.password         = "vagrant"
config.ssh.insert_key       = true
config.ssh.private_key_path = ["~/.vagrant.d/insecure_private_key"]
config.ssh.forward_agent    = true
config.ssh.forward_x11      = false
config.ssh.connect_timeout  = 30

Provisioner Run Options

run value	When provisioner executes
once (default)	Only on first vagrant up
always	Every vagrant up and vagrant reload
never	Only when explicitly called with vagrant provision

Environment Variables in Vagrantfile

Ruby — Environment Variables

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  # Read from environment variables
  DB_MEMORY = ENV["DB_MEMORY"] || "2048"
  DB_CPUS   = ENV["DB_CPUS"]   || "2"
  DB_IP     = ENV["DB_IP"]     || "192.168.56.10"

  config.vm.network "private_network", ip: DB_IP

  config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
    vb.memory = DB_MEMORY
    vb.cpus   = DB_CPUS.to_i
  end
end

# Usage:
# DB_MEMORY=8192 DB_CPUS=4 vagrant up

💡 Note: The Vagrantfile is plain Ruby — you can use loops, conditionals, environment variables and any Ruby logic to make it dynamic.