downloading the datasciencetoolkit.org server to use (R, Vagrant, VirtualBox) - json

Question

I am running R on a Windows computer. I find myself making many JSON requests to datasciencetoolkit.org and I recently discovered that datasciencetoolkit.org can be downloaded to a computer as a "virtual server." I imagine this could cut down on my calculation time significantly, not to mention that it won't burden someone else's servers with my queries.
The trouble is, I know nothing about creating my own virtual machine. Here is the guide for beginning. I am planning on using Vagrant since I don't believe Amazon is free (please correct me if I'm wrong.) I am going to keep it to 3 questions.
1) I already downloaded Vagrant and ran the step that says:
vagrant box add dstk http://static.datasciencetoolkit.org/dstk_0.50.box
...from within my own computer, not a virtual machine. I installed it to my own computer I think. Did I make a mistake? Do I need to do that over again?
2) How do I set up Vagrant on VirtualBox? I don't even know what that should look like.
3) Do I need to install R on the Virtual Machine as well? I am assuming that once all is done I will just need to run my requests in the virtual machine by typing in the http://localhost:8080 address, but I will cross that bridge when I get to it. Right now I just want to set up my virtual machine with the datasciencetoolkit.
Thank you!!

Answer 1

Installing Vagrant for Windows
Vagrant is a tool to help you use VirtualBox more easily and consistently.
VirtualBox is a free program which hosts and manages virtual machines. Vagrant
looks for a file called Vagrantfile, which is a construction plan that takes a
basic or pre-configured system image, configures it according to your plan, and
then hosts it via VirtualBox.
I assume you have some "power user" comfort with Windows. If you find it
difficult to model what's going on, it may be possible that this toolchain could
bring on more pain than doing things manually.
Download a ssh client, such as Putty. Just in case.
Before you do anything, make sure you have both the latest 'VirtualBox' AND
'VirtualBox Extension Pack' installed.
Download and install Vagrant. While installing, make sure to choose the
option to add Vagrant to your Windows PATH variable.
Create an empty project directory, such as at C:/Projects/R/, and navigate
to it.
Right-click inside the folder to bring up the standard system dialogue, and
select Open command window here. A command line should pop up.
Type vagrant init http://static.datasciencetoolkit.org/dstk_0.50.box. You
should see this success message:
A 'Vagrantfile' has been placed in this directory. You are now ready to
'vagrant up' your first virtual environment! Please read... [and so on].
Confirm that a Vagrantfile has indeed been created in your project
directory, which I assume to be at C:/Projects/R/.
If you receive a fail message at this step about not recognizing the command
called vagrant, then something may be wrong with your PATH variable.
Edit that Vagrantfile with a basic text editor and completely replace with this:
Vagrant.configure(2) do |config|
config.vm.box = "http://static.datasciencetoolkit.org/dstk_0.50.box"
config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest:80, host:8080
# config.ssh.username = 'vagrant'
# config.ssh.password = 'nova'
config.ssh.insert_key = true # important: touch if you understand.
config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |v|
v.gui = false # optionally brings up VirtualBox visual interface
v.name = "vbox_vagrant" # name that VirtualBox will use for your virtual machine
v.memory = 2048 # megabytes ram
v.cpus = 2 # cores
end
end
Type vagrant up, which will start downloading an image. Your image could
take a few hours. This command will only be slow the first time. After the
initial download, your virtual machine will then launch via VirtualBox, but
the VirtualBox visual interface won't launch because we set the option above.
Time to check if it works. In the command console, which should still be
pointed to the correct project directory, type in vagrant ssh. You should
now have command-line access to your virtual machine. Success! If you're
saying there's a server in there, then try going to your browser, visit
and the URL localhost:8080. I'm speculating about your situation so it may
not work.
To stop the virtual machine, do vagrant halt. To delete it, type vagrant
destroy. To check the status, type vagrant status. People create and
destroy virtual machines all the time, because once you download the 'box',
these steps become very fast.
I haven't checked if the image you downloaded already as R installed, but I
presume so. If not, then you need to do it on the virtual machine.