If you are migrating from VirtualBox, notice the provider block:
So, why use Vagrant with VMware? Here are just a few benefits:
A Vagrantfile configured for vmware_desktop will not work out-of-the-box with VirtualBox. While Vagrant supports provider overrides in the same file, maintaining cross-provider compatibility requires conditional logic. The vagrant-vmware plugin also requires matching versions with the hypervisor—an update to macOS can break VMware Fusion, which then breaks Vagrant. vagrant with vmware
Now that you've configured your Vagrantfile and installed the VMware provider, it's time to bring your environment to life! Run the following command:
# For VMware Fusion (macOS) vagrant plugin install vagrant-vmware-fusion If you are migrating from VirtualBox, notice the
"Streamlining Development with Vagrant and VMware: A Step-by-Step Guide"
Vagrant.configure("2") do |config| # 1. The Base Box # Official Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy) box config.vm.box = "bento/ubuntu-22.04" The Base Box # Official Ubuntu 22
Vagrant then runs a provisioner (shell script, Ansible, Chef) to install containerd , kubeadm , and kubectl , then initializes the cluster. Because VMware’s networking stack is more robust, private network interfaces (host-only or NAT) exhibit lower latency and higher throughput than VirtualBox’s often-flaky host-only adapter.
VMware’s virtual network editor allows custom host-only, NAT, and bridged networks with VLAN tagging. Vagrant can define multi-machine topologies (e.g., a web server, database, and load balancer) on isolated networks, something Docker’s bridge networking cannot emulate without complex pipework.
The power of Vagrant with VMware becomes palpable when tracing a typical development scenario. Consider a developer needing to test a Kubernetes cluster on their local machine using three Ubuntu nodes—one control plane, two workers.