How do i connect my host browser to my guest web server

Question

I have VMWare workstation 8 installed on a windows 7 machine. I have RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6 running as a guest OS under VMWare. I am trying to get my web browser from windows 7 host to connect with my guest RHEL web server? I've disabled windows firewall.

VMware's Network settings options are as follows: Bridged, NAT, Host Only, or Custom.

The IP address of the guest OS varies depending on the network option I choose; When I type the variable IP address into the browser of my guest OS, it resolves to the default Apache page. However, when I try this in my host's browser I cannot connect to the server.

I am not using a physical Ethernet connection. I am connected wirelessly to the internet using WiFi network adapter. However, I should be able to connect to the guest OS server without the use of the internet correct? I believe I should be able to use the virtual network adapter to route to the virtual guest server all inside of my machine locally.

i ran ipconfig in windows command prompt which gave the below results:

** note that i am using bridged settings in vmware currently.**

Windows IP Configuration

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection 3:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : gateway.2wire.net Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::58f3:b55f:b8d9:ed7e%16 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.71 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : memphis.edu

Ethernet adapter VMware Network Adapter VMnet1:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::5899:5315:29c1:3772%24 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.91.1 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Ethernet adapter VMware Network Adapter VMnet8:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::5031:ad1d:7cb0:4161%25 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.244.1 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Tunnel adapter isatap.{CBB0C40D-6807-4838-A0FC-A6ED59C79F7A}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Tunnel adapter isatap.gateway.2wire.net:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : gateway.2wire.net

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Tunnel adapter isatap.{73368103-5EF9-45EF-89E8-70BD3282EECE}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Solution

NAT is rarely the best choice for a VM machine and I really can't understand why it's generally the default. Change it to bridged mode (or whatever that's called on VMWare products) and your problems will simply disappear.

Comments

[David Schwartz]

Unfortunately, "it doesn't work" is not a very good problem description. Can you describe in more detail how exactly you are trying to make it work and what exactly happens?

[Paddington]

From the command prompt on your local windows machine, are you able to telnet 192.168.129.129 on port 80?

[Rob Moir]

If you remember only one thing about virtualisation, remember this: "Nothing Magic happens just because someone said 'Virtual'". You connect your host browser to your guest web server the same way you would any other server and client - there needs to be a valid network route between them.

[kdavis8]

when i use VMware's bridged setting for my network my vm server ends up with the ip addrss of 192.168.1.71, however this is the same ip address as my lan adapter

[kdavis8]

I'm Using NAT to share host IP address. The IP address of the guest RHEL server is 192.168.129.129; when i type this into the browser on my guest it resolves to the default Apache page. However when i try this in my host's browser i cannot connect to the server.

[kdavis8]

i have switched over to Bridged but yield the same results. However i have noticed that when i run ipconfig inside of windows command prompt, i have two virtual network adapters created by vmware it self. e.g. vmnet8. I am wondering if i should use these "virtual networks" to connect to my guest os