If you're a developer that wants to be able to test without having to deploy to a remote server, or if you work with different projects that have different configurations, this screencast is for you.

While we use Ruby-based tools for this (Vagrant and Knife), the same directions can be applied to set up any type of server: memcache servers, Python, PHP, etc...

Setting up development environments with Vagrant and Opscode Platform from Cloudspace on Vimeo.

(If you're having trouble reading the text, be sure to turn on HD -- it helps a lot)

A few post-production notes:

• The latest pattern for getting cookbooks is to use the community site. The community site is like rubygems.org for cookbooks.
• for the cookbook uploads, you can specify multiple cookbooks in one command: knife cookbook upload apt git ruby rails

Much love to the Opscode and Vagrant teams! You guys rock!