Sample iPython Notebook repository using Vagrant

Introduction

This repository contains code to build an Ubuntu virtual machine containing a number of scientific and numerical computing libraries.

In particular, it includes

• Python 2.7,
• IPython,
• matplotlib,
• NumPy,
• pandas, and
• SciPy.

Building the virtual machine is relatively straightforward, thanks to some lovely automation tools.

Dependencies

In order to use this repository you will need to install

• VirtualBox and
• Vagrant

onto your computer.

The machine sitting on your desk will be referred to as the host machine. It needs to be relatively recent to run VirtualBox properly. If you've got an i5 processor or better and 4GB of memory you're probably fine (and some older hardware will work as well). Specifically, your CPU must support hardware-assisted virtualization.

The virtual machine will be referred to as the guest machine.

Installation

After setting up VirtualBox and Vagrant, clone this repository somewhere on your host machine. Then open up a terminal window (cmd.exe on Windows, Terminal.app on OSX, something like gnome-terminal or konsole on Linux), navigate to your working directory (the root of this repository) and run

vagrant up

The first time you run this command, Vagrant will download an operating system image for the latest long-term support version of Ubuntu (about 500 MB) and begin building your virtual machine. This will take some time.

But don't worry, Vagrant is very smart. It will only do what is necessary each time you invoke it, so you shouldn't have to worry about repeat downloads or waiting for your guest machine to be built each time you want to do some work.

Testing iPython Notebook

Once your vagrant up command has completed you should have a working, running virtual machine. Let's connect to it!

Run

vagrant ssh

to connect to the guest machine. You don't need a password for this; Vagrant has already taken care of that for you by setting up a special SSH key. After running vagrant ssh you should see a prompt like

vagrant@ubuntu-14:~$

indicating that you are on the guest machine.

Now, let's get a sample notebook up and running. If you list the files in your home directory with the ls command, you should see a directory called sample_notebooks. Let's cd into that:

cd sample_notebooks

Now, start the iPython Notebook server with

ipython notebook ip='*'

If all goes well, you should be able to browse to localhost:8888 on your host machine and see the iPython Notebook interface. Congratulations!

Note: The ip='*' portion of the ipython command is important. It causes IPython's Notebook server to listen on all guest IP addresses, not just localhost. This is part of what lets you connect from your host machine.

Shutting down

To shut down your Vagrant machine, first log out using the exit command. Once you are back to your host machine's command line, run

vagrant halt

to shut down the guest. You can always run vagrant status to see if your machine is running.

References

• Vagrant's documentation has lots of useful information
• Pro Git is an excellent free book on using Git