diff --git a/content/how-to/develop-using-vagrant.md b/content/how-to/develop-using-vagrant.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..5c71ea3e0c86 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/how-to/develop-using-vagrant.md @@ -0,0 +1,100 @@ +--- +title: How to Develop using Vagrant +--- + +If you have a more advanced project and use [Vagrant](https://www.vagrantup.com/) to run your development environment in a Virtual Machine, you'll often want to also run webpack in the VM. + +## Configuring the Project + +To start, make sure that the `Vagrantfile` has a static IP; + +```ruby +Vagrant.configure("2") do |config| + config.vm.network :private_network, ip: "10.10.10.61" +end +``` + +Next, install webpack and webpack-dev-server in your project; + +```shell +npm install webpack webpack-dev-server --save-dev +``` + +Make sure to have a `webpack.config.js` file. If you haven't already, use this as a minimal example to get started: + +```js +module.exports = { + context: __dirname, + entry: "./app.js" +} +``` + +And create a `index.html` file. The script tag should point to your bundle. If `output.filename` is not specified in the config, this will be `bundle.js`. + +```html + + + + + + +

Heey!

+ + +``` + +Note that you also need to create an `app.js` file. + +## Running the Server + +Now, let's run the server: + +```shell +webpack-dev-server --host 0.0.0.0 --public 10.10.10.61:8080 --watch-poll +``` + +By default the server will only be accessible from localhost. We'll be accessing it from our host PC, so we need to change `--host` to allow this. + +webpack-dev-server will include a script in your bundle that connects to a WebSocket to reload when a change in any of your files occurs. +The `--public` flag makes sure the script knows where to look for the WebSocket. The server will use port `8080` by default, so we should also specify that here. + +`--watch-poll` makes sure that webpack can detect changes in your files. By default webpack listens to events triggered by the filesystem, but VirtualBox has many problems with this. + +The server should be accessible on `http://10.10.10.61:8080` now! If you make a change in `app.js`, it should live reload. + +## Advanced Usage with nginx + +To mimick a more production-like environment, it is also possible to proxy the webpack-dev-server with nginx. + +In your nginx config file, add the following: + +```nginx +server { + location / { + proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080; + proxy_http_version 1.1; + proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade; + proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade"; + error_page 502 @start-webpack-dev-server; + } + + location @start-webpack-dev-server { + default_type text/plain; + return 502 "Please start the webpack-dev-server first."; + } +} +``` + +The `proxy_set_header` lines are very important, because they allow the WebSocket to work correctly. + +The command to start webpack-dev-server can then be changed to this: + +``` +webpack-dev-server --public 10.10.10.61 --watch-poll +``` + +This makes the server only accessible on `127.0.0.1`, which is fine, because nginx takes care of making it available on your host PC. + +## Conclusion + +We made the Vagrant box accessible from a static IP, and then made webpack-dev-server publicly accessible so it is reachable from a browser. We then tackled a common problem that VirtualBox doesn't send out filesystem events, causing the server to not reload on file changes.