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Vagrant with VMware vCenter Integration | Complete Setup & Configuration Guide

Set up Vagrant with VMware vCenter to provision and manage virtual machines effortlessly

Vagrant with VMware vCenter Integration | Complete Setup & Configuration Guide

Installation and Setup

Download and Install Vagrant

Download Vagrant from the official website and follow the installation wizard. Alternatively, if you have Chocolatey installed:

choco install vagrant

Install Vagrant vCenter Provider

First, install the prerequisite nokogiri gem, then install the vagrant-vsphere provider:

gem install nokogiri
vagrant plugin install vagrant-vsphere

Configuring vSphere Provider

Create a Vagrantfile in your project directory with the following configuration:

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.box = 'vsphere'
  config.vm.box_url = 'dummy.box'
  config.ssh.private_key_path = '<Path to your SSH Private Key>'

  config.vm.provider :vsphere do |vsphere|
    vsphere.customization_spec_name = '<Name of Customization spec>'
    vsphere.host = '<FQDN of vcenter server>'
    vsphere.compute_resource_name = '<ESX Cluster Name>'
    vsphere.resource_pool_name = '<Resource Pool Name>'
    vsphere.template_name = '<Folder>/<Template Name>'
    vsphere.name = '<VM Name>'
    vsphere.user = '<vSphere username>'
    vsphere.password = '<Password for vCenter>'
    vsphere.linked_clone = true
    vsphere.insecure = true
  end
end

Note: Using linked_clone makes provisioning much faster, but requires taking a snapshot of the VM template first.

Essential Vagrant Commands

  • vagrant up: Provisions one or more virtual machines based on your Vagrantfile configurations
  • vagrant ssh: Connects to your provisioned machine via SSH using key authentication
  • vagrant destroy: Shuts down and deletes your provisioned VMs
# If you have trouble connecting, specify the provider explicitly
vagrant up --provider=vcenter

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to common questions

Vagrant + vagrant-vsphere plugin can deploy to vCenter. Not as smooth as local providers (VirtualBox, VMware Workstation), but works for: deploying test VMs to vCenter infrastructure, creating development environments on shared VMware cluster, automating VM deployment without writing PowerCLI scripts. Limitations: slower than local providers (network latency to vCenter), requires template VM (can't build from ISO like local), snapshot/restore features limited. Use for: teams sharing vCenter infrastructure, automating deployment of multi-VM environments, standardizing VM provisioning. Don't use for: individual developer laptops (VirtualBox/Workstation is simpler), production VM management (Terraform is better choice), when you need advanced vCenter features (DRS, HA, vMotion—use PowerCLI or Terraform instead).

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