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houssam
houssam

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🚀 Infrastructure as Code without Cloud? Yes, it’s possible!

Many think IaC (Infrastructure as Code) is only for AWS, Azure, or other cloud platforms.
But what if you don’t have access to public or private cloud resources?

I built a solution that lets you start with Terraform + Ansible using only VirtualBox locally:

🔹 Terraform → provisions the environment
🔹 Vagrant → manages VM lifecycle
🔹 VirtualBox → runs the virtual machine
🔹 Ansible (inside WSL) → configures the VM (installs & starts Nginx)
🔹 GitHub Actions → orchestrates the entire workflow (CI/CD style)

📌 The outcome:
✅ A fully automated VM setup (Ubuntu on VirtualBox)
✅ Nginx web server running & accessible
✅ Same IaC workflow as in the cloud — but on your local machine

This approach is perfect for learning, testing, and practicing DevOps pipelines without spending on cloud resources.

🎯 Project Objective

The goal is to automate the deployment of a local infrastructure (a VirtualBox VM) and configure it with Ansible to run Nginx — all orchestrated via IaC tools and CI/CD.

🛠 Tools Used

  • VirtualBox → virtualization software to host the VM
  • Vagrant → manages VM lifecycle in a simple workflow
  • Terraform → declaratively provisions infrastructure
  • Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) → runs Linux tools on Windows (needed for Ansible)
  • Ansible → configuration management & app deployment
  • GitHub Actions → CI/CD automation

⚙️ Setup & Installation

1. Install VirtualBox

  1. Enable virtualization (Intel VT-x / AMD-V) in BIOS/UEFI.
  2. Download VirtualBox and install it.
  3. (Optional but recommended) Install the VirtualBox Extension Pack.
  4. Verify by launching VirtualBox Manager.

2. Install Terraform

  1. Download Terraform.
  2. Extract terraform.exe to C:\terraform.
  3. Add it to PATH.
  4. Verify: 
terraform version
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3. Install Vagrant

  1. Download Vagrant.
  2. Install via the .msi file.
  3. Restart your system.
  4. Verify: 
vagrant --version
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4. Install WSL & Ansible

  1. Enable WSL: 
wsl --install
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  1. Install Ubuntu.
  2. Inside Ubuntu: 
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y ansible
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Or via pip:

sudo apt install -y python3-pip
pip3 install ansible
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  1. Verify: 
ansible --version
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🏗 Architecture & Workflow

The workflow is:

  1. Terraform → triggers Vagrant
  2. Vagrant → defines & creates the VM (on VirtualBox)
  3. Ansible → configures the VM (installs Nginx)
  4. GitHub Actions → automates the entire pipeline

🚦 Step-by-Step Execution

Phase 1: Create VM with Terraform + Vagrant

main.tf:

terraform {
  required_providers {
    vagrant = {
      source  = "bmatcuk/vagrant"
      version = ">= 4.0.0"
    }
  }

  required_version = ">= 1.5.0"
}

provider "vagrant" {}

resource "null_resource" "ubuntu_vm" {
  provisioner "local-exec" {
    command     = "vagrant up"
    working_dir = "C:/Users/HOUSSAM/Desktop/terraform-ansible-vbox"

  }
}

output "vagrant_info" {
  value = "Alles gut"
}
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Vagrantfile:

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.box = "ubuntu/focal64"
  config.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.56.10"
  config.vm.boot_timeout = 1200
end
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Phase 2: Prepare Ansible Inventory

inventory.ini:

[ubuntu]
127.0.0.1 ansible_user=vagrant ansible_ssh_private_key_file=/mnt/c/Users/HOUSSAM/Desktop/terraform-ansible-vbox/.vagrant/machines/default/virtualbox/private_key ansible_ssh_extra_args='-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no'
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Phase 3: Configure VM with Ansible

playbook.yml:

- hosts: ubuntu
  become: yes
  tasks:
    - name: Update apt cache
      apt: update_cache: yes

    - name: Install nginx
      apt: name=nginx state=present

    - name: Ensure nginx is running
      service: name=nginx state=started
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Phase 4: Automate with GitHub Actions

Example workflow (.github/workflows/main.yml):

name: Terraform-Vagrant-Ansible

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  terraform:
    name: Terraform & Vagrant
    runs-on: self-hosted
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3  

      - name: Setup Terraform
        uses: hashicorp/setup-terraform@v2
        with:
          terraform_version: 1.5.7



      - name: Terraform Init
        run: C:\Terraform\terraform.exe init

      - name: Terraform Apply (run Vagrant)
        run: C:\Terraform\terraform.exe apply -auto-approve

      - name: Save inventory file
        run: |
          echo "[ubuntu]" > inventory.ini
          echo "127.0.0.1 ansible_user=vagrant ansible_ssh_private_key_file=$HOME/.vagrant.d/insecure_private_key" >> inventory.ini
        shell: pwsh 

      - name: Upload inventory artifact
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: inventory
          path: inventory.ini


  ansible:
    name: Run Ansible
    runs-on: self-hosted
    needs: terraform

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Download inventory
        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: inventory

      - name: Fix private key permissions
        shell: pwsh
        run: |
             wsl --user root chmod 600 /mnt/c/Users/HOUSSAM/Desktop/terraform-ansible-vbox/.vagrant/machines/default/virtualbox/private_key 

      - name: Remove old SSH host key
        shell: pwsh
        run: |
            wsl --user root ssh-keygen -f "/root/.ssh/known_hosts" -R "[127.0.0.1]:2222"

      - name: Run Playbook
        shell: pwsh
        run: |
            wsl --user root ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING=False ansible-playbook -i /mnt/c/Users/HOUSSAM/Desktop/terraform-ansible-vbox/inventory.ini /mnt/c/Users/HOUSSAM/Desktop/terraform-ansible-vbox/playbook.yml
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✅ Results

  • Ubuntu VM provisioned in VirtualBox
  • Nginx installed & running → accessible at http://192.168.56.10
  • End-to-end workflow fully automated via GitHub Actions
  • Reproducible setup — no cloud required 🚀

📌 Conclusion

This project shows how IaC concepts can be applied to local infrastructure with the same rigor used in cloud environments.

It’s a great way for DevOps engineers and learners to practice Terraform, Ansible, CI/CD, and automation pipelines without spending on cloud providers.

So , Thank you and I am here to answer your questions.
Houssam Naji

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