diff --git a/website/www/source/blog/2014-04-15-feature-preview-vagrant-1-6-global-status.html.markdown b/website/www/source/blog/2014-04-15-feature-preview-vagrant-1-6-global-status.html.markdown new file mode 100644 index 000000000..be016e977 --- /dev/null +++ b/website/www/source/blog/2014-04-15-feature-preview-vagrant-1-6-global-status.html.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,92 @@ +--- +page_title: "Vagrant 1.6 Feature Preview: Global Status and Control" +title: "Feature Preview: Global Status and Control" +author: "Mitchell Hashimoto" +author_url: https://github.com/mitchellh +--- + +Vagrant 1.5 was released just a month ago, but we already have big changes +lined up for Vagrant 1.6. To prepare you for the release of 1.6, we're +restarting our weekly "feature preview" blog post series to cover the new +features that are on the way. + +The first new feature we'll be covering is something we're calling +_global status and control_. + +Global status introduces a new `global-status` command to Vagrant that +will show you the status of all created Vagrant environments on your system. +You'll never again forget what Vagrant environments are running, not +running, or using resources on your system. + +Global control lets you use a unique ID assigned to each of your Vagrant +environments to control it from any directory, not only the directory +where the Vagrantfile is. This is useful in many situations, but perhaps +this is most useful when you forget to destroy a Vagrant environment. You +can now destroy that Vagrant environment from anywhere! + +With these two features Vagrant environment management becomes much easier. + +Read on to learn more. + +READMORE + +### Global Status + +A new command `global-status` is available in Vagrant 1.6. This command +tracks all _created_ Vagrant environments. An example of the output is +shown below: + +``` +$ vagrant global-status +id name provider state directory +--------------------------------------------------------------------- +4174bb6 web virtualbox stopped c:/hashicorp/foo +72a2e4d default vmware_workstation running c:/hashicorp/bar +865a979 default virtualbox suspended c:/hashicorp/baz +``` + +Global status gives you a few bits of information about the machine: +an ID, the name and provider of the machine, the last known state, +and the directory it last saw that machine. + +This at-a-glance information is enough to tell you what is and isn't +running. To get more information about an environment, you can go to +the directory for that machine and use the normal `vagrant` commands to +inspect the environment. + +Or, you can use global control, covered next. + +### Global Control + +Global control lets you control a Vagrant environment from any directory, +not only the directory where the Vagrantfile for that environment exists. + +In Vagrant 1.5 and earlier, you had to be in the same directory as the +Vagrantfile, or any sub-directory of the Vagrantfile. With Vagrant 1.6, +you can use the ID from `global-status` to control the machine. + +For example, if you want to SSH into one of the machines from above, you +can be in any terminal and do this: + +``` +$ vagrant ssh 72a2e4d +Welcome to Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS (GNU/Linux 3.8.0-29-generic x86_64) + +vagrant@vagrant:~$ +``` + +The ID "72a2e4d" is from the ID column in the `global-status` output +above. You can use this ID for any Vagrant command, such as `destroy`, +`up`, `suspend`, etc. + +In addition to the built-in commands, using an ID should work with +any existing Vagrant plugins as well without any modifications. + +### Next + +Vagrant 1.6 has some huge features. We're starting off this feature +preview series with one of the smaller features, but it is still incredibly +useful. + +Watch out next week for the next post in the feature preview series, where +we'll be covering what I think is a monumental feature addition to Vagrant.