Connect OBIEE windows client to Linux VM

Question

Hi,

I have installed SampleAppv506p running in a Virtual Machine on my windows PC. I want to connect to OBI in the VM with OBIEE windows client from my PC.

I need to establish a ODBC connection for that, but don't succeed.

Trying with telnet from my PC to the VM also gives an error.

telnet 10.0.2.15 9703 => Connecting To 10.0.2.15...Could not open connection to the host, on port 7780: Connect Failed

I get the same error when trying: telnet 127.0.0.1 9703

I already searched Google and tried/verified:

-> When I start the VM then I get message "IP address of this machine is : 10.0.2.15",

but in /etc/hosts I have 2 lines:

127.0.0.1 demo.us.oracle.com demo locahost.localdomain localhost

10.0.2.15 demo.us.oracle.com demo

(I tried to comment out the first line, but it is re-added after restarting the VM. Probably because I have 2 network adapters - NAT & Bridged - in the VM settings).

-> Running ifconfig in a telnet window in VM gives

eth31: No inet adr

eth32: inet addr:10.0.2.15

lo: inet addr: 127.0.0.1

-> in VM: localhost:7001/em

I see that BI server is running with following ports:

- BI Presentation Services: 9710

- BI Servers: 9703 (It is this one I have to use for ODBC connection?)

- BI Schedulers: 9705

- BI Cluster Controllers: 9706

- BI JavaHosts: 9810

-> I also switched off firewall in the VM:

service iptables stop

chkconfig iptables off

Koen G-Oracle · Answer

Setting up the additional host-only network worked.

Thanks a lot!!

Koen G-Oracle · Answer

Thanks a lot for you interest. Answers to your points:

1) Can you tell me how I can try accessing web interface from browser on windows PC? What url should I use?

2) Firewall off. This should be off be having executed below commands?

-> I also switched off firewall in the VM:

service iptables stop

chkconfig iptables off

I don't know how I can verify that it is really off;

3) I tried switching off Windows Firewall and McAfee Firewall, but still the "telnet 127.0.0.1 9703" and also "telnet 10.0.2.15 9703" was giving same error

4) Ok, (should I test with "telnet 127.0.0.1 9703" or "telnet 10.0.2.15 9703" ?)

Note: "telnet 127.0.0.1 7780" is not giving an error, that is giving a black screen. But that also doesn't work in ODBC setup.

rmoff · Answer

10.0.2.x is the NAT address, so you won't be able to connect to that from the windows host.

I always run VMs with both NAT (for outbound guest internet access) and Host-only (for guest-host communications).

If you're using bridged it relies on the guest (sampleapp) being able to access the LAN that your host (windows) is on, such as wifi. It sometimes works, but can add complication - hence the benefit of Host-only networking.

As gianni says, don't go messing with the /etc/hosts files, that'll only end in tears

I'd try:

* Add a host-only network adaptor (or replace the bridged one). Reboot sampleapp, and you should get another IP which you can connect to from your windows host
* Instead/as well as the above, you could set up Port Forwarding on the NAT adaptor for the necessary OBIEE ports (9703, 7780, etc). This guide looks like a pretty good one. Once it's set up you then point your Windows machine (admintool, web browser, etc) at the localhost address (on windows) and virtualbox port forwarding redirects the traffic (and responses) to the relevant ports on the VM guest. 
Host-only is definitely an easier place to start!