When new technologies appear on the scene they don't always get a solid explanation of what they are, and how they can help you. Vagrant has perhaps fallen in this trap. It is wrapper software which allows you to easily replicate your server environment locally. When it is used in a team environment, it can reduce the "it works for me" problems caused by mis-matched PHP versions, and additional server configuration settings which might not be shared across all environments. Using Vagrant can also make it easier for team members to share work environments with less technical team members (this is great for those who need to test for quality assurance, but shouldn't be wasting their time poking with server setups).

In this session you will learn:

- How to evaluate if Vagrant is a good fit for your team.
- How different roles on your team may want to use Vagrant to speed up their work flow.
- The different parts of a Vagrant environment: the provider and the provisioner.
- The role of configuration management in preparing developer environments with Vagrant
- Why the configuration management tools Puppet, Chef, and Ansible have gained popularity in different parts of the Drupal community.

Emma Jane Westby has been using Vagrant for local development environments for well over a year. She has first hand experience of when this tool can speed up a Drupal developer's workflow, and when it can slow it down.

If you are a developer, project manager, site builder, or system administrator who's been struggling to evaluate all the hand waving excitement about Vagrant, this session is for you.