Can't access Apache in my CentOS Virtualbox

Question

I'm setting up a VirtualBox with CentOS so I can test out all my code, etc. on a Linux box instead of the Windows I use for development.

I just got the SSH working (I SSH to localhost:2222 and it port forwards it to the virtualbox port 22).

I'm trying to do the same thing with Apache, to get a web server up and running.

I've portforwarded port 8888 on localhost to port 80 in my CentOS Virtualbox, but I can't seem to access anything with localhost:8888 in my browser?

Apache is also definitely running:

ps -e | grep httpd
2108  ?      00:00:00 httpd
2110  ?      00:00:00 httpd
2111  ?      00:00:00 httpd
2112  ?      00:00:00 httpd
2113  ?      00:00:00 httpd
2114  ?      00:00:00 httpd
2115  ?      00:00:00 httpd
2116  ?      00:00:00 httpd
2117  ?      00:00:00 httpd

Iptables:

[root@CentOS /]# cat /etc/sysconfig/iptables
# Generated by iptables-save v1.4.7 on Fri Jan 27 18:26:36 2012
*filter
:INPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
:FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [32:2278]
-A INPUT -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p icmp -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW -m tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW -m tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited
-A FORWARD -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited
COMMIT
# Completed on Fri Jan 27 18:26:36 2012

Nmap output:

[root@CentOS conf]# nmap localhost

Starting Nmap 5.21 ( http://nmap.org ) at 2012-01-28 00:58 WST
Nmap scan report for localhost (127.0.0.1)
Host is up (0.0000090s latency).
Hostname localhost resolves to 3 IPs. Only scanned 127.0.0.1
Not shown: 993 closed ports
PORT    STATE SERVICE
22/tcp  open  ssh
23/tcp  open  telnet
25/tcp  open  smtp
80/tcp  open  http
111/tcp open  rpcbind
443/tcp open  https
631/tcp open  ipp

Answer 1

I believe the default CentOS firewall only allows port 22 for SSH. Since I assume you are running the VirtualBox VM on a protected network it would be safe to run the following as root to disable your firewall:

/etc/init.d/iptables stop

This is assuming that you are doing your port redirection on the Windows host machine. If you are doing redirection with iptables then this will kill your redirection as well. You could post /etc/sysconfig/iptables so we can look at your firewall configuration to see if your machine is blocking port 80.

Answer 2

On a fresh install of CentOS7, do the following after installing Apache & starting service:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=https
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Now Apache should be reachable from your host.

Answer 3

You shouldn't use localhost, use its IP address instead.

Answer 4

This question is more detailed than what I searched for, but for all future visitors:

On a standard freshly installed CentOS (in my casae 6.4) the iptables service (firewall) is blocking access to apache from outside localhost.

Typing service iptables stop stops the service and should allow access.

Answer 5

You might have something else on port 8888 or some firewall on windows (including one included)

They even block local MS-SQL server sometimes like after 10 connections. No need to imagine - just dig up firewall blocking logs.

+++

Have you seen reject logs of your firewall or just keep chanting? Most antiviruses will try to clamp mass-mailing worms and other malware by behavior. Like McAfee blocks thunderbird after 5 mails in 30 minutes....