120 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
120 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
layout: "intro"
|
|
page_title: "Boxes - Getting Started"
|
|
sidebar_current: "gettingstarted-boxes"
|
|
description: |-
|
|
Instead of building a virtual machine from scratch, which would be a
|
|
slow and tedious process, Vagrant uses a base image to quickly clone
|
|
a virtual machine. These base images are known as "boxes" in Vagrant,
|
|
and specifying the box to use for your Vagrant environment is always
|
|
the first step after creating a new Vagrantfile.
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
# Boxes
|
|
|
|
Instead of building a virtual machine from scratch, which would be a
|
|
slow and tedious process, Vagrant uses a base image to quickly clone
|
|
a virtual machine. These base images are known as "boxes" in Vagrant,
|
|
and specifying the box to use for your Vagrant environment is always
|
|
the first step after creating a new Vagrantfile.
|
|
|
|
## Installing a Box
|
|
|
|
If you ran the commands on the [getting started overview page](/intro/getting-started/),
|
|
then you've already installed a box before, and you do not need to run
|
|
the commands below again. However, it is still worth reading this section
|
|
to learn more about how boxes are managed.
|
|
|
|
Boxes are added to Vagrant with `vagrant box add`. This stores the box
|
|
under a specific name so that multiple Vagrant environments can re-use it.
|
|
If you have not added a box yet, you can do so now:
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
$ vagrant box add hashicorp/precise64
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
This will download the box named "hashicorp/precise64" from
|
|
[HashiCorp's Atlas box catalog](https://atlas.hashicorp.com/boxes/search), a place where you can find
|
|
and host boxes. While it is easiest to download boxes from HashiCorp's Atlas
|
|
you can also add boxes from a local file, custom URL, etc.
|
|
|
|
Boxes are globally stored for the current user. Each project uses a box
|
|
as an initial image to clone from, and never modifies the actual base
|
|
image. This means that if you have two projects both using the `hashicorp/precise64`
|
|
box we just added, adding files in one guest machine will have no effect
|
|
on the other machine.
|
|
|
|
In the above command, you will notice that boxes are namespaced. Boxes are
|
|
broken down into two parts - the username and the box name - separated by a
|
|
slash. In the example above, the username is "hashicorp", and the box is
|
|
"precise64". You can also specify boxes via URLs or local file paths, but that
|
|
will not be covered in the getting started guide.
|
|
|
|
~> **Namespaces do not guarantee canonical boxes!** A common misconception is
|
|
that a namespace like "ubuntu" represents the canonical space for Ubuntu boxes.
|
|
This is untrue. Namespaces on Atlas behave very similarly to namespaces on
|
|
GitHub, for example. Just as GitHub's support team is unable to assist with
|
|
issues in someone's repository, HashiCorp's support team is unable to assist
|
|
with third-party published boxes.
|
|
|
|
## Using a Box
|
|
|
|
Now that the box has been added to Vagrant, we need to configure our
|
|
project to use it as a base. Open the `Vagrantfile` and change the
|
|
contents to the following:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
|
|
config.vm.box = "hashicorp/precise64"
|
|
end
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
The "hashicorp/precise64" in this case must match the name you used to add
|
|
the box above. This is how Vagrant knows what box to use. If the box was not
|
|
added before, Vagrant will automatically download and add the box when it is
|
|
run.
|
|
|
|
You may specify an explicit version of a box by specifying `config.vm.box_version`
|
|
for example:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
|
|
config.vm.box = "hashicorp/precise64"
|
|
config.vm.box_version = "1.1.0"
|
|
end
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
You may also specify the URL to a box directly using `config.vm.box_url`:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
|
|
config.vm.box = "hashicorp/precise64"
|
|
config.vm.box_url = "http://files.vagrantup.com/precise64.box"
|
|
end
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
In the next section, we will bring up the Vagrant environment and interact
|
|
with it a little bit.
|
|
|
|
## Finding More Boxes
|
|
|
|
For the remainder of this getting started guide, we will only use the
|
|
"hashicorp/precise64" box we added previously. But soon after finishing
|
|
this getting started guide, the first question you will probably have is
|
|
"where do I find more boxes?"
|
|
|
|
The best place to find more boxes is [HashiCorp's Atlas box catalog](https://atlas.hashicorp.com/boxes/search).
|
|
HashiCorp's Atlas has a public directory of freely available boxes that
|
|
run various platforms and technologies. HashiCorp's Atlas also has a great search
|
|
feature to allow you to find the box you care about.
|
|
|
|
In addition to finding free boxes, HashiCorp's Atlas lets you host your own
|
|
boxes, as well as private boxes if you intend on creating boxes for your
|
|
own organization.
|
|
|
|
## Next Steps
|
|
|
|
You have successfully downloaded your first Vagrant box and configured the
|
|
Vagrantfile to utilize that box. Read on to learn about [bringing up and access
|
|
the Vagrant machine via SSH](/intro/getting-started/up.html).
|