Windows host can ping VM, but VM can't ping host.

[Almelia]

Hey Guys,

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

I have had a look through some of the older forum posts regarding network connectivity issues and have tried them, but nothing seems to be helping.

What I'm trying to do is run a Redhat Linux VM image specifically designed to run ADempiere. The idea is to run the image on VirtualBox in the background, and then use it as a server to access ADempiere via the hosts web browser. I'm an engineering student currently doing an Economics and Finance Course, and part of it is to learn how to use ADempiere and do a presentation to a company about its benefits and features and then compare it to the ERP software they are currently using.

The frustrating thing is, is that I had it working (after having the same issues issues), but now, even with the same steps I took before, I can't get it to work again. I've been using the host-only network adapter, as I don't want to have to rely on a real network in order to demonstrate ADempiere (I am unlikely to have any form of network access when visiting the company).

Initially, I had the same problem I am having now which is that I can ping the VM from Windows, but the VM cannot ping back (and I couldn't connect to the ADempiere service via the VM's IP/Port combination). I was using the default IP addresses assigned by the host-only adapter's inbuilt DHCP server. After trying all sorts of static IP addresses, I found a video saying that a lot of issues can be fixed by doing a driver update to the host-only adapter. I followed the videos instructions, went into Device Manager, right clicked on the Host-Only Adapter and instructed windows to automatically update the drivers. Great, it worked! I was playing around with ADempiere, going through the process of sales order, material receipts and the like. When I had finished, I thought I'd go ahead and make a fresh VM from the OVF file so I had a clean platform for the demonstration I have to do on Monday.

Being the silly person I am, I out right deleted the old VM. After loading up the new one, I went through all the steps, used the same host-only adapter, same IP addresses. Nothing. Typing in 192.168.56.101:8080 just causes firefox to sit there loading indefinitely.

I went to google and spent the better part of yesterday trying out different solutions. I have:

1. Deleted the host-only adapter, created a new one, allowed the VM to receive an IP via the DHCP server ensuring it is on the same subnet/IP range as the host (only changing IP address of the host-only adapter via the VirtualBox preferences page only). Still no connectivity.

2. Uninstalled virtualbox, deleted all remains of the host-only adapter drivers, reinstalled virtualbox, updated the host-only adapter drivers again. Still no connection even though my computer can ping the VM.

3. Turned off windows firewall.

4. Disabled all other network adapters except the host-only adapter.

5. Tried a combination of the above in different orders. Restarting after every step. Closing Virtual Box, waiting a few minutes, then opening it again between every step.

I have attached screenshots of the all of the things I have mentioned above.

I am by no means a VM expert, but everything I know about networking says they should be able to connect.

Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[mpack]

What is the host? Win7 ignores ICMP (ping) by default.

[noteirak]

can you telnet to the port of the VM? if you can, then the issue is with your guest OS or your browser in the host (or both)

[Almelia]

Bit of a silly thing to not try earlier, but I fixed the problem by adding a static arp entry for the VM IP through the Host-Only Adapter. I figured disabling all real interfaces would have produced the same results, but apparently not!

For anyone that doesn't know how, the command I used in the windows command line was:

Code: Select all

netsh interface ipv4 add neighbor "VirtualBox Host-Only Network" 192.168.56.2 08-00-27-E3-D7-C0

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to respond.

[noteirak]

you added an entry for 56.2, but your host is 56.1... Your solution is not correct for what you told us here, so you must have not mentionned something, like what is using 192.168.56.2?
From the MAC, it looks like a Virtualbox adapter, so do you have 2 IPs somewhere?

[Almelia]

Okay to clarify, my host is 192.168.56.1 on the host-only adapter.

My VM is set to static 192.168.56.2.

The netsh command says the mac address of the ip address 192.168.56.2 is 08-00-27-E3-D7-C0 and it is connected via the VirtualBox Host-Only Network interface.

[noteirak]

Run this on the host - run vboxmanage commands from the Virtualbox install directory and replace VmName by the proper value :

Code: Select all

vboxmanage showvminfo "VmName" --details
vboxmanage list hostonlyifs
vboxmanage list bridgedifs
ipconfig /all
route print
ping 8.8.8.8
ping google-public-dns-a.google.com
nslookup 8.8.8.8
nslookup google-public-dns-a.google.com

And in the guest :

Code: Select all

sudo ifconfig -a
sudo route -n
ping -c 4 8.8.8.8
ping -c 4 google-public-dns-a.google.com
nslookup 8.8.8.8
nslookup google-public-dns-a.google.com

Attach the outputs in two zipped files as an attachment