VDE sniglets
Back from CFUnited 2010, so sad to see you go. While I was there I had several people ask me about some of the smaller details in settign up a Virtual Development Enviroment using VirtualBox. So I made some notes and solved a bunch of small issues to get things running.
There were some things that I left out of my session, mostly because it was supposed to be just an overview, not a Step By Step in setting things up. Most of the steps are pretty self explanitory but as I found out there were some very specific things that needed to be set to get it to work reliability. My notes to follow;
Important thing #1:
In the VirtualBox Preferences, Network Settings make the Adaptor IP Address 10.10.20.1 and the Mask 255.255.255.0 (At least that is what I set it to). Make note of the IPAddress you will need it later.
Important thing #2:
Enable the DHCP server in VirtualBox Preferences, Network Settings. Set the Server Address to 10.10.20.2 and the Mask 255.255.255.0, Lower address 10.10.20.3, and Upper address 10.10.20.99
Important thing #3:
The Host Only Adaptor needs to be the first adaptor (if you have more than one).
I set my Web Server to 10.10.20.100 with a Mask of 255.255.255.0, Default Gateway 10.10.20.1 (or the IPAddress you set in Important thing #1), and the Default DNS 10.10.20.1 (or the IPAddress you set in Important thing #1)
I set my Database Server to 10.10.20.101 with a Mask of 255.255.255.0, Default Gateway 10.10.20.1 (or the IPAddress you set in Important thing #1), and the Default DNS 10.10.20.1 (or the IPAddress you set in Important thing #1)
I set my Indexing Server to 10.10.20.102 with a Mask of 255.255.255.0, Default Gateway 10.10.20.1 (or the IPAddress you set in Important thing #1), and the Default DNS 10.10.20.1 (or the IPAddress you set in Important thing #1)
Important thing #4:
The second adaptor (if you are using one) needs to be set to NAT in the VirtualBox settings and DHCP in the Virtual Machine settings, unless you need your Virtual Machine to have a public IPAddress then set it to bridged (Why would you do this, this is a "local" development enviroment, isn't it?)
Last but not least Important thing #5
In your host file enter the IPAddresses and Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) for your development virtual machines.
10.10.20.100 www.ZoobieSoft.dev
10.10.20.101 db.ZoobieSoft.dev
10.10.20.102 index.ZoobieSoft.dev
You will notice that I am using a nonstandard Top Level Domain (TLD) identifier of .DEV, This is because I am able to mimic my production enviroment, subdomains and all, down to the URL domain level... Also, there isnt any confusion if its a "real" site or not.
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