{"id":2606,"date":"2017-05-08T10:15:22","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T15:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.foell.org\/justin\/?p=2606"},"modified":"2019-10-21T11:50:54","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T16:50:54","slug":"virtualbox-connect-to-ubuntu-host-served-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foell.org\/justin\/virtualbox-connect-to-ubuntu-host-served-website\/","title":{"rendered":"VirtualBox: connect to Ubuntu host served website"},"content":{"rendered":"

I set up a new testing environment for IE11 through VirtualBox on my computer running Ubuntu. But I couldn’t get to any of my sites that are served by the Ubuntu host. I had to do some tricks to get this working on my old work Mac<\/a>, and the same principle applies for Ubuntu.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On my Ubuntu system, I use Dnsmasq<\/a> for local DNS so I can test sites locally like client1.test<\/code>, client2.test<\/code>, etc. Normally those fake top-level domains resolve to a localhost IP: 127.0.0.1. But when you bring VirtualBox into the mix, the host and the guest both have their own notions of localhost. We need a common ground to communicate on. This is solved with a loopback alias.<\/p>\n

Loopback Alias<\/h2>\n

A loopback alias is just another IP that you can assign to your localhost loopback device. To add one, add the following to your network interfaces configuration file:<\/p>\n

sudo vi \/etc\/network\/interfaces<\/code><\/p>\n

\r\nauto lo:0\r\niface lo:0 inet static\r\n\taddress 10.254.254.254\r\n\tnetwork 10.0.0.0\r\n\tnetmask 255.255.255.255\r\n<\/pre>\n
sudo service networking restart<\/code><\/p>\n
Dnsmasq<\/h2>\n
Now instead of having your fake TLDs resolve to 127.0.0.1, we need them to resolve to our loopback alias address – 10.254.254.254. Depending if you’re using Dnsmasq with or without NetworkManager, you can edit\/add the following file (respectively):<\/p>\n
sudo vi \/etc\/NetworkManager\/dnsmasq.d\/01_localhost<\/code>
\nOR
\nsudo vi \/etc\/dnsmasq.d\/01_localhost<\/code><\/p>\n
\r\naddress=\/test\/10.254.254.254\r\n<\/pre>\n
sudo service network-manager restart<\/code><\/p>\n
VirtualBox Networking<\/h2>\n
Lastly, we just need to tell our VirtualBox guest to use the DNS from our host system. These instructions work for both OSX and Linux hosts: https:\/\/serverfault.com\/questions\/453185\/vagrant-virtualbox-dns-10-0-2-3-not-working\/453260<\/a><\/p>\n
I’m using the 2nd option to make the guest use the host’s DNS settings:<\/p>\n
VBoxManage modifyvm \"VM name\" --natdnshostresolver1 on<\/code><\/p>\n
Test everything out by starting your VM guest and pinging 10.254.254.254 for network connectivity. Then try to ping a .test<\/code> domain from the guest. If it looks good you should be able to load a .test<\/code> domain through Internet Explorer on the guest OS.<\/p>\n
Send to Kindle<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I set up a new testing environment for IE11 through VirtualBox on my computer running Ubuntu. But I couldn’t get to any of my sites that are served by the Ubuntu host. I had to do some tricks to get this working on my old work Mac, and the same principle applies for Ubuntu. Send… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"VirtualBox - connecting to Ubuntu host served website","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,17,8,22],"tags":[116,23,166,152,151],"class_list":["post-2606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-dns","category-ubuntu","category-wordpress","tag-apple","tag-dnsmasq","tag-linux","tag-mac","tag-osx"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t