Vagrant Push: One Command to Deploy Any Application

Vagrant 1.7 comes with a new command: vagrant push. Just as vagrant up is a single command to create a development environment for any application, vagrant push is a single command to deploy any application.

The goal of Vagrant is to give developers a single workflow to develop applications effectively. vagrant up creates a development environment for any application and vagrant share enables collaboration for any application. Deploying was the next logical step for Vagrant, now possible with vagrant push.

Like every other component of Vagrant, push can be configured using multiple strategies. vagrant push can deploy via FTP, Heroku, Atlas, or by executing any local script. Other strategies can be added via plugins and more will be added to core as time goes on.

Read on to learn more.

»Demo

We've prepared a short video showing Vagrant Push in action.

»Push to Deploy

vagrant push works like anything else in Vagrant: configure it in the Vagrantfile, and it is immediately available to every developer. Push configuration is simple and easy to understand:

config.push.define "ftp" do |push| push.host = "ftp.company.com" push.username = "username" push.password = "mypassword"
end

And then to push the application to the FTP or SFTP server:

$ vagrant push
...

The "ftp" in the configuration above defines the strategy Vagrant will use to push. Below, we cover strategies in more detail.

Additionally, multiple config.push.define declarations can be in a Vagrantfile to define multiple pushes, perhaps one to staging and one to production, for example. To learn more about multiple push definitions, read the complete documentation.

»A Single Command

The biggest benefit of Vagrant Push is being able to define a single command to deploy any application. Whether the deploy process is complex or is just a simple push to Heroku, developers only need to know that any application within their organizations can be deployed with vagrant push.

For complicated deploys, the benefit is obvious. For simpler deploys, such as a push to Heroku, Vagrant Push is still useful. Besides not having to know that Heroku is being used under the hood, Vagrant Push will automatically configure your Git remote so the push works. Prior to this, you'd at least have to know the Heroku application name and configure your local repository to be able to push to it.

Of course, not all applications stay that simple, and if your application outgrows Heroku, then the deploy process doesn't change with Vagrant: vagrant push to deploy any application.

»Push Strategies

Like providers, provisioners, and other features in Vagrant, pushes can be configured with multiple strategies. Vagrant 1.7 ships with four strategies:

• Atlas - Push application to Atlas, a commercial product from HashiCorp.
• FTP/SFTP - Upload files via FTP or SFTP to a remote server. This is great for static sites, PHP, etc.
• Heroku - Push your Git repository to Heroku, and configure the Git remote for you if it doesn't already exist.
• Local Exec - Executes a local script on the system using a shell, deferring deployment logic to the user. This is for custom behavior or more complicated interactions with systems.

In addition to these built-in strategies, new strategies can be built just like any other Vagrant plugin. This allows 3rd parties to extend the capabilities of vagrant push, and will surely result in future versions of Vagrant shipping with more push strategies.

»Next

To learn all the details about Vagrant Push, please read the complete documentation.

This is a historic day for Vagrant. Vagrant 0.1 came out and defined "vagrant up" to build a development environment for any application. Vagrant 1.1 made it possible to have development environments on top of any provider (VMware, Docker, etc.). Vagrant 1.5 introduced the "share" command to collaborate. And now, Vagrant 1.7 completes the development process with "push" to deploy.

The mission of Vagrant has been the same since day one: development environments made easy. This mission spans any language choice, any provider choice, and likewise any choice of how to deploy these applications. Push continues this mission by adding a necessary feature to the development workflow.

With Vagrant 1.7 available, we'll be blogging about more of the features as well as creeping towards a 2.0!