I am working with a Matrix demo on a virtual machine. Now, I can get either of these two scenarios:
Get an IP address that I can access Matrix on, but I can’t connect to outside hosts
Get an IP address that won’t load in the browser (setting it as matrixdemo.squiz.net in the hosts file), though I can connect to outside hosts (as per ‘curl’).
I am using VirtualBox with the two respective network settings:
Host-only adapter
NAT
I have tried switching through all the network options – well, most of them – but these are the only two settings that give me IP addresses.
I am at a loose end now. I can get into Matrix and design my site, but I can’t access any APIs, which are critical for me to set things up with.
I would be grateful for any help in understanding VirtualBox networking or diagnosing my set up.
This is really outside the scope of a Matrix discussion, but you can either configure your VM for bridged networking (which makes it act like a separate machine on the same network as the host computer), or use NAT and port forwarding to access the HTTP/HTTPS ports (TCP 80 and 443) on your host computer’s address.
While bridged networking is easier to configure in Virtualbox, the VM then needs to obtain its IP address information from a DHCP server on your network. On a home network the DHCP server would normally be your router; on a corporate network there’s often a separate DHCP server.
Thanks for the explanation. As you suggested, I had a go with using NAT with port forwarding. My final solution was to have two network adapters, NAT with port forwarding and host-only.
So I have Matrix up and running and I can reach out to APIs and remote content.