2013-09-03 18:08:28 +00:00
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---
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2013-09-06 16:50:43 +00:00
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page_title: "Box Format - VirtualBox Provider"
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2013-09-03 18:08:28 +00:00
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sidebar_current: "virtualbox-boxes"
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---
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# Boxes
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As with [every provider](/v2/providers/basic_usage.html), the VirtualBox
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provider has a custom box format.
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This page documents the format so that you can create your own base
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boxes. Note that currently you must make these boxes by hand. A future
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release of Vagrant will provide additional mechanisms for automatically
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creating such images.
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<div class="alert alert-info">
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<p>
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<strong>Note:</strong> This is a reasonably advanced topic that
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a beginning user of Vagrant doesn't need to understand. If you're
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just getting started with Vagrant, skip this and use an available
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box. If you're an experienced user of Vagrant and want to create
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your own custom boxes, this is for you.
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</p>
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</div>
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Prior to reading this page, please understand the
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[basics of the box file format](/v2/boxes/format.html).
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## Contents
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A VirtualBox base box is an archive of the resulting files of
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[exporting](http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch08.html#vboxmanage-export)
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a VirtualBox virtual machine. Here is an example of what is contained
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in such a box:
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```
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$ tree
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.
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|-- Vagrantfile
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|-- box-disk1.vmdk
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|-- box.ovf
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|-- metadata.json
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0 directories, 4 files
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```
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In addition to the files from exporting a VirtualBox VM, there is
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a "metadata.json" file used by Vagrant itself.
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Also, there is a "Vagrantfile." This contains some configuration to
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properly set the MAC address of the NAT network device, since VirtualBox
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requires this to be correct in order to function properly.
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When bringing up a VirtualBox backed machine, Vagrant
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[imports](http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch08.html#vboxmanage-import)
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the first "ovf" file found in the box contents.
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## Installed Software
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Base boxes for VirtualBox should have the following software installed, as
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a bare minimum:
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* SSH server with key-based authentication setup. If you want the box to
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work with default Vagrant settings, the SSH user must be set to accept
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the [insecure keypair](https://github.com/mitchellh/vagrant/blob/master/keys/vagrant.pub)
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that ships with Vagrant.
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* [VirtualBox Guest Additions](http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html) so that things such as shared
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folders can function. There are many other benefits to installing the tools,
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such as improved networking performance.
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