Vagrant's port forwarding not working

ApacheHttpCentosPortforwardingVagrant

Apache Problem Overview


I'm running into a small problem at the end of the Getting Started guide for vagrant. I'm working on a CentOS basebox that has Apache2 running (provisioning via Puppet). I've set up port forwarding for web requests using the following line in Vagrantfile:

 config.vm.forward_port "web", 80, 4567

But when I make requests to that port, they fail. The error reported by Safari is 'Safari can’t open the page “http://localhost:4567/” because the server unexpectedly dropped the connection.'

I did a vagrant reload and saw "[default] -- web: 80 => 4567 (adapter 1)" in the scroll, so where should I begin to troubleshoot this? Thanks.

Apache Solutions


Solution 1 - Apache

I wanted to add an additional note that often this is caused by the server within the VM because it binds to 127.0.0.1, which is loopback. You'll want to make sure that the server is bound to 0.0.0.0 so that all interfaces can access it.

Some built-in app servers such as Django's development servers and some Ruby servers default to 127.0.0.1 by default so this is something to watch out for.

Other than that, what Steve said holds true: Make sure it works from within the VM and try some other simple servers to try and figure out if it is a configuration problem.

Solution 2 - Apache

I'll make this an actual answer instead of just more comments.

First thing: try curl 'http://localhost:80' from within the VM. If that doesn't work, then it's definitely not the port forwarding.

Next: try curl -v 'http://localhost:4567/' from your host machine. Curl might give you a better error message than Safari.

I'd check that there are no firewalls set up restricting access to port 80. The default Vagrant VM (Ubuntu) doesn't come with a firewall set up, but you said you're using something else, so it might be worth it to check.

If that's not it, try making something other than Apache listed on port 80. Python ships with a simple HTTP server you can use -- go to the folder with index.html and run sudo python -m SimpleHTTPServer 80, then try hitting that with curl from both boxes. If that works, then it's probably an Apache configuration issue. I don't have enough experience with Apache to help if that's the case (I use nginx).

Solution 3 - Apache

I had the same problem on CentOS 6.3 w/ NGINX and found the answer to be in the iptables on the vagrant box.

From bash on the vagrant box, follow these steps:

First list current iptable rules

iptables -L -v

Then flush current rules:

iptables -F

Allow SSH connections on tcp port 22

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT

Set default policies for INPUT, FORWARD and OUTPUT chains

iptables -P INPUT DROP
iptables -P FORWARD DROP
iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPT

Set access for localhost

iptables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT

Accept packets belonging to established and related connections

iptables -A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT

Save settings

/sbin/service iptables save

List modified rules

iptables -L -v

Curl localhost:[port#] or hit it in your browser from outside vagrant

More info on CentOS iptable configs found here:

http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Network/IPTables

Good luck.

Solution 4 - Apache

A better solution for me is disabling the firewall

service iptables stop
chkconfig iptables off

Solution 5 - Apache

I want to add another note like Mitchell as well. if my case I forward it to 6789 from 80

$ curl -v http://localhost:6789

And I got

<HTML>
<HEAD><TITLE>Redirection</TITLE></HEAD>
<BODY><H1>Redirect</H1></BODY>

Then, I used the IP address instead, it got the correct html message.

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Content TypeOriginal AuthorOriginal Content on Stackoverflow
QuestionHank GayView Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - ApacheMitchellView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - ApacheSteve LoshView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - ApachetravyoView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - ApacheedwinallenzView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - ApacheLarry CaiView Answer on Stackoverflow