Vaark is...

the simplest, most portable way to describe and build VMs and networks.
the most rapid and reproducible way to build VMs for local development.
the most secure way to build VM images for cloud deployments.
a great way to develop and run clustered applications locally.
a handy tool for software integration testers.
a free open source project!

Vaark currently supports Intel guests on Intel hardware via VirtualBox. Vaark is currently being ported to use QEMU so it will also support Apple Silicon (M1, M2, ...).

Quick Install

Paste this command into a terminal prompt on Mac or Linux*:

source /dev/stdin <<< "$(curl -fsSL https://vaark.org/dist/vaark-install)"

* on Linux, you might need to install curl first.

The installer will alert you about any dependencies.

See Installing Vaark And Dependencies for further details.

Quick Start 1 — Just a VM, please

Make a minimal clone of any popular linux distribution. Let’s call it “bessie”

vrk-vm-clone debian-netinst-11 bessie

(Your choices are:)

• debian-netinst-10-13-0
• debian-netinst-11-6-0
• ubuntu-server-20-04-5
• ubuntu-server-22-04-1
• almalinux-minimal-8-7-1  # redhat
• almalinux-minimal-9-1-1  # redhat
• rockylinux-minimal-8-7-0 # redhat
• rockylinux-minimal-9-1-0 # redhat
• oraclelinux-server-8-7-0 # redhat
• oraclelinux-server-9-1-0 # redhat

Start the VM and connect
```
vrk-vm-ssh bessie
```

Quick Start 2 — Minimal Project

Create a 2-line Vaark project file (project.vrk) defining a single Debian VM, called “holstein”

mkdir -p ~/my-cluster
echo '[holstein.vm]'                >  ~/my-cluster/project.vrk
echo '  vm_proto=debian-netinst-11' >> ~/my-cluster/project.vrk

Build the project
```
vrk-project-build --file ~/my-cluster
```
Start the VM and connect
```
vrk-vm-ssh holstein
```

Quick Start 3 — Template Project

Use vrk-project-starter to start a project called herd using a simple template.

The default template defines 2 VMs – one client and one server.
```
vrk-project-starter ./herd
```
Build the project
```
./herd/project-build
```

Start the VMs and connect

vrk-vm-ssh herd-client

vrk-vm-ssh herd-server

To make changes, edit the files in ./herd/ and build again!

Documentation, Source, and More!

Visit the Vaark project on Gitlab