Vagrant Plugin Development: Parallels Provider for Vagrant

This talk will discuss the development process of Vagrant plugins. At Parallels we are maintaining our own Vagrant "provider", which is the plugin allowing to use Vagrant with our virtualization product, Parallels Desktop for Mac.

In talking about plugin development, I will use the Parallels provider as an example and explore these general aspects:

* Plugin model in Vagrant. Short introduction to plugin types and API.
* Creation of Vagrant provider. How we have implemented most of provider features.
* Plugin testing. Unit and acceptance tests, "vagrant-spec" usage.
* Release stage.

In the end I will share our experiences with Vagrant in our company.

Transcript

1. Vagrant plugin development Parallels Provider for Vagrant @legal90 @legal_90 Mikhail Zholobov HASHICONF 2015 Portland, OR September 28-29
2. @legal90 Who am I? Mikhail Zholobov Automation Engineer at Parallels @legal_90
3. Parallels Desktop for Mac Desktop virtualization system by Parallels http://www.parallels.com/desktop/
4. Why am I here? • Explore how Vagrant plugin model is designed • Share our experience with Vagrant plugin development • Tell how we’ve created the Parallels provider for Vagrant
5. On the Inside of Vagrant • Vagrant world is plugin-centric • Most of basic features are implemented via built-in plugins • Internal and external plugins uses the same API
6. • vagrant-aws • vagrant-digitalocean • vagrant-google • vagrant-libvirt • vagrant-lxc • vagrant-openstack • vagrant-parallels • vagrant-rackspace • vagrant-omnibus • vagrant-fabric • vagrant-berkshelf • vagrant-librarian-chef • vagrant-librarian-puppet • vagrant-puppet-install • vagrant-cachier • vagrant-serverspec • vagrant-foodshow • vagrant-hostsupdater • vagrant-reload • vagrant-vbguest • oh-my-vagrant • sahara • landrush • <…> Vagrant Community Plugins
7. Vagrant Plugin Model Built-In Plugins Plugin Registry Vagrant “Core” Built-In Plugins Built-In Plugins Built-In Plugins Built-In Plugins External Plugins
8. Vagrant Plugin Model Run command Plugin Registry “vagrant up” example Get command plugin
9. Vagrant Plugin Model Run command Plugin Registry “vagrant up” example Get config plugins Parse Vagrantfile
10. Vagrant Plugin Model Run provider action Run command Plugin Registry “vagrant up” example Get provider plugin Parse Vagrantfile
11. Vagrant Plugin Model Run provider action Run guest capability Run command Plugin Registry “vagrant up” example Get guest capability Parse Vagrantfile
12. Vagrant Plugin Model Run provider action Run guest capability Run command Run provisioner Plugin Registry “vagrant up” example Get provisioner plugin Parse Vagrantfile
13. Parse Vagrantfile Vagrant Plugin Model Run provider action Run guest capability Run command Run provisioner Plugin Registry “vagrant up” example
14. Vagrant Plugin Model Host Guest Provider Provisioner Push Config Host Capability Guest Capability Provider Capability Synced Folder Command Action Hook Plugin API components (v2)
15. Before You Start • Requirement - be familiar with Ruby • Each plugin is a RubyGem • Run acceptance tests via “vagrant-spec” • Check whether it's already implemented
16. Host Guest Provider Provisioner Push Config Host Capability Guest Capability Provider Capability Synced Folder Command Action Hook Implemented Components Vagrant Parallels Provider
17. “Provider” component Vagrant Parallels Provider • Driver as a wrapper at the top of Parallels Desktop CLI • Box format - there is a prepared “*.pvm” image
18. “Provider Capability” component • Interaction with other plugins or Vagrant core: • `public_address` for Vagrant Share • `nic_mac_addresses` for Windows guests Vagrant Parallels Provider
19. • Implementation of Parallels Shared Folders • How to configure the VM to use Shared Folders • How to mount/unmount them (guest capability call) “Synced Folder” component Vagrant Parallels Provider
20. “Guest Capability” component • Extensions for guests: • How to mount Parallels Shared Folders • How to install Parallels Tools Vagrant Parallels Provider
21. “Config” component • All provider-specific options for Vagrantfile • Feature “Use Linked Clone” • Feature “Parallels Tools Auto-update” Vagrant Parallels Provider
22. Provider Summary: Vagrant Plugin Development • Provider is the most complicated component in Vagrant • Maintenance issues request much time and effort • Don’t forget about acceptance testing
23. Useful links • Vagrant Parallels Provider: https://github.com/Parallels/vagrant-parallels • Available Vagrant Plugins: https://github.com/mitchellh/vagrant/wiki/Available-Vagrant-Plugins • Basics of Vagrant Plugin Development: https://docs.vagrantup.com/v2/plugins/development-basics.html
24. Questions? Mikhail Zholobov @legal90 @legal_90 legal90@gmail.com