Ubuntu Development Box

Graphical virtual desktop environment based on Ubuntu 20.04 for developers.

System requirements

Windows 10 with administrator permissions
VirtualBox 6.1+
Vagrant 2.2+
Minimum 15 Gb free disk space

What Box includes

Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop with Russian locale (my test Vagrant box is based on the article)
Git
Ansible
NVM (Node Version Manager)
PHP 8
Midnight Commander (mc)
Docker with Docker Compose
PhpStorm (see Information section)
Visual Code
DBeaver Community Edition

How to use

Clone Ubuntu Development Box into any directory.

git clone git@github.com:s-mokrushin/ubuntu-development-box.git

Copy your private Git key to ubuntu-development-box/id_rsa.

Copy .env.example to .env. Edit limits.

Settings recommendations

BOX_CPU_COUNT - CPU cores dedicated to virtual machine. Recommended value = Total CPU cores / 2. Optimal - 4. Minimum - 1.
BOX_MEMORY_SIZE - RAM size (in megabytes). Recommended = Total RAM / 2. Optimal - 8096. Minimum - 2048.
BOX_DISK_SIZE - disk space used. Recommended - 75GB. It means only the maximum disk space that a virtual machine can use, but real starting disk usage is about 12 Gb.
BOX_IP_ADDRESS - virtual machine local IP address.
BOX_HOSTNAME - local hostname.

Installation

Run the PowerShell in ubuntu-development-box folder and execute the following comand.

vagrant up

# during the first launch it will be needed to confirm plugins setup
# afterwards you’ll need to run the command one more time

vagrant up

Installation includes the following steps:

Virtual machine image is downloaded with Vagrant.
The new virtual machine is created and launched via VirtualBox.
During the first launch Vagrant will install VirtualBox Additions which are necessary for changing the screen resolution and turning on the functionality of the clipboard.
After restart all the needed components will be installed in the background process. This will take some time and you’ll be able to track the progress in the command line.

Start

vagrant up

You need to wait a bit for the desktop to appear.

Username: vagrant
Password: vagrant

User has administrator permissions without password prompt: sudo su

Upgrade

You can upgrade configuration to the latest version with the following commands.

git pull
vagrant up --provision

Information

You can turn on the function of shared clipboard between virtual and host machines in VirtualBox menu: ‘Devices’ - ‘Shared clipboard’. If it doesn’t work, try to reinstall virtual machine drivers in menu: ‘Devices’ - ‘Insert Guest Additions CD image’

PhpStorm notice. First you need to run the command from the terminal. Execute command phpstorm.

Third-party

Some ansible roles inspired and powered by:

roles/phpstorm — https://github.com/kosssi/ansible-role-phpstorm
roles/visualcode — https://github.com/gantsign/ansible-role-visual-studio-code
roles/nvm — https://github.com/morgangraphics/ansible-role-nvm
roles/dbeaver — https://github.com/flaminem/ansible-role-dbeaver

How to build your own Vagrant box from scratch

https://www.techlayman.net/docs/how-to-build-ubuntu-desktop-vagrant-box-from-scratch/

s-mokrushin / ubuntu-development-box