148 lines
6.4 KiB
Markdown
148 lines
6.4 KiB
Markdown
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---
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page_title: "Vagrant 1.5 Feature Preview: Rsync Synced Folders"
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title: "Feature Preview: Rsync Synced Folders"
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author: Mitchell Hashimoto
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author_url: https://github.com/mitchellh
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---
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Vagrant 1.5 is going to be the biggest release of Vagrant since 1.1,
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with dozens of new features and improvements coming in. Don't worry,
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we've also obsessed over [stability](/blog/stability-and-upgrades.html),
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so we expect it'll be one of the most stable upgrades, too.
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Because Vagrant 1.5 will be so feature-packed, we're doing a series of
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blog posts that highlight the upcoming features so you know what to look
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forward to and how to use them. These posts will be
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weekly on Wednesdays, so keep an eye out for them!
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We're going to kick off the series by introducing
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[rsync](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rsync) synced folders. These synced
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folders offer incredible I/O performance at the expense of a little bit of
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latency. Read on to learn more.
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READMORE
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### Introducing Rsync Synced Folders
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Rsync synced folders use [rsync](http://rsync.samba.org/) to sync files
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to the guest machine. They are configured just as easily as any other synced folder,
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by just specifying the "rsync" type:
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<pre class="prettyprint">
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config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/vagrant", type: "rsync"
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</pre>
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As long as <code>rsync</code> is installed in both the host and the guest,
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this will _just work_. Since rsync is a standard utility for Mac and most
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Linux distributions, this just works most of the time! For Windows users,
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[msysgit](https://code.google.com/p/msysgit/),
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[MinGW](http://www.mingw.org/),
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and [Cygwin](http://www.cygwin.org)
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all provide rsync.
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As an added benefit, Vagrant 1.5 knows how to install rsync for most
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major operating systems, and will do this automatically for you by
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default within the guest machine if `rsync` cannot be found.
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When you execute `vagrant up` or `vagrant reload`, Vagrant will sync
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the data to the guest machine. In addition to these commands, Vagrant
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has a new command `vagrant rsync` that will only sync rsync folders
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that are defined.
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Unlike VM shared folders and NFS, rsync is a one-time sync from the
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host machine to the guest machine. Changes to the folder after the
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sync is complete won't be visible in the guest machine until you
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force another sync with a command such as `vagrant rsync`. Luckily,
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Vagrant 1.5 will provide a way to auto-sync rsync synced folders.
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### Auto-Syncing
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By default, the folder syncing only happens when you manually execute
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a `vagrant up`, `vagrant reload`, or `vagrant rsync`. Part of the magic
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of Vagrant, though, has always been for changes to just appear in the
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guest machine.
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Rsync synced folders don't have this magic property by default because
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unlike VM shared folders or NFS, rsync doesn't continue to run in the
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background to propagate any changes. And Vagrant itself doesn't keep any
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background processes running after it finishes executing, so by default
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changes won't be seen.
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But because this is such a useful feature of Vagrant, Vagrant 1.5 has a
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`vagrant rsync-auto` command. This command runs forever (until you Ctrl-C),
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watches any defined rsync synced folders, and automatically syncs changes
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as you make them.
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```
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$ vagrant rsync-auto
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==> default: Watching: /home/mitchellh/work/frontend
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default: Changes! Syncing /vagrant
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...
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```
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This command uses system-specific APIs to detect file changes, rather than
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polling the file system. Therefore, this command sits idle most of the time
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and consumes only a small amount of RAM.
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Changes are usually picked up in less than a second, and Vagrant only
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syncs changes over a compressed connection to use as little bandwidth as
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possible. As a result, changes appear in the guest machine quite fast.
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We realize this workflow is a bit different than what you're used to
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with Vagrant, but it is a minor change necessitated by the technical
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differences of rsync versus other available synced folder mechanisms.
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### Performance and Benefits
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Because `rsync` copies the files directly onto the remote filesystem,
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performance is _fantastic_. For a comparison to NFS or VM shared folders,
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see my personal blog post
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[comparing filesystem performance in virtual machines](http://mitchellh.com/comparing-filesystem-performance-in-virtual-machines).
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With rsync, you'll see the "VirtualBox native" performance numbers.
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Unlike NFS and VM shared folders, filesystem notifications work in the
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guest machine with rsync synced folders. So, if you use
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[Guard](http://guardgem.org/) or something like it, it will now work with
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Vagrant!
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Also unlike NFS or VM shared folders, filesystem permissions are not
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tampered with in the guest machine. NFS and VM shared folders both change
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the way file permissions work that is fine most of the time, but can be
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really disruptive for some workflows. With rsync, because files are just copied
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onto the guest machine, permissions work as you would expect.
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Rsync synced folders only requires `rsync` to be available in the guest
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machine, so it works on virtual machines that don't have guest additions
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installed. This is great for specialized operating systems where guest
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additions that require invasive kernel modules won't compile, but a
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relatively standard C program such as rsync will.
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For Windows users, rsync finally provides a cross-platform alternative
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to VM shared folders that works out of the box with Vagrant. While NFS
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is available for Windows, Vagrant doesn't currently work with it, so
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Vagrant would fall back to VM shared folders.
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### Choices, choices, choices!
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With the introduction of rsync synced folders, users of Vagrant now
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have three choices out of the box for synced folders: VM shared folders,
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NFS, or rsync.
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NFS and VM shared folders are _not deprecated in any way_ and will be
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fully supported and improved for the forseeable future. Vagrant has always
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been about choice and working with the technologies that work best for you
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and your team and rsync is now another really great choice Vagrant offers you.
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### What's Next?
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Rsync synced folders will be available out of the box with Vagrant 1.5.
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They are also
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[fully documented](https://github.com/mitchellh/vagrant/blob/master/website/docs/source/v2/synced-folders/rsync.html.md)
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already, so the documentation will cover all aspects of rsync synced
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folders immediately when 1.5 is released.
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And that is only one of dozens of features of equal or greater caliber
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coming to Vagrant 1.5. Stay tuned next week when we cover another
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feature! Vagrant 1.5 will have quite a few surprises, we're sure,
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that should make both new and experienced Vagrant users very happy.
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