Creating a Vagrantfile

Each Vagrant environment is defined using a configuration file called Vagrantfile (with no file extension). Instead of specifying source images with a boxfile, Skytap Vagrantfiles use a vm_url setting that references an existing VM in a Skytap environment or template.

Generate a Vagrantfile from an existing Skytap environment or template

To create a Vagrantfile from an existing Skytap environment or template

Navigate to an environment or template in your Skytap account.
In the address bar of the internet browser, edit the URL to replace everything after the environment or template ID with /vagrantfile .
- Environment - For example, https://cloud.skytap.com/configurations/112233?sort=svms&thumbnails=shown&env_details_meta_info=1&ga=1 would become https://cloud.skytap.com/configurations/112233/vagrantfile.
- Template - For example, /vagrantfile would become https://cloud.skytap.com/templates/112233/vagrantfile
Enter your Skytap user name and API token in the skytap.username and skytap.api_token variables. If you don’t want to store your user name and API token in the Vagrantfile, set them as environment variables (VAGRANT_SKYTAP_USERNAME and VAGRANT_SKYTAP_API_TOKEN).

Tips

To automatically include your user credentials in the generated Vagrantfile, include
?include_api_credentials=true in the URL.
Don't use this option if you intend to share the Vagrantfile with other users.
To automatically include the VM hardware properties in the generated Vagrantfile, include
?include_hardware_properties=true in the URL.

Manually create a Vagrantfile

To create a Vagrantfile for use with Skytap VMs

Create an empty file called Vagrantfile. The file should not have a file extension in the name (it should be Vagrantfile, not Vagrantfile.txt).

Copy the following text into the file. With some slight modification, this Vagrantfile creates a Skytap environment in the US-West region that contains two Ubuntu servers from the public template library. The VMs are identical except for their hardware settings.

 Vagrant.configure(2) do |config|
     # This box file only exists to satisfy Vagrant’s requirements.
     # Specify the base image for each machine using the vm_url
     # setting below.
     config.vm.box = "skytap/empty"

     config.vm.provider :skytap do |skytap, override|
         # Replace these settings with your own Skytap user name
         # and API token.
         skytap.username = "jsmith"
         skytap.api_token = "0c12620172e0dd1c8279e25d19d8120510c7e166"
     end

     # Define a machine named "web" with 2 CPUs and 1GB of RAM.
     config.vm.define "web" do |server|
         server.vm.provider :skytap do |box|
             box.vm_url = "https://cloud.skytap.com/vms/3157858"
             box.cpus = 2
             box.cpuspersocket = 1
             box.ram = 1024
             # box.vpn_url = "https://cloud.skytap.com/vpns/999999"
         end
         # Configure an NFS share. The contents of /local/directory
         # will be visible on the VM as /synced.
         # server.vm.synced_folder "/local/directory", "/synced", type: :nfs
         # Configure port forwarding.
         # server.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest: 80, host: 8080,
         #   auto_correct: true
     end

     # Define a machine named "db" with 2 quad-core CPUs and
     # 8GB of RAM.
     config.vm.define "db" do |server|
         server.vm.provider :skytap do |box|
             box.vm_url = "https://cloud.skytap.com/vms/3157858"
             box.cpus = 8
             box.cpuspersocket = 4
             box.ram = 8192
         end
     end
 end

Enter your Skytap user name and API token in the skytap.username and skytap.api_token variables. If you don’t want to store your user name and API token in the Vagrantfile, set them as environment variables (VAGRANT_SKYTAP_USERNAME and VAGRANT_SKYTAP_API_TOKEN).
Optionally, you can further customize the Vagrantfile (see below).

Customizing a Vagrantfile

Add a VM

Before you add a Skytap VM to a Vagrantfile, confirm the VM is:

Powered off in Skytap.
In the same Skytap region as the other VMs in the Vagrantfile.
Configured for SSH or WinRM access. For Linux VMs: We recommend that you store the SSH credentials in the VM using VM Credentials. Use the “username / password” format. Optionally, you can use Vagrant’s instructions to store other SSH configuration information in the Vagrantfile.

To add a VM to the Vagrant

Create a VM definition section in the Vagrantfile. The VM definition must include the following:
```
 # Define a machine named "vnname"
 config.vm.define "vmname" do |server|
     server.vm.provider :skytap do |box|
         box.vm_url = "https://cloud.skytap.com/vms/3157858"
     end
 end
```
Replace the ID number in the box.vm_url with the VM ID from a VM in a Skytap template. For help finding the ID number, see Finding the ID for a VM, Environment, or Template.
For Windows VMs: Follow Vagrant’s instructions for adding WinRM settings to the Vagrantfile. You must store the Windows RM credentials in the Vagrantfile. If credentials aren’t provided, the default “vagrant/vagrant” is used.

Edit the VM hardware settings

Edit or omit the box.cpus, box.cpuspersocket, and/or box.ram variables in the VM definition section of the Vagrantfile. These settings override the Skytap hardware settings for the VM.

# Define a machine named "web" with 2 CPUs and 1GB of RAM.
config.vm.define "web" do |server|
    server.vm.provider :skytap do |box|
        box.vm_url = "https://cloud.skytap.com/vms/3157858"
        box.cpus = 2
        box.cpuspersocket = 1
        box.ram = 1024
    end
end

Enable NFS synced folders

Include a vm.synced_folder path in the VM definition section.

In the following example, a local directory /local/directory is visible on the VM at the path /synced.

# Define a machine named "web" with 2 CPUs and 1GB of RAM.
    config.vm.define "web" do |server|
        server.vm.provider :skytap do |box|
            box.vm_url = "https://cloud.skytap.com/vms/3157858"
        end
        server.vm.synced_folder "/local/directory", "/synced", type: :nfs
    end

For more information, see the Vagrant documentation: https://docs.vagrantup.com/v2/synced-folders/index.html.

Enable port forwarding

The Skytap Vagrant provider supports Vagrant’s port forwarding feature using AutoSSH, an open-source utility for managing SSH tunnels.

To add port forwarding, include a vm.network line in the VM definition section of the Vagrantfile.

In the following example, port 8080 on the Vagrant host machine is forwarded to port 80 on the VM created by Vagrant. The auto-correct setting is used.

# Define a machine named "web" with 2 CPUs and 1GB of RAM.
config.vm.define "web" do |server|
    server.vm.provider :skytap do |box|
        box.vm_url = "https://cloud.skytap.com/vms/3157858"
    end
    server.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest: 80, host: 8080,
        auto_correct: true
end

When port forwarding is defined, the Vagrant up and resume commands start a separate AutoSSH process for each forwarded port. The halt and suspend commands terminate the AutoSSH processes, which causes the SSH tunnels to be killed. vagrant reload kills the AutoSSH processes and recreates them (Only AutoSSH processes created by Vagrant is killed, and only for the VMs being halted, suspended, or reloaded).

For more information, see the Vagrant documentation: https://www.vagrantup.com/docs/networking/forwarded_ports.html.

Notes

AutoSSH must be installed on the local machine.
Port forwarding is supported only for TCP.
Port forwarding isn't supported on Windows hosts.

Skytap-specific Vagrantfile settings

Setting	Required?	Description
`vm_url`	Required	The URL of the source VM to use when creating a new VM
`cpus`	Optional	The number of CPU virtual cores
`cpuspersocket`	Optional	The number of virtual cores per CPU
`ram`	Optional	RAM (in MB)
`guestos`	Optional	The VMware guest OS for the VM
`vpn_url`	Optional	The URL of the Skytap VPN to use when connecting to the VM

For a complete list of Vagrant commands supported in Skytap, see Supported Vagrant commands.