Cannot access FreeBSD 8.2 client in VirtualBox from host browser

Question

So, on my MacBook I have installed VirtualBox because I want to develop a web app that will be running on FreeBSD OS.

I have installed FreeBSD 8.2 inside virtual PC I have created in VirtualBox. I have logged in as root and installed Apache by running:

portsnap fetch
portsnap extract
portsnap update
cd /usr/ports/www/apache22
make config
make 
make install

I have then added apache22_enable="YES" to /etc/rc.conf and accf_http_load="YES" to /boot/loader.conf. I have rebooted the FreeBSD OS and then restarted Apache just to make sure it works:

/usr/local/sbin/apachectl restart

No errors, Apache is running fine.

Now, what I want to do, is to open the document rot of the Apache in FreeBSD virtual PC in VirtualBox in my host machine which is MacBook OS. I type:

ifconfig

Copy the IP address and paste it into Google Chrome. And it isn't working, after long loading the connection times out. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

By default, VirtualBox networking puts the guest system on its own network, which NATs out to the primary interface of the host system. The host network cannot reach individual IPs on the guest network. You can change this behavior. See my other answer here for more information on how to change the networking model so that they are on the same network.

I would have suggested VirtualBox's "shared folders" feature, but it's currently not supported for FreeBSD guests.

Also, a minor note on your portsnap setup: portsnap extract downloads the most recent ports tree snapshot, so portsnap update is not necessary immediately thereafter. You'll run portsnap update later (or from cron) to keep the tree up to date over time, of course.