---
layout: docs
page_title: Multi-Machine
description: |-
  Vagrant is able to define and control multiple guest machines per
  Vagrantfile. This is known as a "multi-machine" environment.
---

# Multi-Machine

Vagrant is able to define and control multiple guest machines per
Vagrantfile. This is known as a "multi-machine" environment.

These machines are generally able to work together or are somehow associated
with each other. Here are some use-cases people are using multi-machine
environments for today:

- Accurately modeling a multi-server production topology, such as separating
  a web and database server.
- Modeling a distributed system and how they interact with each other.
- Testing an interface, such as an API to a service component.
- Disaster-case testing: machines dying, network partitions, slow networks,
  inconsistent world views, etc.

Historically, running complex environments such as these was done by
flattening them onto a single machine. The problem with that is that it is
an inaccurate model of the production setup, which can behave far differently.

Using the multi-machine feature of Vagrant, these environments can be modeled
in the context of a single Vagrant environment without losing any of the
benefits of Vagrant.

## Defining Multiple Machines

Multiple machines are defined within the same project [Vagrantfile](/vagrant/docs/vagrantfile/)
using the `config.vm.define` method call. This configuration directive
is a little funny, because it creates a Vagrant configuration within a
configuration. An example shows this best:

```ruby
Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.provision "shell", inline: "echo Hello"

  config.vm.define "web" do |web|
    web.vm.box = "apache"
  end

  config.vm.define "db" do |db|
    db.vm.box = "mysql"
  end
end
```

As you can see, `config.vm.define` takes a block with another variable. This
variable, such as `web` above, is the _exact_ same as the `config` variable,
except any configuration of the inner variable applies only to the machine
being defined. Therefore, any configuration on `web` will only affect the
`web` machine.

And importantly, you can continue to use the `config` object as well. The
configuration object is loaded and merged before the machine-specific configuration,
just like other Vagrantfiles within the
[Vagrantfile load order](/vagrant/docs/vagrantfile/#load-order).

If you are familiar with programming, this is similar to how languages have
different variable scopes.

When using these scopes, order of execution for things such as
provisioners becomes important. Vagrant enforces ordering outside-in, in
the order listed in the Vagrantfile. For example, with the Vagrantfile
below:

```ruby
Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.provision :shell, inline: "echo A"

  config.vm.define :testing do |test|
    test.vm.provision :shell, inline: "echo B"
  end

  config.vm.provision :shell, inline: "echo C"
end
```

The provisioners in this case will output "A", then "C", then "B". Notice
that "B" is last. That is because the ordering is outside-in, in
the order of the file.

If you want to apply a slightly different configuration to multiple machines,
see [this tip](/vagrant/docs/vagrantfile/tips#loop-over-vm-definitions).

## Controlling Multiple Machines

The moment more than one machine is defined within a Vagrantfile, the
usage of the various `vagrant` commands changes slightly. The change should
be mostly intuitive.

Commands that only make sense to target a single machine, such as
`vagrant ssh`, now _require_ the name of the machine to control. Using
the example above, you would say `vagrant ssh web` or `vagrant ssh db`.

Other commands, such as `vagrant up`, operate on _every_ machine by
default. So if you ran `vagrant up`, Vagrant would bring up both the
web and DB machine. You could also optionally be specific and say
`vagrant up web` or `vagrant up db`.

Additionally, you can specify a regular expression for matching only
certain machines. This is useful in some cases where you specify many similar
machines, for example if you are testing a distributed service you may have
a `leader` machine as well as a `follower0`, `follower1`, `follower2`, etc. If you
want to bring up all the followers but not the leader, you can just do
`vagrant up /follower[0-9]/`. If Vagrant sees a machine name within forward
slashes, it assumes you are using a regular expression.

## Communication Between Machines

In order to facilitate communication within machines in a multi-machine setup,
the various [networking](/vagrant/docs/networking/) options should be used.
In particular, the [private network](/vagrant/docs/networking/private_network) can
be used to make a private network between multiple machines and the host.

## Specifying a Primary Machine

You can also specify a _primary machine_. The primary machine will be the
default machine used when a specific machine in a multi-machine environment
is not specified.

To specify a default machine, just mark it primary when defining it. Only
one primary machine may be specified.

```ruby
config.vm.define "web", primary: true do |web|
  # ...
end
```

## Autostart Machines

By default in a multi-machine environment, `vagrant up` will start
all of the defined machines. The `autostart` setting allows you to tell
Vagrant to _not_ start specific machines. Example:

```ruby
config.vm.define "web"
config.vm.define "db"
config.vm.define "db_follower", autostart: false
```

When running `vagrant up` with the settings above, Vagrant will automatically
start the "web" and "db" machines, but will not start the "db_follower" machine.
You can manually force the "db_follower" machine to start by running
`vagrant up db_follower`.
