Vagrant: Automate Virtual Machine Creation
Vagrant gives you a simple and repeatable way to build and manage virtual machines through code. It removes the manual setup work and lets you recreate whole environments with a single command.
I want to write a short post for myself on how to automate virtual machine creation for VMWare. There are plenty of resources for VirtualBox, but not many for VMWare. Although the process is almost identical, I thought that this might help someone else.
This is my first real step into infrastructure as code (IaC), and it is interesting to me. My goal is to build and remove an Active Directory lab in a clean and repeatable way, to support some future purple team work.
Installation
I am using Windows 11. You can install Vagrant from the Hashicorp website where they always provide the newest release. (Download Link).
Vagrant VMWare Plugin
Hashicorp recently made their VMWare plugin free. Nice change, since it used to require a license. VirtualBox is free as well, but I still find myself using VMWare even after the Broadcom acquisition.
Install the plugin with:
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vagrant plugin install vagrant-vmware-desktop
After this, you also need the Vagrant VMWare Utility. The plugin install output should include the direct download link. A restart is a good idea once both are installed. (VMWare Utility Download Link)
You can check the setup with:
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vagrant plugin list
Vagrant Commands
I keep my VMWare machines on a separate drive. Adjust paths to your own setup.
Initialising Vagrant
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PS C:\Users\frosty> E:\
PS E:\> cd "VMWare_Storage\Virtual Machines"
PS E:\VMWare_Storage\Virtual Machines> mkdir vagrant
PS E:\VMWare_Storage\Virtual Machines\vagrant> vagrant init
It tells us that a Vagrantfile has been created. Looks good so far.
You can find suitable base images on the Vagrant discovery page. In this example, I will use svetterIO/UbuntuDesktop22.04 You can find the box image which you want to use on this discovery page.
Add some basic content to the Vagrantfile:
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Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
config.vm.provider "vmware_desktop" do |v|
v.gui = true
v.memory = 2048
v.cpus = 1
end
config.vm.define "ubuntu" do |ubuntu|
ubuntu.vm.box = "svetterIO/UbuntuDesktop22.04"
end
end
That is enough to begin.
Booting Vagrant Machines
Run vagrant up in the folder that contains your Vagrantfile. Keep an eye on the output in case there are warnings.
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E:\VMWare_Storage\Virtual Machines\vagrant> vagrant up
Bringing machine 'ubuntu' up with 'vmware_desktop' provider...
The Hashicorp documentation is very good, so it is worth reading once you get comfortable with the basics.
Cleaning Up Vagrant Machines
Since this was only a test, I removed the machine and the image. I want to do more in the future, but with different images. More to come on that later I guess ;)
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PS E:\VMWare_Storage\Virtual Machines\vagrant> vagrant destroy -f
==> ubuntu: Deleting the VM...
PS E:\VMWare_Storage\Virtual Machines\vagrant> vagrant box list
svetterIO/UbuntuDesktop22.04 (vmware_desktop, 1.0, (amd64))
PS E:\VMWare_Storage\Virtual Machines\vagrant> vagrant box remove svetterIO/UbuntuDesktop22.04 --all
Removing box 'svetterIO/UbuntuDesktop22.04' (v1.0) with provider 'vmware_desktop'...
Thanks for reading :) Hopefully this helps.
Vagrant Cheat Sheet
(AI generated be cautious of AI Slop, but I thought it could be useful)
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VAGRANT(1) User Commands VAGRANT(1)
NAME
vagrant - Create and manage reproducible development environments.
SYNOPSIS
vagrant [command] [options]
DESCRIPTION
Vagrant manages virtual machine environments. Commands operate on a
Vagrant project (a directory containing a Vagrantfile) unless otherwise
noted. Most operations require a Vagrantfile to be present.
COMMANDS
init [box]
Create a new Vagrantfile in the current directory.
If a box name is provided, it is written into the Vagrantfile.
up [--provider PROVIDER] [--provision]
Create, configure, and boot the machine.
If the provider is not specified, Vagrant chooses the default.
--provision forces provisioners to run during startup.
halt [-f]
Gracefully shut down the running virtual machine.
-f forces an immediate power-off.
suspend
Save the running VM’s state to disk and stop it.
resume
Restore a suspended VM to the running state.
reload
Restart the VM and apply changes from the Vagrantfile.
destroy [-f]
Remove the VM and all associated provider resources.
-f runs without confirmation.
ssh
Connect to the guest machine over SSH.
ssh-config
Output SSH configuration for connecting manually.
status
Display the current state of the VM.
provision
Run the provisioners configured in the Vagrantfile.
BOX COMMANDS
box list
List boxes currently installed on the system.
box add BOX
Download and install a box.
box remove BOX [--provider PROVIDER] [--all]
Remove a box. If --all is used, all versions are removed.
GLOBAL COMMANDS
global-status [--prune]
Show status of all Vagrant environments on the system.
--prune removes entries for destroyed or missing VMs.
PROJECT FILES
Vagrantfile
Ruby-based configuration file describing the VM environment.
.vagrant/
Directory storing local VM state for the current project.
DEFAULT LOCATIONS
Boxes are stored under:
C:\Users\<user>\.vagrant.d\boxes\